Hard Things & Choosing Hope: My 2025 Year in Review

Hey friend,

This December newsletter is for those of you who carry a lot. You know who you are—the ones holding grief and joy simultaneously, managing both celebration and crisis, carrying burdens others don't see. As you can see, I'm changing things up a bit in the new year. I hope you don't mind.

When I sent my manuscript for Promise Over Purpose off to my editor, she told me I used the word "hard" 246 times and that I needed to pick a different word. At the time, I thought it must be a subliminal message from the psychological strain of writing my first book because it WAS hard! But as I look back and reflect on 2025 and the last 5 years combined, the word "hard" returns again and again.

I Choose Hope

For the past few months, I've been off social, only popping on at random times to check on nieces or loved ones. As our family entered another deep season of grief, I found myself retreating and no longer finding the value or enjoyment that it once held. I believe that trend will continue into 2026 as I navigate a new season of rest and renewal.

But a few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the lessons I'm trying to learn in this season. "I Choose Hope" which you can read on my blog.

In this season, I've realized that hope is a choice. I choose it not because I feel like it, but because without it, life is unbearable. Years ago, my good friend, Carrie said that with hope, all things are possible. And I see that now with greater clarity. (She is a very wise friend!)

My Year-End Ritual

Each year I take off the last week of December to reflect and reset. I clean out closets and calendars and prayerfully consider what I should take into the next year. I make a list of the great and hard things we've endured so that I can process and honor them, and then store them in my heart "hope chest" and move into the next year with a little less heaviness. It works for me.

When we take the time to aggregate everything together, it helps us recognize how or why we feel a certain way. We move so quickly from one thing to the next that our hearts and minds barely have time to process the layers of emotions that we experience with each passing day.

So, friend, here's my list of wins and losses. I strive to honor each one despite how deeply they hurt or how amazing they seem.

2025 "A Year in Review"

Professional Milestones

• Launched Synwave with patent, trademarks, and reseller network
• Sold (2) EdgeKits and attended multiple industry conferences
• Made a strategic hire and navigated board transitions at Alpha Life​
• Explored new partnership with new clients
• Spoke at (2) churches on behalf of Alpha Life
• Helped existing clients receive follow-on defense contracts

Personal Growth & Faith

• Received prophetic reading that provided direction
• Started my second book on Wholeness
• Spent more time in the woods
• Completed first mission trip to Costa Rica​
• Taught Promise Leadership Workshop internationally
• Launched Promise Over Purpose Book Club

Family Celebrations

• High school graduations—son became an EMT and "bonus" daughter headed to university
• Daughter got engaged, started paramedic school, bought first home, and welcomed a grandson into our family
• Another daughter promoted to lead medic and launched a photography side hustle while loving the world through beautiful grace
• Grateful for a son-in-law who anchors his family with strength and solid resolve

Challenges & Loss

• Family experienced two pregnancy losses and said goodbye to uncle
• Parent's declining health—lost vision, began long-term care planning, and navigating new medical diagnoses

Connection & Restoration

• Time together—mountain concerts, visits to family across state lines, and countless moments of tears, laughter, and silence

My Prayer For You

As we prepare to say goodbye to 2025, I pray you take a few moments to grieve the lost things—be it money, time, love, health, family or joy—and to honor the wounds you've received. But also, friend, celebrate the wins. Honor the moments of unexpected grace, the relationships that sustained you, the strength you didn't know you had.

And I pray God shows you His promises for the year ahead—promises of healing, of hope, and of restoration. Tomorrow will have its own worries, but today, may you rest in the One who has carried you this far and will carry you still.

And I will strive to do the same.

All my love,

P.S. If you make your own year-in-review list, I'd love to hear about it—reply and share one thing you're grieving and one thing you're celebrating. And if the "I Choose Hope" post speaks to you, please pass it along to someone who needs encouragement today.

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