New Year, New Theme

Every new year I pray on what I feel like God is trying to do in our family. This usually comes to me as a word or set of words that I have come to call our New Year Theme. This year, our family theme is Return and Restore. For me, I believe this fits multiple meanings that are very personal to me. If you have read any of my blog, you know that 2025 was the year I truly "returned" to the Lord. I use that term lightly, as I never really walked away from God, but I was not truly seeking him in all things. Upon return, I have had to come face to face with the reality that I have allowed Satan to take from me and my family, and I have just accepted it as fact. I did not pick up the weapons God gave me, and I did not fight back. If you begin a fight already feeling defeated, it can be very hard to find the courage to rise and fight back. As I was praying on this next year, I felt like God was telling me that this was the year of return and restore. These words take on different meanings in different parts of mine and my family's life, but I think that is the beauty of them. It is time for things to be returned and restored! It is time that I pick up the weapons and use them and take back what has been stolen. God really wants this to be the year that I stop accepting the lies and defeat and start trusting him in all areas of my life. So here are some areas of prayer focus for my family in 2026:

• My health. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's a couple of years ago and I had come to accept this as something I would have the rest of my life. This year, I will be focusing on what God says about this diagnosis, and what he wants to do with it.

• My husband's health. My husband has been experiencing a lot of symptoms of many different illnesses, and we are no longer going to be accepting that what runs in his family will also take him or his children. It ran in his family, until it ran into God.

• My family's relationship with God. I pray it is strengthened in each of our lives, and as our oldest is now a pre-teen, I am praying that he begins a relationship of his own with God, and not one that I have forced him to have, but one he truly wants.

• Our family dynamic. This one is fun. I pray this is the year that my husband begins to truly spiritually lead. In his lack of lack of leading, I have picked up that position, and honestly, it is time I am able to step back. I pray God gives me the words of encouragement to help him through this transition as he was not raised in church, and spiritually leading is still pretty new to him. God use me to bless him.

• Unanswered prayers. I have a couple of unanswered prayers that I feel like God has not given up on just yet. God, please give me the strength to understand when the answer is no or push through until release.

• Stolen things. There are some things this past year I feel like Satan has stolen, and it is time to take them back. A big one is my joy. I used to be a joyful person who had faith in God and his word. I want that back. I have allowed the physical world and the things going on in it to rob me of that joy. It is unfair to my children and my husband to live in a home where the joy has been snuffed out by fear. God give me the tools to take back what has been stolen and understand how to guard them.

• Gossip. This has been one of the sins I have battled the most, my entire life. I truly believe this is the sin that is running the most rampant in churches, but that is a post for another time. I am human, and with that comes flesh. I am very quick to gossip about people and their lives, instead of seeing something and praying about it. I pray this is the year that I learn to keep my mouth shut and open it only to pray about the things I see in other people. Power of life and death is in the tongue, and I have ignored the number of curses I may have unknowingly placed on others with my words. God, forgive me for the idle words I have spoken, and change my heart and mouth to bless others.

So, as you pray and reflect on this next year, I encourage you to listen to what you hear in your spirit and write that down. I also encourage you to share your themes with others so that they may also see God working in your life, and it may encourage them. I also encourage you to ask someone you love and trust to also pray for you or your family. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places - Ephesians 6:12.

God, please bless anyone that comes across this post. I pray blessings over their life in 2026, and I pray that you use them mightily for your Kingdom. I pray anything that has weighed them down in 2025 be broken off of them in 2026. This is the year they take back what was stolen and find themselves through you again. I pray they learn how to use their God given authority to guard their hearts and their family, and that change would take place, miracles would happen, and faith would be restored. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.