Going into the last month of 2024, I started to think about what I wanted 2025 to look like. What will my goals, habits, and routines be? I started to create a prayer board, but I needed my word for 2025 to center the board. When I was debating what word I wanted to describe my 2025, one kept coming to mind: trust.
Why pick a word?
Picking a word for the next year is not necessary by any means, but it is something I have practiced for the last few years. What I have learned is that when you go in with intentionality, you are more likely to achieve your objective. I would not start writing a book with no theme or thought behind it. I would not start a work project with no basis of what the end result needs to look like, so why start my year like that?
I will be honest; I did not care for the word trust. As type A, trust is complicated for me. I like control because I lack trust. If I can do something, I know the quality and final product. If someone else does it, I risk it not being up to my standards, but so what? Maybe my “standards” are actually keeping me in a box I was not meant to be in in the first place.
Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.”
If I try to do everything by myself, it will get done, but I will be way more exhausted than if I trusted in God and who he has placed around me.
This past year, I have realized there are some things I simply cannot do. I do not have the power, finances, or resources. Luckily for us, we have a God who has unlimited resources and abilities. We were not only designed to rely on other people but also created to rely on God.
The above psalm is responding to the problem of evil in the world. How do we, as Christians, deal with the depravity? This Psalm teaches us that God helps those who commit their ways to him. How do we deal with evil? Trusting in God. How do we respond to anxiety about the future in a lost world? Trust in God. How do we stop the fear that can control us? Trust in God.
In our society, trust is at an all-time low; we can not trust what we see on social media, we can not trust what we watch on the news, and we can not always trust those around us. Therefore, we can stop trusting in God when we lose hope. Scripture reminds us there is a promise of hope when we know God, a promise we would not see delivered if we take matters into our own hands. We are doing ourselves a disservice by doing it on our own. I know the knee-jerk reaction is to grab a hold of the problem and try to fix it; that is our human nature.
This year, I am challenging myself to lean on my inward nature and, instead of running to fix whatever it is, commit the problem to God and trust that he will work it out.
Whatever you want your 2025 to look like, remember you will not get there on your own, and that is okay. The “self-made” man or woman does not exist. Anyone successful is that way because others have helped them get there, even if they do not recognize it. In fact, I would not want my life/business/future/platform to be man-made; I would only want it to be possible because God ordained it.
That is easier said than done, but that is why whatever word you choose is meant to challenge and stretch you in new ways; you cannot grow by staying comfortable. In 2025, get uncomfortable! Trust in a God you have never seen but you know is capable of all things and whose love for you is uncontainable. Go to him first, and he will reveal new ways you can grow in this next year.