Making All Things New: Trading Our 2026 Resolutions for Connection with God

Happy New Year everyone! Oh my goodness I have so much to record from the holidays: our whole entire family gathered together. The comings. The goings. The spots of glory as well as the spots that had some of us in tears. I have loved every minute of it all. AND I’m so tired:) These were sacred days and I’ll get to writing about them soon. But for today, let’s talk about this NEW YEAR stretched out in front of us! And how God is in the business of making all things new.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

—Revelation 21:5

I sure love new beginnings. And that no matter how messy our lives get, God can help us make all things new again. All because of what we just celebrated at Christmas: that small, perfect baby coming to the world. Who is a God of second chances.

I had several moments I memorized in my heart while we were all together this Christmas. One of them was a couple days ago when we were sitting around the kitchen on the morning of New Years Eve. Commotion from the little girls mixed in with whipping up some giant pans of Ocean Pancakes for breakfast. Everyone in various stages of getting ready for the day. We were talking about new years resolutions and what we were each thinking we wanted to change and renew in 2026.

The Trap of Self-Reliance in the New Year

I love a new start but I was pondering in my heart that morning how to keep that new start, and have been ever since.

We all know how it goes: we get grand visions of how a new year will look.

Oh the things we will do!

And then life happens and often we realize our visions may have been a tad bit too grand. How do we stay even and steady? How do we take the progression we want and yearn for seriously, yet give ourselves room for the inevitable human error?

I think the trouble is that we get ourselves in a trap of self-reliance. We think we have to do it all. And do it all using all the will power we can muster up.

Finding God in the Quiet Moments of 2026

As luck would have it, last night I finally had a quiet moment to get down to business downloading the Bible app a friend in our church congregation invited us all to join. It’s the Holy Bible app and you guys. From what I can tell, I’m going to love this thing.

I’m still learning and haven’t even joined the study group with people from my ward yet. But I LOVED what popped up that first day of this new year:

Oh I love Isaiah so much and I’m so glad we get to study it for Come Follow Me this year as part of the Old Testament study at church. I had forgotten about the incredible imagery in Isaiah: God will make a way in the wilderness! He will make rivers in the desert. How beautiful is that?

And how does this happen? When we ask.

From Achievement to Alignment

I was reminded right then and there that yes, we’re going to set our sights too high sometimes when it comes to resolutions. Or yes, life will get too busy to even think about resolutions.

Sometimes we’re just hanging on by our fingernails.

But God is the answer to all that. If we connect with God on our plans and hopes and dreams, and do it intentionally, I do so believe They will be there reaching out for us as we reach to Them.

I realized that the key for me in 2026 is that I want to go from focusing on achievement mustering up all my will power to alignment with God.

To me, that’s when things happen.

I think “Align” will be my “one word” for 2026.

Holding Our Plans with Open Hands

I love the thought of holding our plans out to God with “open hands”…and “open hearts” too. I don’t think aligning ourselves with God means we should throw out the goals and plans and just float along. To me, it means I want to surrender my goals and plans to God. Be more intentional about letting Them in on what I’m thinking. Being still enough to recognize the shifts and changes I should make rather than bulldozing ahead without connection.

I loved these “prayers” that were encouraged in the app:

I love it all, but especially that reminder to “correct any lies I believe about You.” Sometimes I think we just go with the flow of what’s on social media, or we just meander with no rudder for our sails.

But I loved this reminder that when we put a stake in the ground and decide to let go of everything else and let God prevail in our lives, that’s when we change.

We can create ripple effects as we let God help us in the business of making all things new.

Just a few thoughts as we set off on this nearly blank slate of 2026. I’m so excited to have this Bible app to help me keep aligning my heart with God. And to remind me to take a moment to sit with God a little more in 2026. That I don’t have to do all this by myself with sheer will power. May we all open our hands to God a bit more this coming year.

It’s going to be a good one.