January 2026

A “HAPPY” New Year!
It’s 2026! A new year!
Once again, your inbox, podcasts and blogs will be filled with a flurry of advice for the
year ahead. Look closely and you’ll probably discover two types of advice: Half of them
say that 2026 is your year to become the best version of yourself and how it’s time to
manifest your dreams! The other half telling you to avoid the stress, to live your life in
simplicity, reminding you that you are enough and should enjoy your life in the now!

The two sets of suggestions seem like opposites, but they really have a common theme:
they are all self-centered in terms of their focus! What does the Bible say?…

The wise advice of the writer of Proverbs: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

The 18th c. minister, Thomas Charles, wrote to his friends “Every new year must be a
happy one, while we live thus as sinners with and upon Christ… May you and I begin and
end every year with, and in dependence upon, the dear Redeemer, till at last we finish
our course with joy.” This 2026, let’s depend on God for everything!… Everything!

Let’s thank him and find joy amid whatever 2026 brings! Charles Spurgeon said in 1885:
“Praise is our ever new delight; let us baptize the new year into a sea of it.” Joyful Praise and
Rejoicing are a result of genuine freedom that comes from wholehearted trust in God!

The result of Full Trust and Dependence on God for 2026? – A truly HAPPY New Year!!
“May the Gracious God of Heaven – our Father – draw near to you as you draw near to
Him this New Year! May He reveal more of Himself to you through His Word and through
His Church by the Power of His Holy Spirit! And may our faith and trust in Him result in
immeasurable blessing and favor upon you and yours. In Jesus’ Name – Amen!”

Pastor Vino Atienza