Held in 2025 and Beyond

I.

For the past few New Year’s [Eves/Days], I have selected a one-word theme to keep me grounded and inspired throughout the year. I typically choose a multifaceted word that has been lingering in my spirit and can be interpreted multiple ways—because shouldn’t all words be a little weighty?

When people heard my theme for 2024—held—they assumed I wanted to be held by God throughout the year. They were right; I have not known a year in which I haven’t needed God to wrap me in His arms or at least hold my hand. But there was more to it. Should any area of my life fall apart, I wanted to be held together—mind and heart remarkably intact.

Above all, ‘held’ was assurance for a woman on the verge of weariness. It was a reminder that God is holding certain blessings specifically for me, to be released at an appointed time.

I paid my theme little attention throughout the year, but it crept back into my consciousness during a long road trip in December. I was listening to a sermon in which the preacher mentioned that we are always being held by God—whether we realize it or not. As I reflected on my year, I was grateful for the many examples of my theme’s application. But I also wondered, ‘When will I see the blessings God has held for me?’

II.

Days later, my time in Charleston, South Carolina, made me question my sight.

After passing up a popular bagel and coffee shop because I couldn’t find street parking, I was reading online reviews to see if it was worth trying again the next day on foot. One review mentioned the shop’s parking lot across the street. Umm, excuse me? There was a parking lot with a big RESERVED sign, but it wasn’t for the shop.

My walk to the shop the next morning confirmed the review. Below the big RESERVED heading, the sign clearly said the parking lot was for shop customers. How did I miss that?

Was it the sign’s design or wording that caused me to overlook it? Who knows? What I do know is that I read the parking signs on the street—the ones with multiple restrictions—more closely than I did the sign offering a free lot. It never occurred to me that the reserved lot was for me. I assumed it was for something, or someone, else. I drove up and down city blocks looking for parking, when a spot was readily available for customers like me.

Thankfully I only missed out on a latte and bagel that first day in Charleston. But I wonder if there are real blessings I may have missed because I didn’t realize they were held for me, blessings that I didn’t get to go back for. Were there places, positions, or people that I assumed were not mine? Did I overlook them thinking they were for someone else? Did they look different than I expected? Had I stopped expecting altogether?

III.

Charleston taught me that I missed an important aspect of my theme for 2024. In my interpretation of ‘held,’ God was the only one responsible for holding anything. I failed to consider the role I had to play: holding the words God has spoken to me.

Last January I put my theme on a vision board, crowded among a bunch of other ideas and plans I hardly ever looked at. I may have even thrown it away when I moved.

On the contrary, in Luke 2, Mary modeled how to hold onto a word. An angel told a group of shepherds that the Messiah had been born and where to find him. The Bible says that after visiting Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, they spread the news about the child, and the people were amazed. Mary, however, “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (2:19 NIV). The Message translation describes it as “holding them dear, deep within herself.”

Mary had a habit of holding sacred words dear, even when she did not fully understand them. When people gave revelations about who Jesus was, she stored those words deep in her heart, considering their weight. In doing so, she never lost sight of her child’s destiny. As their lives unfolded, she saw God bringing to fruition the very words hidden in her heart.

A word from God is a promise to be held dear—pondered, considered often, remembered so you recognize its arrival. You may not understand it fully, but you respect and believe it enough to treasure it in your heart. You expect to see it someday.

What word(s) has God given you about your future? Have you forgotten them, or are you holding them in your heart for safekeeping? In 2025, I pray we receive every blessing God has held for us because we recognize them when they are released. And in our waiting, in our pondering, may God hold us together.