grace & gratitude | 2025

“You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.”

~ Psalm 65:11

I’ve already begun this post once, at year’s end. Amidst the frantic flurry of the season—family and friends, parties and functions, and burning questions like “Where did all my money go?” (toward presents and food) and “Will I skip my period this month since I’ve been so stressed lately?” (fortunately, no)—when I finally stopped to catalog the year, I couldn’t. 2024 blurred to nothingness in my mind, and 2025 loomed over me like, well, the Joker, laughing maniacally at me for failing this past year. I read over last year’s Grace & Gratitude post, and it left me feeling empty.

Where had all those bright ideas and good intentions gone? What had I done in 2024?

So I closed my computer and returned to laughing with my friends, enjoying the moment while it lasted.

And the funny thing is, that’s exactly what my resolution was for 2024.

Enjoy the moment.

Live each second like it’s the one I was made for.

Maybe I didn’t hold this in my mind every day, but when I think back on 2024 from now on, I’m not going to remember the empty feeling I had; I’m going to remember the joy I felt picking up my friend Joy from the airport, hugging her for the first time, so grateful we’d managed to find her because for a while, we couldn’t. I’m going to remember the grace of God that allowed my friend Grace to come to the-middle-of-nowhere Georgia all the way from the-middle-of-nowhere Canada. I’m going to remember the sweetness of my friend Lexi’s sweet-tea accent and sunshine smile. I’m going to remember the laughter I shared with my friend Emily as we puncehrnd eahcjoehter (typos intentional).

I’m going to remember the cool, cozy nights spent watching Rocky on our old Xbox, hooked up to our generator. I’m going to remember the goodness of folks who gave and showed up and prayed. I’m going to remember the morning spent sipping coffee out of styrofoam cups in my nana’s kitchen. I’m going to remember listening to songs on repeat in the car as we went to and from town for cold showers. I’m going to remember the splendor of the sky as the sun set behind the fields and rose outside the window at work.

As I drove home from work Friday, I didn’t see the devastation of the storm or the decay of winter anymore. I saw the roads my friends walked down and the clay they marveled over. I saw the house we laughed and talked and wrote in. I saw the ponds and trees and horizon they oohed and awed over but I’d taken for granted.

Was 2024 perfect? By no means. No year is.

Did I accomplish everything I set out to do? Not even close. I never do.

But did I grow? Did I learn? Did I change?

Yes.

Was God still good? Was God still faithful? Was God still walking alongside me and leading me down His path?

Yes, yes, yes.

And that’s all that matters.

gratitude

gathering with the peasants (my online friend group) in-person

God’s protection & provision

my new job & lovely coworkers

unexpected opportunities to give, serve, & grow

the little things like my papa bringing me raspberries just because, kind customers, and fresh fruit & herbs

enjoying life through long walks, cozy fires, and driving with the window down & radio blasting

quality time with family over good food & fun movies

the beauty of worship, the Word, & communion with God

grace

I could go over my 2024 goals as featured in last year’s post, but to be honest, that will only depress me, because I didn’t complete…any of them. Okay, technically I did fast and pray more, and I enjoyed reading and writing more than I have in recent years. But everything else? I ended up doing the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. 🤭

That’s one of the reasons why I do a “grace” section instead of checking off boxes. My checklists are almost always unfinished, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t accomplished or experienced things. Even in my failings, God is still gracious, and something always ends up getting done.

In 2024, I wrote roughly 20,700 words (give or take) across three different projects: Where the Sky Meets the Sea, The Forsaken, and Held Captive.

I finished Where the Sky Meets the Sea, a novella of over 25k words, and I added a chapter or two to The Forsaken. I’d intended to finish both projects this year, but WtSMtS morphed into a monster (I call a novella a monster when I once wrote a 200k-word book 🤦‍♀). Add a new job, editing projects, and just life on top of that, and my writing time was reduced to almost nil. So it is grace that I was able to finish even just Where the Sky Meets the Sea.

And it doesn’t help that I maaaay have spent a few sessions working on Held Captive. If you’ve been following along with my HC update emails, you’ll know just how much time I spent on outlining, researching, and developing the story. I’m still only a little ways in but already so much deeper into the story than I was when I wrote it the first time.

So a few hundred words went to creating an opening scene for my magnum opus. 😅 I have to hold myself back, lest I devote my entire existence to this book. (Would that be so bad, though??)

A few other things I accomplished this past year:

• created a Bible study email series

• began prepping Of Storm & Sea anthology

• edited 3.5 books (including A Matter of Honor by Laura Frantz)

• finished designing Sky’s the Limit Press’ website & prepped the official public launch

• started a secondary newsletter just for Held Captive updates

• was interviewed on Shira Rodriguez’ podcast, Her Reading Life (part I & part II)

• read 22 books (not including editing & beta-reading)

• debuted The Story Critique & The Prose Critique

• started a new job at a cafe in town

• got a working vintage typewriter (arguably the best birthday present ever)

• met four of my best online friends in real life & spent The Best weekend with them 

  
  

goals

Well, as it was all this past year, launching Sky’s the Limit Press + its next anthology are top of the list. All the background stuff is done; it’s down to cosmetic issues, plenishing the resource library, and promoting the launch—simple, but time-consuming, which is why I haven’t had a chance to sit down and get ’er done yet. Once I launch the press, I’ll crack down on the anthology. So if I can manage to finally accomplish that sometime in the next twelve months, I’ll be very pleased.

Additionally, I’d like to publish a couple of short projects: Where the Sky Meets the Sea as a freebie for my newsletter subscribers, and Her Heart’s Home (which I’d love to retitle) as a sort of charity project for those who have lost their homes due to Hurricane Helene. Both of these projects have been written; it’s just to rewrite and edit and format and get covers, etc.

Otherwise, if I can manage to get some words written in The Forsaken and maybe even do something for Held Captive, that would be lovely.

As far as my other endeavors…we’ll see. Of course, I want to stay consistent with blogging + my newsletter, which I’d intentionally set aside the last half of 2024 while getting settled in my job and finishing WtSMtS. And I’d like to do more with my Patreon, but everything else is tertiary.

Personal goals are also pretty simple this year. In no certain order:

• don’t do anything stupid (this is very important)

• get deeper into the word of God + hermeneutics and exegesis

• observe more of the liturgical calendar

• stay out of the cookies at work (also important)

• read more classics + outside of my comfort genres (some of the books on the list are Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, and many others)

• learn at least one new skill (either guitar, crochet, or embroidery)

• be more wise in my spending + make more gifts

• get involved & connected with my local church + find more ways to serve & use my gifts

scripture of the year

I’ll admit it, I was lax this year. I didn’t even think about a scripture for 2025—not surprising, considering I don’t really think about my choices throughout the year. So when I read Psalm 65 the other day, I was like, “This is it. This is my scripture.”

There’s nothing fancy or special about it (beyond being the word of God, of course)—it just felt right. I love this whole psalm, and especially verse 11, which states: “You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.”

It doesn’t get any more new-year than that, eh? But the rest of it is so good as well.

Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion,

and to you shall vows be performed.

O you who hear prayer,

to you shall all flesh come.

When iniquities prevail against me,

you atone for our transgressions.

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,

to dwell in your courts!

We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,

the holiness of your temple!

By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,

O God of our salvation,

the hope of all the ends of the earth

and of the farthest seas;

the one who by his strength established the mountains,

being girded with might;

who stills the roaring of the seas,

the roaring of their waves,

the tumult of the peoples,

so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.

You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

You visit the earth and water it;

you greatly enrich it;

the river of God is full of water;

you provide their grain,

for so you have prepared it.

You water its furrows abundantly,

settling its ridges,

softening it with showers,

and blessing its growth.

You crown the year with your bounty;

your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.

The pastures of the wilderness overflow,

the hills gird themselves with joy,

the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,

the valleys deck themselves with grain,

they shout and sing together for joy.

Psalm 65 pretty much summarizes everything I want to do this year.

#1: Praise God & find joy in His presence.

#2: Remember who God is & what He has done in the past.

#3: Recognize all that God is doing in my life & all around me.

This Psalm doesn’t reflect what I want 2025 to be about or what I think it will be like—it’s simply about who God is and always will be. It’s about the goodness and richness, the tender care, of a loving God who remains faithful through every season, every month, every year. And I think that matters more than any resolution or prediction.

There’s no sermon from me this year (at least, not in this post) and no songs; just that reminder.

Like the earth, may we experience the abundance of God this year. His blessings like rain. The grain that He provides. His atonement and righteousness. His joy in the evening and the morning, in the hills and the valleys, in the wilderness and the meadows.

What's your word or scripture or resolution for this year? How can you experience God more & grow in your faith in 2025? What will you remember about 2024?

#graceandgratitude #welcometo2025 #newyear #goals #updates #2025 #lifeupdate #yearlyupdate #wrapup #news #happynewyear #scriptureoftheyear #scripture #gratitude