If 2026 Hasn’t Gone to Plan, Read This

We’re already in the second month of 2026 — and honestly, I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.

A new year has a way of stirring something in us. We pause. We reflect. We take stock. We set goals. We try again. There’s this quiet optimism that rises up — maybe this will be the year. The year things finally shift. The year we feel steady. The year we become who we hoped we’d be.

But I don’t know how your year has started. And I also know, from conversations and from what I’m seeing, that for many people it hasn’t unfolded the way they were hoping. On top of that, there’s an ongoing heaviness so many are carrying — challenges in their lives and families, the state of the world, and the pain some are feeling around parts of the church. And for many, there’s also something more personal: the ache of regret… choices they wish they could undo… moments they wish they could rewrite.

If that’s you, I want to start by saying this: you are not alone. There are many in the same boat. And I want to remind you of something that has been anchoring me lately — something that isn’t just a nice thought, but a promise you can lean your full weight on:

Every day comes with a fresh outpouring of His grace and mercy.
Grace that covers our mistakes and our missteps.
Grace that meets us in our weakness.
Grace that empowers us to face today — not by striving harder, but by walking with Him, with Him working around us, in us, and through us.

Lamentations 3:22–23 puts it this way:

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

God has been reminding me of this truth a lot lately. I keep seeing the number 322, and it immediately points me back to these words. Some mornings, I’ll wake up and look out the window and simply thank Him: Your mercies are new again today. And when the day starts to feel heavy — when I feel overwhelmed, distracted, or like I’m losing perspective — I come back to this verse like I’m returning to solid ground.

And I want to encourage you: those mercies are available to you, too. He is not running low. There is more than enough to go around. And as we pause to reflect on His love, mercy, and faithfulness, we’re also invited to do something brave and freeing: to release what we’ve been carrying to Him — the burdens, the disappointments, the regrets, the things we can’t change, the things we’re tired of holding.

Maybe this is your reminder.

If so, why not take five minutes right now? Sit with the reality of Lamentations 3:22–23. Let it sink deeper than your thoughts — into your heart. Hand Him what’s weighing you down. Name it. Release it. And then breathe.

Because we don’t have to wait for a new year to begin again. A fresh start is not a date on the calendar — it’s a mercy that arrives every morning.