2025 turned out to be a wild ride for us.
We entered the Christmas season of 2024 on a high note. We had just published our book, Christmas Rediscovered.
But before the year ended, I had an eye crisis. My left eye was partially removed in December 2024.
I began 2025 trying to adjust to the “new normal” of vision. I had begun writing another book prior to the eye crisis. God said to continue. So with my “new normal,” I wrote.
Then in the depths of a Kentucky winter, Jay got the flu. He was very ill for weeks. Then I got the flu. Jay and I communicated with barks for awhile.
But I kept writing and even while battling the flu, Jay took care of editing and all the myriad of other things that go into book publication.
On March 25,2025, Sent From Heaven was published. It was our true miracle book!
The cold winter turned into a beautiful Kentucky spring. We were once again on a high note. Both books were (and are) available for purchase through Amazon.
Besides that, we put the audio versions on my blog site. You can click on the title of the book at the top of the home page and I will be happy to tell you the story!
Then came summer. Jay developed a spontaneous nosebleed, which required emergency room intervention to get it stopped.
A week later what started as neck pain for me turned out to be the beginning of a new crisis.
Basically my neck bones were putting pressure on my spinal cord. The pressure caused a variety of neurological symptoms.
In July, I had neck surgery to relieve the cervical spine compression. The positive results were worth the pain and agony that followed, but still recovery was long and brutal.
I am happy to report I have made steady progress. I am able to walk again, and even dance! I can feel parts of my body I could not feel before surgery. I can write again!
Beyond that, we were given so many other gifts throughout our adventures this year. There were so many places where it looked like the end of the road … and then God miraculously intervened.
He brought kind, compassionate people into our life. We might never have met them except through the circumstances we were in.
We had the opportunity to pray for others and receive the blessings of prayers from others.
We were able to give books as gifts. God provided the books as “loaves and fishes” before we needed them. Our books have gone places we never imagined they would go.
Our family and friends from near and far kept up the prayer supports and encouragement.
It has also been a time of testing. We were faced with very difficult circumstances where we could not stand (literally and figuratively) on our own.
Old and new fears threatened our peace. We had to consider whether what we had professed as our faith in good times was really going to be true in unbelievably difficult times.
Jay taught me a Truth many years ago. He said, “Maybe you should stop asking why things happen as they do, and just seek to know what God wants you to know now.”
So what did we learn on this roller coaster ride in 2025?
Wherever we are, in whatever circumstances, we are with God.
God’s Timing is always perfect. The challenging things did not all happen at the same time.
God does not go with us. He does not follow us. We go with Him. We follow Him. Wherever we go or stay is the mission field.
Our circumstances do not change God’s Presence, God’s Promises or God’s Plan.
God has a Plan that is much bigger than us alone. Sometimes God works through us to minister to others. Sometimes God brings others into our life to minister to us.
God knows The Plan, but He does not always tell us the details. He said His Ways are not our ways.
We may not understand why things happen as they do, but we can trust God is going to bring everything together for good.
We will continue to do what Paul said we should do.
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer!
Romans 12:12
As we look toward 2026, we do so with profound gratitude for all our many blessings. Happy New Year to all of you!
May The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by The Power of The Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
