3 Things to Bring Into 2026 (and 3 Things to Leave Behind)

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:18-19).

Stretchy clothes? Check.

Warm cup of tea? Check.

Journal and questions to ponder? Check.

Heart ready? Not quite.

In that quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s, one of my favorite rhythms is to carve out time for reflection on the last 12 months. Blankets and fluffy socks, favorite pen and dot paper pages, all ready.

But as I prepare to sit down this year, something is off. I don’t want to reflect. I don’t want to ponder. I don’t really want to “do the work.”

This year, I came limping into Christmas break after months of working days, nights and weekends. After an extended “just get through today” season, my heart felt dry, my mind drained, and a refrain somewhere deep in my gut kept whispering, “You failed this year.”

It’s hard to type that – but when you look back on a season, does your heart immediately settle on the hard places? Me, too. I didn’t see answers to some heart-cry prayers. I didn’t make the progress I wanted to make.

But I still pulled out my journal and pen, my warm cup of tea in hand, and I forced my mind to go to that place in my heart where thanking God rises above disappointed replays.

My hand scrawled out dozens of ways God guided and blessed my family this year. I circled and underlined and looked at this list of good things. Very good things. I saw the ways He’d moved, the unexpected answers to unuttered prayers. And God reminded me, for those longings that haven’t yet happened, of how He met my heart and promised to keep it safe in the waiting, even as He answered so many other prayers in abundance.

My list overflowed with evidence of our very faithful God.

What if I hadn’t sat with Jesus to write these things down? Would those two or three or four unanswered prayers overshadow the dozens of ways God poured blessings over our lives?

Friend, are you also struggling with what the last year brought for you? Are you also holding unanswered longings as you step into this new year?

What if we could find instruction from our faithful God for how to hold this tension?

For the last year, a sticker with this verse has graced my laptop:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).

As we usher in this new year, I see something here that I hadn’t before – I see an answer to this tension.

This beautiful promise holds both hope and instruction.

Here in this verse, we see a roadmap for both what to leave behind in 2025 and what to carry into 2026.

What to Leave Behind in 2025

1. The Former Things

We carry wounds, don’t we? My own heart was fixated on a small corner of pain that had crowded out my vision of all the good God was facilitating in other places. This verse invites us to believe that God has plans that will take us to a new place – that His plans are not to harm us, but to give us a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Sometimes, the former things keep us from seeing the new things. We can invite God into the wounds that occupy our hearts and trust Him with our healing. And when God asks us to leave the former things behind, He is inviting us to see what He is doing ahead.

2. Our Past Dwellings

Indeed, some of my longings have not yet unfolded in ways that I’d call “answered prayers,” but that doesn’t mean that God is doing it wrong. Sometimes, it’s our perspective that needs tweaking. The Israelites grumbled and complained, romanticizing their time in Egypt when they didn’t like what was happening in the wilderness. They dwelled in the past and overlooked that God was literally making a way in the wasteland. Their perspective needed a kick in the pants – and sometimes so does mine. I can dwell on my disappointment, or I can look at where God led, provided for, answered, and protected. God’s instruction not to dwell on the past is an invitation to join Him as He moves ahead.

3. A Wasteland of Lies

The lies I heard that made me not want to sit with Jesus almost kept me from seeing God’s truth. Comparison can take us out. Imposter syndrome can shut us down. Fear of failure can quiet our voices. Those lies can feel real. But God has promised that He is making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. That means we need not remain in the wasteland – we can join Him for the better He has planned.

What to Bring into 2026:

1. Watchful Eyes

If we believe that God is doing a new thing (hint: He is) and if we trust that He goes before and behind us (Psalm 139:5), then we will keep our eyes fixed on the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) instead of on our plans. When God says, “See! Behold. Look. I am doing a NEW thing,” He invites us to see what He is already doing. In Hebrew, “new” is ḥāḏāš, which means a fresh thing. God is doing a brand-new thing – and HE is the one doing it. Not us.

2. Expectant Hearts

From watchful eyes come expectant hearts. If we see that He is doing a new thing, we will also see it spring up. When God asks, “Do you not perceive it?” He is asking if we KNOW it. Do we know that He is at work right in front of us? If we KNOW that He is doing a new thing, we will be expectant.

3. Willing Feet

Let’s review – if He is asking us to forget the former, that means that what’s to come is better. That means, if we trade seeing what was for what now is, we will want to see the new way He is creating. Even in the face of unanswered prayers, He is making a way. When we believe that God is already at work on our behalf, we can hold our disappointment alongside this truth.

When we walk with Him where He is at work, the wilderness tames, and the wasteland becomes lush.

Friend, what are you holding? What do you need to lay down from 2025? And what do you need to cling to as you begin 2026?

I pray that when God asks, “See! Do you not perceive it?” we will answer, “Yes, Lord, we see it!” May we not just see that He is doing something new, but also hold a knowing inside that what waits will be good. May we, with expectant hearts and willing feet, join Him where He is.