Maybe January feels like a hinge month. Like what happens the rest of the year rests on what you do with this one month.

You feel all kinds of pressure to pick the right New Year's resolutions, the perfect word of the year, the habits that will stack up to lifestyle change. You write and rewrite your measurable goals, your keep and let-go list, your personal mission statement.

Perhaps you're fed up with merely existing. You long for depth, clarity, connection. And January, you determine, is the tone-setter for the remaining months. The mark of your maximum braveness. The hinge-point for 2026.

Or it might be time to step into something that has been a long time coming. You feel more inadequate than excited, here on the precipice of a brand new season.

First, a confession: I'm here with you–both hopeful for this year and overthinking how to best embrace January. I'm doing the thing I've been preparing years for, but it feels lonelier than I expected. I'm writing more slowly than ever. Looking forward to actual up-comings–a finished manuscript, rounds of editing, choosing a cover, sharing with you what I've been co-creating with God–is entirely different than anticipating the possibility of it all.

Second, an invitation: step back into ancient, soon-to-be Israel with me as we simplify how to transition well. I find uncanny relevance in the book of Joshua. It's a significant season in Israel's history as they leave the wilderness and step into God's promise. Inside Joshua's story are powerful yet simple tools to take with us into 2026.

Links mentioned:

1. Gifts and Gratitudes journal from Ann Voskamp.

2. To help you begin a year-round gratitude practice, sign up HERE to get a gratitude story in your inbox each week.

3. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.

4. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

Okay, Lord, I get it. My stubborn insistence that I never need help is the opposite of koinonia.

Koinonia is a lighter way to live.

An easier way to breathe.

It takes the shape of rest–right in the middle of writing a book. Looks like a yes to relationship-building, which is wired in all of us, by God's design.

Every time you link arms, share a burden, trust a friend with your confession, unite in prayer, accept help, or make space around your table, a little light gets in under your shell. Your got-to-keep it together begins to erode. Your self-defeating assumptions are deflated. Your insecurities are dethroned.

But koinonia with God is where it begins. There's no sweeter fellowship than with God's son. No conversation more life-transforming than with the Word of God. No bond more true than you can have between God and you.

Links mentioned:

1. Find the Instagram carousel fromWholeHearted Enneagram here for encouragement for the rest of the Enneagram numbers.

2. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.

3. Read the written version of this episode HERE.

When we read primarily to check a box, it's only a matter of time before we check out. If we read out of guilt or obligation, we approach the Word already bored. If we expect the words to go over our head, we'll forget God promises us wisdom if we'll only ask (James 1:5). And if we give up before we get started, we'll never give the Word a chance to become our lifeline in crisis, our won't-miss rhythm, our reassurance of God's with-ness.

Links mentioned:

1. For shorter, guided plans, check out the ones on YouVersion.
2. Mary Demuth's 90-day Bible reading challenge.
3. Ann Voskamp's Sacred Prayer journal.
4. To get a short, doable tip in your inbox every week to help you get to know your neighbors, sign up HERE.
5. Read the written version of this episode HERE.