~ JEAN HERSHEY
The Shape of a Year
Good Monday to you, my friends, and a rather belated Happy New Year!
We’re only 12 days in, and I would have to say that 2026 is already shaping uo to be an interesting year, perhaps a year in which I need to keep my expectations low and hold my time loosely because so far nothing has gone according to plan.
My word for 2026 is STEWARD which I’m discovering early on includes stewarding my time. The Lord has graciously shown me already, that while I am over here making my plans and desperately trying to hold on to some symblance of tradition, He is doing a new thing, “can you not perceive it?”, and the truth is, I’ve been trying to ignore it because well, I liked my life just as it was, thank you, but before I dive too heavily into uthat, I want to take a few minutes to look back on 2025, as it holds much encouragement for the coming year, and I am already feeling the need for that!
For over a decade now, usually around mid-autumn, I have prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to speak a word over my life for the coming year, and in 2025 that word was QUIET.
It’s never what I expect it to be. I commonly have other words in mind, but He is always faithful to confirm, and this year, as with every other, when I reflect back on the passing year it is obvious and evident.
This year it started off rather tangibly. In January when many in our area got just a dusting to an inch of snow, we got about 5-6 inches. Not much by some standards, but on top of that was a thick layer of ice, and because our property is so heavily wooded, we were stranded for several days. A week later we got another round which added about another 3 inches, and extended our adventure….the world literally, grew very quiet. Though we never lost power, being physically cut off from society and unable to leave home strengthened our dependance on Him and each other, which unbeknownst to us at the time, we would desperately need just a few months later.
By now most of you know that in April of this past year our daughter, Katelin Sayles and her now husband, Cooper Sayles were involved in a near fatal car accident. Cooper sustained some physical injuries, though thankfully they were not life threatening, but Katelin’s injuries were significant.
Nothing prepares you for a moment like that. Prior to that day as similar stories would often cross my social media feed, I often thought that if that ever happened to someone I loved, I might die on the spot. I remember standing on the side of that rural country road. The sheriff wouldn’t let us come any closer, but I could see enough to know what the outcomes typically were. In that moment, I cried out, in a voice I didn’t recognize, originating from a place so deep within me I didn’t know it existed. I bonded with the Father heart of God in a way I had never experienced and heaven answered with . . . quiet.
- A quiet peace that suddenly filled me, not even with the assurance that Kate would live, but knowing that regardless of the outcome, He was a good God and He was and would continue to watch over us.
- A quiet confidence, that He had forseen this moment since the foundations of the earth. I fully related to my Lord as my shepherd, as He faithfully lead us “through the valley of the shadow of death”. I instinctively knew to follow close and keep my eyes on Him, as He led the way. Even when I initially questioned her being taken to Roanoke instead of Charlottesville, it quickly became evident this was the perfect path.
- A quiet strength. Words cannot convey how greatful we were and still are for our community and for the million tangible ways they held us up in that season. Where to sleep, what to eat, how to take care of Kate’s beloved dog, Bandit. If we entertained a question for a second, someone was already there with the answer. Even the simplest thing like when my phone wouldn’t quit going off as we were sitting in the ER, and my beloved Juanita Cook took it and managed, somehow, talking to people she didn’t even know, discerning the sudden uptick in friends requests on FB, to quiet the noise. I will NEVER be able to repay any of them for the ways they ministered to us in that season and continue to do so to this day.
- A quiet season. And this, even now I find it hard to express. I had read in the word about the Holy Spirit interceding for us, but in those days I lived it. From the moment God reached down from heaven and tucked me beneath the shadow of His wing, my soul grew quiet. You don’t know what to think in moments like that, how to pray. You know the outcome you desire, but do you dare to hope? What if that is not God’s plan, what then? My heart and my mind were so jumbled with racing thoughts, I was initially filled with so much fear. . .I couldn’t form the words. And then I felt it, and the only way I can describe it is that it felt like, and I suppose was, a transfer of energy. I couldn’t make sense of anything, all I knew was what was right in front of me, all I heard was whatever the next doctor or nurse was telling me, and if not for the power of the Holy Spirit it would have overwhelmed me. But He took it, all that tangled mess, and He made it make sense, He interceded for me. When I couldn’t pray….He did. What was happening in the spiritual, physically manifested in my body but even now I cannot find the words to convey. All I know is that in those days and weeks and months, and at times, even now. . .in the midst of all that noise, my heart was . . . quiet. You can’t think? You don’t know how to pray? You can’t read? You don’t understand what you are being told? It’s ok, He whispered, I can, and He did.
I was often reminded in that time of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Our world was shaken, but God was not in the earthquake. The fierce winds of fear and doubt were blowing, but God was not in the wind. We were being tested by a fiery trial, but God was not in the fire.
And then….a still small voice.
But to hear His voice, when your foundations are rumbling, the roar of the wind is on every side, and life threatens to consume you like fire…..you must find that place, there in the center…..is the quiet, that is where He is waiting.
He always knows my need, long before I do. Before I even know the question, He provides the answer, and this year that answer was….quiet.
As I mentioned earlier, fir 2026 my word is . . .
STEWARD
and I am curious and expectant!
All praise to Him, and glory, forever!
2015 - Goodness
2016 - Trust
2017 - Joy
2018 - Rest
2019 - Glory
2020- Dwell
2021 - Seek
2022 - Yearn
2023 - Restore
2024 - Trust (Again!)
2025 - Quiet
2026 - Steward
❈