#1 How Are We Doing?
Find peace, and everything will fall into place
As I am writing this newsletter, we are just one week into 2026. We’re still in that annual brief moment when we’re more aware of our fears, expectations, hopes, and anticipations of the year ahead. It is that time when we have time to reflect and ponder before the rush of modern life dunks us into the burden of loaded schedules, allowing mere fragmented timeouts, moments orchestrating survival and seldom thrival.
These days, I’ve heard murmurs infused with fear and anxiety over what awaits. The odds are that either good or bad may transpire over the next 51 weeks of 2026. Yet, our minds are clouded in fear of disease, financial insecurity, global news, climate change, and crime, all terms we’ve almost become desensitized to. Closer to home, to our hearts, there are concerns for loved ones, being rejected, feeling trapped in relationships that no longer bloom as they once did. Insecurity infuses so many aspects of our lives. There are so many reasons to be fearful and concerned, and the bad taste 2020 left on the palette seems to be lingering, stomping on the most delicate buds of hope in our hearts.
Why shouldn’t we just throw in the towel now already?
Are there any good reasons not to armor ourselves by expecting the worst?
Isn’t that an effective way to shield our hearts from being hurt once again?
When we are fixated on the seen, the physical reality of existence, it is easy to be dismayed, to be stuck in a state of desperation, fear, and overwhelming anxiety. However, once we move our focus beyond physical boundaries and explore the greater part of our existence, soul and spirit, so many of the modern-day and very relevant fears disappear.
But we can only find confidence in knowing this when we’re living in awareness of our soul’s existence, and that can be a tall order, as society operates on distraction. Our focus is currency, and the aim is to keep us so mentally occupied that there is no time for recognition of the soul. As long as this connection is absent, it is even harder to derive our strength and power from the spirit within. We remain mere pawns to a much greater game in life, a game often beyond our own understanding.
Horatio Spafford’s words come to mind, “It is well with my soul.”
For those unfamiliar with the story behind the words of the well-known hymn, Spafford wrote them after experiencing immense tragedy: the loss of his wife and four daughters at sea, after also losing his business in the Great Chicago Fire. Spafford was a man connected to his soul. He knew that while earthly tragedies can hit hard, his soul is protected by the Holy Spirit within him, and that it was where his strength came from.
This connection with his soul’s existence served as testimony to what we read in 2 Tim 1:7: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
We can also enter the year with power, love, and a sound mind, regardless of what threats we’re facing.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll explore a series of steps that guide us toward greater engagement with our souls.
But for now, the first step is to grab a pen and paper to reflect in writing on the following questions:
- How is your soul doing?
- What fears have quietly taken up residence in your thoughts as this new year begins—and which of them are tied to your physical survival rather than your soul’s safety?
- In what ways have you been armoring yourself by expecting the worst, and what has that armor cost you in hope, tenderness, or trust?
- Where in your life do you feel disconnected from your soul, and what distractions or demands have slowly pulled you away from that inner awareness?
- What would it look like for you to say, truthfully—not perfectly—“It is well with my soul” today, even if your circumstances remain uncertain?
May it be well with your soul.
Until next week.
My Being in Words 