THE COSTLY YEAR…

This year was costly, but what you learned was priceless.

You lost some of your friends and had to leave many rooms.

You laid down many dreams and hung up your old mantle.

You let God be your vindicator when you were unjustly accused & betrayed.

You had to wash off the slime of words & endless chatter to keep your heart right.

You crawled into a cocoon season and watched as every door closed and every seed in your hand fell to the ground and died.

Yet God was brooding like never before over you, pulling you out, pulling you higher, and rescuing you from what you couldn’t see.

So yeah, it was costly, but next year you will see it was a rescue, an intervention, and a promotion to the surrendered hearts.

A year God turned on the lights, chased the snakes from your basement, foxes from your vineyard, and gave you back your wings.

But what you also don’t see is that this year God rearranged your life, removed the contaminants, and reset your foundations.

In your eyes, you just poured yourself out, emptied yourself completely, and felt the deepest, most painful process of surrender and death to the old.

I keep seeing the picture of us as an old wineskin being poured out at his feet.

Leaning into the call to give our last drops of an old season and let him rupture our mindsets, and rend our hearts.

You knew you were called to it, but it didn't make it any easier when people around you thought you were losing the plot.

It was a sacrifice of worship to remain at Jesus’ feet rather than chase comfort.

It's the picture of Mary pouring expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus. (John 12:1-8)

Perfume that costs a year’s wages. It was an unnecessary sacrifice to some who watched, but to her it was a worship.

And what she didn't know was that she was preparing Jesus for burial.

Her act of worship, which was costly, released a fragrance and blessed the King of kings.

And this year was another display of worship. A laying down. A death. Yet it released something you don't see yet.

It was a burial, yet it also anointed you for your NEXT steps.

So if this speaks to you, know this: the seeds that fell to the ground will be resurrected and multiply in 2026.

Well done for doing what few do in crisis - worship, wait on the lord, and surrender.

Well done, even if you feel like you didn’t do it all right and you wrestled God in the middle of it…(we all did)

The truth is, you eventually laid yourself down…in what you will look back and see was the most costly year.

A PRICELESS year, because of what is going to flow forth from the oil that developed within the toil of this year, into your future and even generations to come.

A year God broke what was on your back, and mantled you afresh.

A year you poured yourself out at Jesus’ feet, and He opened up the windows of Heaven over your life.