Driving to my friend’s house last night for a NYE hangtime, I was listening to Emily Ann Roberts radio on Spotify when a song by Ashley Cooke came on:
“It’s been a year…
And I ain’t sayin’ it ain’t been a good one
It’s been a “did a lot more than I thought I could” one
It’s been 365 of record lows and record highs
Loving and losing, fun and confusing, praying and shifting gears
For the minutes you got, it’s probably a lot, more than you wanna hear
So all I’ll say is, it’s been a year…”
And boy oh boy did I feel that in the deeps of me.
For the last 12 years, on New Year’s Day, I’ve come to your internet screens with a prose of some sort — the start of a writing journey, a year in review recap, an introduction to my first book — and here I am again. It’s New Year’s Day 2026 and I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop next to my favorite fire doing what I’ve done year after year, looking back and looking ahead.
And truly, the best way I can sum up 2025 is that it has been a year. It feels like it lasted 3 days and 30 years all in the same breath. I celebrated the release of my first book in January 2025. I got to do a signing in my hometown in February. I had my annual Galentine’s sleepover in March. In April I had the honor of speaking at a women’s retreat for a local church. May brought baseball with my favorite boys on elementary diamonds. In June I got to take a deep, deep breath and enter into a 40 day sabbatical where I retreated to the dessert, spent time in Missouri rivers, played with my niece and nephew, and was reminded by my Grandma not to get any more tattoos where people could see them.
July had the honor of welcoming me into my next year of life with a few of my favorite people, as well as welcoming be back to work refreshed and renewed in my belovedness with Jesus. In August my parents and I got to visit Colorado — a trip cut short by my Grandma entering the hospital back home in Missouri.
Side note: shoutout to my sister for the way she cared for Grandma in those couple of days it took us to get home. She’s an MVP.
September started with our matriarch slipping from our arms to Jesus. And the rest of the year has been what some would call a blur. It has been fast and slow all at the same time.
I got the tattoo Grandma told me not to get, and it features her handwriting reminding me to “be faithful.”
And when I really think back on 2025, all of the moments — the record lows and record highs — have all been held by that commission. Be faithful.
The faithfulness of God and His people is draped over all of 2025. From the tears of celebration to the sobs of heartache, faithfulness has been the theme.
When I think about my friends — faithful.
When I think about my family, and the way we showed up for my grandma and for each other over the last 5 months — faithful.
When I think about my grandma and the way she lived and died — faithful.
When I think about myself and the way I worked, played, prayed, confessed, lamented, rested, got curious, laughed, grieved — faithful.
2026 has some showing up to do. Mostly because 2025 ended in a haze. But what I know I can count on 2026 for is more faithfulness. More connection. Deeper roots that form delicious fruit and nourish the soul.
I can count on this because of the faithfulness that has carried me through thus far. Because God is who He says He is. The experience we have had together has proven to me that He is trustworthy. He will be what I need Him to be. He will remain, and He will give me grace to do the same.
So, 2025, “I ain’t sayin it ain’t been a good one, it’s been a ‘did a lot more than I thought I could’ one…365 of record lows and record highs…”
What a year it has been.
Kayla Smith 