2025 RoundUp!

In 2024, I asked, "What is my Word for 2025?" God said, “Light, so much light”. In this context, light meant divine insight and revelation. Truly, 2025 was the year of light. The single decision to spend an additional hour with God daily had effects that rippled across all areas of my life. I received answers to questions without bending over backwards. I received strategic guidance that influenced the decisions I made at work and with my visionary assignments. I received counsel that helped me navigate difficult spaces in friendships and relationships. I received affirmation that encouraged me and anchored me in an unstable world. I received future blueprints that helped me prepare for what is being prepared for me. This is why I’m no longer surprised that “Propelled by Revelation” is my answer to the question, “If your 2025 was a book title, what would it be?” As a believer, God truly is our advantage.

Top Lessons

During my annual review, I saw the accomplishments of the year in my work and visionary assignments, and I also saw how certain decisions and attitudes to life made them possible. So, for this year’s roundup, I feel like focusing on the top lessons and less on the accomplishments (some are already on social media).

1. BE, do not perform. There is a peace that comes from being where God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do and not looking around at what others are doing. A question I asked the Lord a lot this year, whenever He asked me to do anything, was, “What is the success metric of this? How will I know this hit your mark?” This was crucial for me in 2025 because I had new assignments and did not want to spread myself too thin. This is important for you in 2026 so that you are not chasing the wrong stats. You are unique. You have a unique assignment. Therefore, your KPIs and success metrics with God will be different. Know what it is and act accordingly. Do not perform for others just to tick societal boxes.  You must be anchored in your identity in God to ensure you are not buffeted by algorithmic waves.  

   
   

2. Understand the capacity in each relationship. If you are like me and have different friendships/relationships across different areas of your life, then you must build competence in this area. Understand that even though your friends/family love you, they have different capacities on different issues in life. Do not put on them the wrong kind of weight because the response might be unfavourable. For example, not everyone will have the capacity to carry the real weight of your thought process or be there when you need them. It does not make them bad, it just means they did not have the capacity for what you needed. They might eventually grow into it, or they may not. It’s not a verdict on the value of the relationship. Discernment will be crucial in 2026.

   
   

3. Process your negative emotions with God. Life happens. Things go wrong. Before you speak to human beings, process your feelings, pain, or discomfort with God first. The process of doing that always provides the perspective that you would not have gotten if you did not start with God. This is one code that King David cracked. This is why you will read his Psalms where he is venting in anguish, and as you near the end, you notice that a switch has happened. He found a reason to give thanks. He found a reason to praise God that led to renewed hope. Of course, you can eventually speak to your friends, but I find that processing with God first actually adjusts how you speak on the issue. This is something I practice, and in 2025, I saw the usefulness in my life and the lives of those in my network. As you move into 2026, plan to process with God first.

   
   

4. Personal reinvention, like metamorphosis, requires discomfort, but the results are rewarding. Do not be content to stay the same. God wants more for you, and more looks different from person to person. However, every person desiring change will experience the discomfort needed for metamorphosis to be complete. A butterfly starts out being an egg, then progresses to becoming a caterpillar. At its full caterpillar size, it forms a protective casing called a chrysalis. Being in a chrysalis is surrendering to darkness willingly. It seems nothing is going on from the outside. But inside, diverse changes begin to happen within this chrysalis to birth something new. When it's time for the adult butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis, it seems difficult. It looks like it’s struggling for life. But that process actually strengthens its newly formed wings to soar. If you try to help it, you destroy its full potential. But when it emerges, it is a beauty to behold. Do not be afraid to morph into the new identity God is calling you to in 2026. Do not be afraid to restructure your assignments, close some chapters and step into the new. Metamorphosis is uncomfortable, but the results are rewarding.

   
   

5. Stillness is strength. During the year, I had to take some time off work and move out of my place in Brooklyn. God provided a place, temporarily in New Jersey. So I asked, “Why here, why now?” He put a song in my heart, and this part of the lyrics got my attention:

   “Away, away, away, away from the noise

Alone with You

Way, away to hear Your voice

And meet with You

Nothing else matters"

When I looked around my life, all I really needed, God had provided. It really wasn’t too much for Him to ask that of me. That period was a spiritual reset and a creative factory. I studied a lot for one of my future assignments and developed a lot of the thought leadership resources we released this year (reports, white papers, books, checklists). I also got the chance to spend longer hours with God daily, journal, sleep, rest, and eat. Months after, when I resumed work and moved back to New York, I understood in real terms what is meant by “eat, for the journey is far”. If you sense God calling you to an in-depth season of stillness in 2026, do not fret. Leverage the season appropriately. In fact, we must all cultivate a daily discipline of stillness. It is a valuable spiritual discipline, and I definitely have too much proof of its usefulness. So, look around your life daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly to schedule times of solitude and stillness in 2026. It will radically transform your life.

As the year begins, move in courage and obedience. As for me, I'm going through open doors. May 2026 usher you into steady growth and progress.

Happy New Year!

(Did you miss last year’s roundup? See here)