Bring something back to life, to repair what has been broken, to return something to the condition it was always meant to be in.
My one word for 2026 is restore.
Cancer, grief, and life on this side of heaven broke me for many years. Trusting people outside the walls of my home also broke something in me. Year after year I found myself stepping back into the shadows of doubt and uncertainty. I was letting life dictate who I was instead of living from who God says I am.
Three years ago I was rear ended in a car wreck. It came on the heels of that season and became a defining moment for me. It was the moment I finally said enough is enough. It was the moment I began praying healing into my life instead of only surviving what was happening to me.
It came after many years of carrying more than I ever expected to carry. The quiet grief of losing people I loved. The weight of cancer that marked my body and my heart. All of it shaped me in ways I did not understand at the time and yet God was already working beneath the surface beginning a healing long before I knew I needed it.
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| This picture is not about weight loss. It is about healing from the inside spiritually and physically to become restored to the person that God has called me to be. |
This was not something that happened overnight. It has been decades of life shaping me through hardship and God reshaping me through grace. Through every obstacle God was healing something deeper in me. He was rebuilding what I could not see yet. He was lighting a fire in me for a deeper love and understanding of Jesus not the surface kind of faith but the kind that carries you through suffering and brings you back to life again.
Now I feel ready to move beyond healing into restoring what the brokenness took away. This year I feel a deep longing to let the old worn down version of me fall away. I am ready to step forward into who God always intended me to be. I want to live without fear shaping my choices and without lies defining my identity. I want to walk in truth in confidence in peace and in purpose.
Restore for me is physical. It is emotional. It is spiritual. It is personal. It is God gently putting back together what life has worn down and reminding me that nothing was wasted. Not the pain. Not the waiting. Not the tears. Not the questions.
Restore at home
Restore is also happening in our home.
We are working room by room to restore the house where we raised our boys. This home has been our safe place while the world outside these walls felt chaotic and dark. The people inside these walls are our peace. God is our everything and He gave us Team Robinson and the closeness we share to walk through what life was throwing at us.
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We prayed together. We searched for answers together. We held on together with God as the glue that kept us steady when everything else felt uncertain.
We are restoring our home without erasing the memories the stories and the personalities that grew here. We are honoring what was while making space for what is coming next.
This is not about becoming someone new. It is about returning to who I was created to be before the world told me otherwise.
Restore with intention
Restore is not just a word for me. It comes with action.
I am choosing to keep getting to know God personally and deeply not just about Him but who He is so that when lies come I will not waver. I am choosing to know who I am as His daughter as a woman created in His image so that I no longer let the world define me.
This is how restoration will take root in my life. Through truth. Through relationship. Through identity.
So I am walking into 2026 with open hands and a hopeful heart trusting a faithful God to restore what He wants restored in me and believing He is not finished yet.
When I look at Jesus on the cross I see the heart of a God who restores. He stepped into brokenness so that brokenness would not have the final word. And because of Him I trust the promise in Joel 2:25 that God restores even the years that felt lost. I am walking into that promise with hope.
“I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.” Joel 2:25
A Moment to Reflect
If this word resonates with you take a few quiet moments and sit with these questions:
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What parts of you feel tired, worn or in need of restoring right now
What have you been carrying that God never meant for you to carry alone
Where do you still find yourself shrinking back instead of stepping forward
What would it look like for you to live fully from who God says you are
What are you being invited to release so restoration can make room
What do you sense God restoring in this season of your life
Praying for Restoration
God thank You for being a restorer. Thank You for seeing every part of our story and never wasting any of it. Thank You for the healing that has already taken place and for the restoration that is still unfolding. We give You the places in our hearts, our bodies, and our lives that still feel tired, broken or uncertain. Gently restore what life has worn down. Restore our peace. Restore our joy. Restore our trust. Restore our hope. Help us live from truth, not fear, from identity, not insecurity and from faith, not doubt. We trust You with what You are doing even when we cannot see it yet. Amen.
I would love to hear from you! Please say hello in the comments and let me know if you are in a season of restoration, and let me know how I can pray for you.
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