“I will make known the Lord’s faithful love
and the Lord’s praiseworthy acts,
because of all the Lord has done for us—
even the many good things
he has done for the house of Israel,
which he did for them based on his compassion
and the abundance of his faithful love.
He said, “They are indeed my people,
children who will not be disloyal,”
and he became their Savior.
In all their suffering, he suffered,
and the angel of his presence saved them.
He redeemed them
because of his love and compassion;
he lifted them up and carried them
all the days of the past.”
Isaiah 63:7-9 CSB
2025 is about to end — can you believe it? As we settle our hearts after the celebrations and chaos of the holidays, let’s pause and remember God’s faithfulness this year. We would love to hear from you:
- What prayers have been answered?
- At what moments did you see or hear God clearly?
- Who in your life has shown you more of God?
- When things were hard, how did you experience God’s nearness?
God loves us more than we can imagine. We are His people, His children. God is and has been steady, unshaken, present, and compassionate in the midst of all that this year has brought.
Breathe in God’s grace for you. It is enough.
*Friends, we have an important update for you. After four incredible years and over 1.2 million downloads, the (in)courage podcast is coming to a close. The podcast episodes will not be available after the 1st of the year. We hope you’ll continue to join us for inspiration and encouragement for your heart at incourage.me. Thanks for listening.
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Wow! I truly enjoyed listening everyday for the last 4 years. Will definitely miss the encouraging messages, they truly added to my day and life. Thank you all! Will definitely re-listen every episode that I’ve downloaded.
God has been very faithful this year like all my life. I might not have seen it. Day after day he wakes me to enjoy another day in his beautiful world. It tells us that in Lamentations 3:22-23 it says ” The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is his faithfulness” how true theses world that our God is a faithful God. Like the songs also say. “What a faithful God have I” how true thoes words are too. God is Faithful. “This is Day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord praise the Lord” Psalm 150:6 So we have lots to be faithful about in our Lord. This year and every year. Lots to thank God for also. As saying I once saw says God gave you 84,0000 minutes this day. Have you used one to say thank you God? I had to think about that say thank you God for this day for being alive. The list go on and on. Loved today’s reading. Love Dawn Ferguson-Little Enniskillen Co.Fermanagh N.Ireland in my prayers all incourage. May God richly bless you all for this work you do for him and bless your families. Xx
The news is very very sad! Each and every day I read the posts which give me hope, encouragement and inspiration. At times when I feel overwhelmed or anxious reading (in)courage helped restore my peace.
Thank you to all. The world needs more people like you.
Gods peace and blessings to each of you.
Thankful,
Mary
So many blessings this year. Last year my mother was in the middle of cancer treatments for Christmas and it was horrible. This year PTL we had her with us to celebrate and we enjoyed three beautiful days together.
In May, I unexpectedly lost my job of 9+ years which led me to writing “Plans Far Greater” weekly posts on Substack to encourage Christian women in their faith.
We also waited patiently (and impatiently at times) for God to bring an opportunity for my son to begin his electrical apprenticeship. In God’s perfect timing He provided an awesome job with an amazing local company that, even after his months of research and applications, we never even knew existed.
God never ceases to amaze me. He is truly always working in the background on our behalf, even when we may not feel his presence. God is faithful.
This was a tough year for my family. My 42 year old daughter, the mother of a sweet 2 year old girl, was diagnosed with Colon Cancer, had a colon resection, went through 6 months of chemotherapy…….and has now had a clear CT scan and clear blood work.
My sister died this October from Uterine Cancer. She suffered through treatments for 2 years, and was finally released from her ravaged body. God heard my family’s prayers for both my daughter and my sister. Prayers were answered for them both. Through all their suffering, our family grew closer to God; they grew closer to God. We trusted in His plan. Even though my sister’s healing had to come at her death, we know that she is living her new best life with God in Heaven. God is so very good! His amazing grace will see us through anything and everything.
This was another tough year for my family as almost all of them are splintered off, but we are beginning to see signs of Hope and peace! We actually sat down on Christmas day to a beautiful meal with 2 of them and there was peace! We continue to pray and give God the glory!
I look forward to reading these incouragements every morning! God bless you! Hugs and prayers ❤️
I was unable to listen to the podcasts as I am 78 years old and didn’t even know how or where to go to get them, but I faithfully read the (in)courage devotions every single morning. I am so sorry for all of you that loved the podcasts. I know I would have loved them had I been able to hear them. I have had a very dark 2025, unfortunately, the whole year. Sometimes emotional pain can be as bad if not worse that physical pain and I know how that feels too with many operations over the earlier years. While I have many, the absolutely worse problem that I have suffered from for 5 years now is my one son (51 at the time) called me and said he no longer considered me his mother and called me quite a few obscene names, but the hardest part of this phone call was that he and his wife would no longer allow me to see or even talk to me ever again and he hung up on me. My grandson was barely 11 then and now is approaching 16 in 2026. He was and is the light of my life and they have told him things about me that were not true, obviously to have him hate me the way they do. We had such a warm and close relationship up to when this happened. I pray to Jesus all the time and ask for help. So far, there has been no communication except for horrible emails from my 55 year old son now. I continue to have HOPE that things will change. God works in His own timeline, so I need to be patient. Many days that is hard, but I refuse to give up as I am not at fault for what happened. I wish all of you in the (in)courage community and leave comments that I read when I have time, A Very Happy New Year and may we all be Blessed with some solutions to our pain and heartache….Love, Betsy Basile
Thank You God for every answered prayer this year! You have been so faithful and kind always, thank you! Thank you for protecting, providing for and healing my family and I. Thank You for healing my dog peanut and for another year with him! Thank You God for being near always and for lavishing Your blessings on us all. Thank you for giving me contentment at all times. Thank you for watching over me to start working out this year. May I continue to work out in the next year and always. Thank you God for healthy food and that I am able to buy, cook and eat healthy food everyday. Thank You for being with us in the hard times and for always giving us just what we need when we need it. I love You. Thank You. Please bless this new year. In Jesus’ Name, amen!
Jeremiah 29:11-12
Romans 8:28-29
“Our God Is An Awesome God” – indeed He is – and the power of prayer is also awesome. God is always with my family and dear friends – even though we don’t always recognize it “in the heat of the moment”. The hardest moment was actually rolling from 2024 into 2025, my Dad was hospitalized 3 times, each with some form of pneumonia and heart failure. The last time which was this time last year, celebrating the new year in the hospital. I say last because, thank God, he hasn’t been back this year and is doing much better. I say celebrate because the nurse who helped my Dad be brave enough to take a much needed CT scan never worked nights but it was New Years and the hospital was having a hard time filling vacant slots – Nurse Cody agreed to come in and happened to be the nurse on the floor my Dad was on – I believe Nurse Cody was an angel. I don’t know why it’s hard to ask for prayers – I don’t usually do that – I love to pray for others but find it hard to ask for a prayer. I reached out to my closest friends at that time because I felt like I just didn’t have the strength any more to fight for my Dad – and beautifully they all prayed – we all prayed – and my Dad returned home and has been doing much better. Nurse Cody, dear friends, prayer, and the little signs God is watching (and my Mom who is with Him is watching) like a cardinal, butterfly, just that feeling of peace – thank you!
Taking a moment to breathe – and breathe in God’s grace – how awesome.
On October 1, I had chest pains that I initially thought was indigestion, but as the pain worsened, I asked God to tell me what to do. I very clearly heard “go to the hospital”. My husband drove me to the ER where they determined I’d had a heart attack due to a total blockage of the “widowmaker”. 37 minutes later, I had a stent and the blockage was cleared. I went home 2 days later. During the entire ordeal, I was at complete peace with absolutely no fear because God clearly had his hand all over this. I know God has more things planned for me and I’m going into 2026 with great expectations and thankfulness.
2025 has been a very hard year for my family… But God! I have seen him all through losing my mom to congestive heart failure in March, my dad 3 months later from a stroke (We believe also from a broken heart as he was so sad after losing Momma), then my PawPaw a month later from a stroke. God has definitely been here with us this year and has brought our family closer.
Courtney, I pray that you will feel God’s arms around you in your grief. May you find some joy in memories
Thank you for the inspiration each day. I will miss hearing the podcast as part of my morning. God bless.
I think I’m reminded of His nearness by being able to spend quiet time with Him, for example, in reading these articles. I feel like it helps to remind me that He is with us in our everyday, good or bad, highs and lows and everywhere in between.
I have also found that quiet time with Him in any format is a blessing and a discipline. It’s important to connect with Him and remember His faithfulness. I think even quiet little prayer moments help with that.
Also, I have been having some ongoing health challenges for the past couple years and it has been real challenging at times to focus on the bright side and to not focus on the negatives.
So, I feel like that might be something He would want me to focus on this upcoming year. I have so much to be thankful for and there is goodness to be found even in the struggles.
Sad to see this end, it’s been very impactful. Thank you to everyone who contributed to it’s success, for all the stories shared. May the Lord continue to be glorified in the messages of incourage.me