Ready…again.

Rooted and Renewed at the Turn of a New Year

I was ready.

At the end of December, I felt that familiar sense of anticipation that comes with a new year. Plans were taking shape. Notes were scribbled. The starting line felt clear. I had momentum and enthusiasm, and a quiet confidence about what was ahead.

There’s something about the turn of a year that invites reflection, whether we intend it to or not.

We look back on what has stretched us and what has changed us. We carry forward the same relationships, the same responsibilities, and often the same unresolved questions. The calendar turns, but life doesn’t neatly reset. And somewhere in that space between what was and what’s ahead, many of us feel the quiet weight of wanting to be more grounded than we currently feel.

When that sense of restlessness shows up, it’s common to start searching for clarity. We want help making sense of who we are and what we’re living for. We want wisdom for navigating complicated relationships, steadiness in our faith, and a sense of connection that feels real rather than rushed. Most of us are not looking for something flashy. We’re looking for something solid.

I wrote recently about a moment like that in my own life. It was a moment when plans slowed, momentum paused, and I had to pivot. What struck me most wasn’t the interruption itself, but what it revealed. When forward motion stopped, it became clear how much I needed to be anchored again in what God had already placed before me. That experience has been quietly shaping how I’ve been thinking about this next year, and about what it means to invite others into study and community again.

Why Colossians Has Been Meeting Me Here

As I’ve been returning to Scripture with that posture the book of Colossians has felt especially timely.

Paul writes to a church living with real pressures and real questions. They were trying to make sense of faith in a world full of persuasive ideas about identity, purpose, and wisdom. They were a lot like you and me – sincere believers trying to live faithfully while navigating voices that pulled their attention in different directions. Relatable? Yes!

What Colossians offers is a steady re-orientation of the heart and mind. Paul draws the church’s attention back to Christ His sufficiency, authority, and His ongoing work in shaping their lives. Over and over, the letter brings us back to the same grounding truth: growth flows from being rooted in Him.

Reading Colossians slowly, in this season, has reminded me that clarity often comes not from adding more, but from returning to what is central. The letter speaks into everyday life in the ways we think, how we relate to one another, how we endure difficulty. All of the words do this incredible work of anchoring us in who Christ is and what He has already accomplished.

I need this. You do too.

From Pivot to Invitation

That’s where the connection between that earlier pivot and this present invitation becomes clear for me.

The pause the Lord asked of me was a re-ordering. It pressed me back into Scripture with fresh attentiveness and reminded me why I care so deeply about gathering people around the Word in the first place. Colossians has been shaping that renewed sense of purpose. It has given language to what so many women are quietly longing for right now: lives that feel rooted rather than scattered, faith that is being renewed from the inside out, and community that is grounded in something deeper than shared activity.

Those longings don’t disappear when life gets busy. If anything, they surface more clearly when things slow down just enough for us to notice them.

Rooted and Renewed, Together

This is the heart behind the upcoming Dwelling Richly Bible study through Colossians.

It’s an invitation to open Scripture together and allow it to do the steady, formative work God intends it to do. It’s a space to listen carefully, think deeply, and grow alongside others who are asking similar questions and carrying similar hopes. Colossians reminds us that faith was never meant to be lived in isolation. The Word takes root most deeply when it is received, reflected on, and lived out in community.

As we step into 2026, my hope isn’t that we rush ahead with a new sense of urgency, but that we move forward more anchored than before. Rooted in Christ. Renewed in our thinking. Steady enough to face whatever this next season holds.

If you find yourself longing for that kind of grounding—if you’re coming out of a pivot of your own, or simply sensing the need to re-center—I would love for you to join me in this study. Details about the Dwelling Richly Colossians Bible Study are here, and I hope you’ll consider being part of it.

A Word for the Weary – My Heart to Yours

Before I close, I want to be honest about the place from which I’m writing and teaching right now.

I’m coming to this study on the heels of a season that left me tired in ways I didn’t expect. Tired of church-life that feels heavy with expectations. Hurt by words and actions that wounded more than they should have. Carrying the ache of watching my husband grieve what was broken, and sitting with him in that sorrow. There were moments when the easiest response would have been to withdraw—to step away quietly and keep my heart guarded.

In that space, what I found myself longing for wasn’t a new vision for church or a polished plan for moving forward. I longed for something simpler and sturdier. I longed for the reassurance of Scripture. For the grounding clarity of being reminded, again, of who Jesus is. Not as an idea or a role within church culture, but as the living Christ who holds His people, sees their wounds, and remains faithful when others falter. Colossians has met me there.

This letter doesn’t gloss over hardship or pretend that faith is untouched by disappointment. It draws our attention back to Christ Himself—His sufficiency, His nearness, His authority, and His care for His people. It re-roots us in truth when trust feels fragile. It renews us not by asking us to muster enthusiasm, but by reminding us of what is already secure in Him.

If you are coming to this study feeling strong and eager, you are welcome here. And if you are coming feeling weary, cautious, or quietly hurting, you are welcome too. This study is not about proving our resilience or pushing ourselves back into something before we’re ready. It’s about opening God’s Word together and allowing Him to do the renewing work He promises to do.

I’m not offering this study as someone who has everything neatly resolved. I’m offering it as someone who has been reminded, once again, that Christ is enough—and that His Word remains a place of refuge, clarity, and life.

I find myself wanting something very simple right now. I want to dwell in His Word. I don’t have all the answers. I’m still tender, and in many ways, still broken. But I’m here again—reading, studying, sitting with Scripture. As I prepare this Colossians study, I’m thinking about the women who will join me in this season, and the women—my sisters and my sisters-in-Christ—who have already been walking alongside me. I’m here for this work, and I’m hopeful that as we study together, my heart will continue to heal, and that I will find myself re-rooted and truly renewed.

I hope you’ll join me…and us.

You’re invited to the current Bible study through Colossians. “Rooted & Renewed” Details Here

Ready to register for Bible study in your area? Click here.