Beauty in the Brokenness- Christian Women (Bible Study, Faith, Sexuality, Freedom from Shame)

Your 2026 Gentle Guide to Intentional Living

• Teresa Whiting • Episode 136

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A 4-step guide to starting 2026 with intention: reflect, assess, discern, and plan for purposeful living.

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Key Takeaways:
The questions in this episode are designed to help you:

  • Reflect on this past year. 
  • Assess where you are right now. 
  • Discern your next steps. 
  • Create a plan for moving forward. 

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Speaker:

Hey, hey, friend! Happy New Year! This is our first episode of 2026. And before we jump back into Seen series, I wanted to do my traditional January episode. Each January, I like to do an episode all about living intentionally. So whether you're already a planner and you're just waiting for the new year and you've got your color-coded markers and your calendar and your spreadsheets, or you're just flying by the seat of your pants, there will be something for you in this episode because we all have things that we can look back on and learn from, and we all have hopes and dreams and prayers for the new year. Hi, friend. If you've ever wondered how God's word connects with the messy, broken parts of your story, you're in the right place. Welcome to Beauty in the Brokenness, where we have honest conversations about the Bible, our real life struggles, and the hope God brings for healing. I'm your host, Teresa Whiting, an author, Bible teacher, and trauma-informed life coach, but mostly a friend and fellow struggler. No matter who you are or where you've been, I'm inviting you to encounter the God who is still creating beauty right in the midst of your brokenness. Well, we are in the first week of January. And I don't know about you, but I love a blank calendar. It feels like a deep breath. So as you look ahead to 2026, I want to encourage you to not just dive into the new year, but to take a step back and pause and reflect. For the past few years, I've begun this practice of entering the new year with intention. I spend time reflecting, remembering, and looking back before I look ahead at what's coming. I take time to ask a series of questions and answer them. And my hope is that this practice of looking back and looking ahead will help you enter the new year with intention. But trust me, this is no whip on your back telling you you need to hurry up and set your goals. It is a gentle invitation to pause and reflect and look back and look ahead. What I love to do is I kind of break this process down into four steps to reflect, assess, discern, and plan. So as I go through these questions with you, I'll share some of my answers, but this is more of an exercise for you to do on your own. It's for you to think about your answers. Like feel free to press pause and think through your answers out loud or even to print out the intentional living guide and take some time to write them down for yourself. I don't want you to feel any kind of pressure to, you know, write these things down right now as you're listening to the podcasts. Because I actually have created, it's like a 33-page workbook, but it's available to download on my website. I think it's like seven bucks, and it is worth every penny because it is an opportunity for you to think through these things on your own. This is what I want to encourage you to do. Print out the workbook, or even just go back to this podcast, find a nice quiet spot. I love to do this by the light of my Christmas tree because I still have that up. Or if I had a fireplace, I would definitely be sitting by the fireplace wrapped in a cozy blanket with a cup of tea. But I live in Florida and there is no fireplace to be seen. So I light a few candles and I make a cup of hot tea and I cozy up on the couch. So let's jump into it. Step one is to reflect. Before we look ahead, we can learn so much by looking back. When we stand on the precipice of a new year, that is the perfect opportunity to recount God's faithfulness through the good and the hard. I love Psalm 91.1, which says, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. From eternity past to eternity future, God is in every part of our story. And because of that, no matter what you have walked through in 2025, you can have confidence that you have not been walking alone. And you can know that as you move ahead, God is still going to be your dwelling place. He's still going to be your safe place. Here are some of the questions to consider as you look back and reflect on the past year. What worked well this past year? What victories, accomplishments, and milestones am I celebrating? What small moments of joy, peace, or simple pleasure did I experience? For me, I had some really amazing experiences this past year. Greg and I got to take a trip to Europe to celebrate our 30th anniversary a year late, but hey, we'll take it, right? One of the things that worked for me this year is I took my health seriously. I did some serious workouts and some other things to make my body stronger and healthier. And honestly, I can tell you I feel a lot better going into this year than I did going into last year. Some of the things that I'm celebrating from last year are things like the Graced Gathering and the Women Conference. Some of those speaking engagements were so meaningful and life-giving to me. Also, I changed the name of my podcast last year from Find Hope Here to Beauty and the Brokenness. And that's something I've been wanting to do honestly since I started the podcast. Another thing is we celebrated Caleb's college graduation in 2025. And so think back in your own life. What are some maybe some small moments of joy or big moments of joy? For me, those small things are like conversations with my family, prayer walks with Greg, watching the sunset, even sometimes going to bed early to read a book. Here are some more questions you can ask yourself. What didn't work well? What losses or griefs or heartaches did I experience? Did I walk through any major transitions? And if so, how did they affect me? Well, I kind of alluded to this earlier, but one of the things that did not work well for me was my overly stuffed calendar. I realized uh that I was gone almost one third of the year, and I am a homebody. I traveled way too much. I let my schedule get completely out of control. And by not prioritizing, I let some really important things slip. I wanted to write scene. I wanted to have it finished by the end of the year. I've got it rough drafted, but it's not finished yet. And I know that part of that is because I just let my schedule get out of control. Some of the losses and griefs that I um endured in 2025 were just really personal things. Like I had multiple rejections that came across one after another. Um, we had some, some of our kids are struggling. And when your kids are struggling, like you're struggling because when they hurt, your heart hurts. And so whenever anybody in my family is having a hard time, that just translates to mom having a hard time. As we continue to reflect, we can ask questions like, what did I learn? For what and whom am I grateful? What prayers were answered, and what prayers am I still praying? I know one of the things I learned is that overwhelm is my lifelong battle. It's like the thorn in my flesh. I have been battling overwhelm my whole life. Um, and if I do not start saying no to things and prioritizing the things that are truly important to me, I'm going to live in a constant state of frustration. When it comes to knowing what prayers were answered and what prayers I'm still praying, I still want to recommend to you the prayer cards. Uh, they have just made such a difference in my prayer life. I just take three by five cards, I write the name of the person I'm praying for and the prayer requests on one side. On the other side, I write a verse or a couple verses that I'm praying for those people. And I'm telling you, it's so exciting every year because I can go through those prayer cards and I can see how God answers specific prayers in the lives of the people I love. Here are a couple more questions. What passages of scripture were significant to me? What was life-giving and what was life draining? I love that question because, you know, it includes everything from big things like our trip to Europe and the grace gathering and other speaking engagements to small things like conversations with my friends or family or taking a walk on the beach or painting a watercolor card. I also realized there were things that felt life draining to me, but I did them anyway, out of obligation or feeling like they were things I had to do. And one thing I love about this practice is sometimes I don't even realize things are life draining until I have to write them down. And I'm I'm thinking through it, I'm like, oh, I let that be in my life a lot longer than I needed to. And, you know, there are things that are life draining, like laundry, we can't really just dismiss them from our lives. But I'm talking about things that maybe we don't have to keep in our life, but we do because it's easier or because of habit, or because we just don't have the courage to move them out of our lives. All right, let's move to part two. In part two, we assess, we take a look at our lives right where we are. We name it with honesty, no matter whether it's good or bad. I'm gonna read Psalm ninety, verses thirteen to sixteen. They say, Return, O Lord, how long? Have pity on your servants, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. As we continue to think about Psalm ninety in this exercise, I love verse fourteen, which says, Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. No matter what the day holds, what the day before has held, there is something about God's steadfast love that can satisfy our hearts, even in the midst of heartache, even in the midst of trials. And so I want us to hold on to that as we think about assessing where we are right now. Here are some great assessment questions. What is the current state of my heart, my soul, my mind, my body? Think about it. Just pause like you can press pause and name where you are right now. Are you content? Are you uptight? Are you satisfied? Are you longing? Are you tired or feeling strong? These things are so important for us to notice and name. How about this? Who is in my life to love? What matters most? What are my dreams and passions? What gifts do I have? And what are my limitations? These seem like simple answers, but as I work through them and I write down the things and the people before me and the things that matter most, they bring into focus what I need to pay attention to. It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in things that just don't matter. So when I write this stuff down, I see it in black and white, it reminds me, like, you know what, Teresa, this is what's important. And sometimes that's encouraging to me because I'm like, you know what? Those are the things that I am paying attention to. And sometimes it's challenging. And I'm like, oh, you know what? I really have neglected that area of my life. And there's grace for that. There is grace for us to, this is not an exercise of living in regret. It's an exercise of just looking at reality and saying, okay, Lord, here I am. This is where I'm at right now. Where do you want me to go from here? Also, it's important to be realistic about our dreams and our limitations. There are seasons in life, and maybe God has brought something to your mind over and over again. Perhaps He's put that passion in your heart. Is there a reason you can't go after it this year? Be realistic about your limitations, but don't let them stop you from pursuing the things that God has put in your heart. Here are another couple of questions for you to ask as you assess this coming year. Is there a word or verse of the year I believe God is impressing on me? What questions am I asking as I enter the new year? Do you know it's okay to enter the new year with more questions than answers? This isn't about knowing everything. It's about coming in curious and open-hearted and even asking God to show himself to you and show these things to you as you spend time with him. Finally, I like to ask, what do I need to release and what do I need to embrace? For me, these answers seem to be repeated year after year. I want to release striving and hustle and hurry. I want to embrace life-giving rhythms like Sabbath and rest and small moments and slow living. I want to throw away comparison and live in gratitude for how God has made me and what He has given me. What about you? What do you need to release and what do you want to embrace in 2026? Now we'll move to part three, which is discern. Listen to Psalm 90, verses three through twelve. You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. You sweep them away with a flood, they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed, in the evening it fades and withers, for we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence, for all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Friends, our time on earth is finite. We only have a limited number of days, and wisdom tells us to number them well. One thing we can do to number our days well is to fix our hearts and our minds on eternity. I was studying scripture the other day and I realized that so many of the authors of scripture talk about the brevity of life and the importance of eternity. I mean, Paul talks about it, Peter, James, Isaiah, Job, you see this all through scripture, this idea that life is short and eternity is long. And so as we think about discerning our next year, let's keep that in mind that we're not just thinking about 2026, but we're thinking about our life in light of eternity. If you were to print out the Intentional Living Workbook, you'll notice that there are a number of large boxes in this section. And we consider things like what would it look like to tend to my soul, to nourish my body, to learn and grow, to steward my gifts, to strengthen my marriage, to love my family, grow my friendships, live generously, cultivate my home, enjoy life, practice Sabbath. Maybe there are things that are important to you that I haven't even named, things that you want to intentionally pursue this year. Here are just a few of the things that are priorities for me in 2026. And we're not going to have stuff in every box. If we do, that leads to overwhelm, right? So you want to choose just a few areas of your life where you say, you know, these are the things I want to be intentional about this year. For me, one of the things is to continue deepening my relationship with God through spending time with Him. I mean, that to me is like a non-negotiable. It's not something that I have to really decide every year, like, hmm, do I want to grow in my walk with God? Yes, that's a that's a given. But one of the things I'm gonna do is I'm setting up a small nook in my room where that's gonna be like my spot. I typically just get up and start reading my Bible from my bed. Um, and I've always wanted to have like just a little spot, like this is my time where I meet with God. And so um, I'm actually going today. Uh I have something reserved on Facebook Marketplace, and I am going to get a chair that is going to go in my bedroom, and I'm gonna put a cozy little blanket there and a little table with my Bible and my journal. And anyway, um, enough about that. Here's another thing for me, being in a new home, we just moved into this house a couple months ago, and I want to cultivate a space that is welcoming and feels gracious and peaceful for those who come. So part of that is, you know, the hunt of finding things on the marketplace and creating space where people will feel warm and welcome. But another part of that is simple things like looking people in the eye when I'm with them. I don't want to be distracted by my to-do list or my iPhone or my own self-preoccupation. I want people to know that they're valued, that they matter. And so one of my goals for this year is honestly to just look people in the eye and pay attention. So if you're talking to me and I'm like off in space somewhere, be like, hey, remember that goal you had? Okay, another one of my goals is to continue learning to practice Sabbath. This is something that's still new to me, and I'd say I'm still pretty terrible at it, but I have been slowly growing in this area, and some of the things that I personally implement are doing things that are life-giving. Things like walking on the beach, watercolor painting, enjoying time with my church family, savoring food, and also avoiding things that are life-sucking, like email, um, house cleaning, and the the kinds of things that feel like duty rather than delight. One question you can consider is if I could do one thing, like one big goal this next year, what would it be? Okay, go ahead and get that goal in your mind. If there was one thing you could say, and it might not be necessarily a goal, but an intention of like a practice. This is something I want to implement into my life for 2026. What would that thing be? I'm gonna give you a second to think about it. Okay, got it. Now ask yourself, what does it cost me to pursue that? What kind of resources do I need for that? What will I need to say yes to, and what will I need to say no to? Because every yes is a no to something else, and every no is a yes to something else. That was one of my problems this past year was way too many yeses and not enough no's. So as you think about what's important for you, what do you want to pursue this next year? You've got to consider what is it gonna cost me and what am I gonna say no to in order to be able to say yes to that important thing. And then finally, step four is to plan. It's all fine and good to dream and discern and decide what we want to pursue, but without making a plan, most of these things won't happen. I love James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. He says success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. It's the series of actions, it's the habits that we create that make achieving that goal a reality. And then finally, how will I celebrate this achievement? So it's important to know okay, when this happens, when I see this becoming a part of my life, when I achieve that specific goal, how am I gonna celebrate? Not just let those milestones go by without marking them. And then think about another goal and kind of just go through these questions over and over again. One of the things that really helps me when I have a goal in mind, when I have something that I want to make a part of my life, is to track it. And so one of the things I have started doing probably in the last year or so is I have a Franklin planner. And so every Sunday I sit down. All right, let's go back, let's go back a little farther. Every January, I sit down with my intentional living guide and I plan out my year. Like what are the most important things to me? Then at the beginning of each month, I go through and I say, Where am I in relation to those goals? Some of them are time pressured, some of them are not. A lot of them are just habits that I want to incorporate into my life. And then each month I choose what are the things I'm working on. And then week by week, on Sundays, one of, you know, my Sabbath routines is on Sunday night, is I like to sit down and plan out the week ahead. Not necessarily every moment, but to say these are the things this week that are important to me. And some of the things that I write down every single week are I just do, I write the word workout and I put five little lines under it so that I can write down, I can track the fact that I'm keeping up with my workouts. Another thing that I do is I write my kids' initials. And next to their initial, I just put a little line so that I can keep track of the fact that I am calling them, that I'm getting in touch with them. I want to be intentional about building those relationships with my kids. And so one of the things I do is I track am I spending time calling them, texting them, and then even visiting them. And that's something Greg and I twice a year, we sit down and we have our wonderful little getaway and we do a budget meeting and we plan out our year and we talk about some goals and intentions that we have for our family and trips with our kids and all that kind of stuff. And so these kinds of things, they might feel a little intimidating or overwhelming, which is why I love this little workbook that I created because it breaks it down into step-by-step processes. And you don't have to use mine, like you can go out and get um, there's something called the Cultivate Planner by Laura Casey. I absolutely love that. Emily P. Freeman has something called the Next Right Thing Journal. That's an amazing guide. Like, you do not have to use my guide. I'm just saying, use something. Choose something that's gonna help you be intentional. So as we make our plans for this next year, I want to pray Psalm 9017. It says, let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands. Thanks for hanging out with me today on Beauty and the Brokenness. To find anything I mentioned on this episode, go to TeresaWiting.com slash episode-136, which is where you can find all the show notes and the link to download the intentional living guide. In closing, I want to leave you with this prayer from number six, 24 to 26. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.