My Word, Phrase, and Scripture for 2026
View from our Hotel Room Christmas 2025
My 2026 Phrase of the Year: Accelerated Ease
I was sitting in church in November when I heard the phrase accelerated ease, clear as day.
Every so often, while I’m sitting in a church service, the Holy Spirit speaks to me directly. It may or may not be related to the sermon itself, but there are certain things I only receive when I’m in the house of God.
I’ve learned this is connected to the corporate anointing attached to the body of believers you are called to.
Scripture says, “Do not forsake the gathering of the saints” (Hebrews 10:25). This isn’t a rule about attendance, but a safeguard for encouragement, endurance, and preparation, especially as the days grow darker.
There are teachings, people, serving opportunities, and assignments you are meant to encounter in the local church God has placed you in for a specific season. Many of us choose churches we like instead of prayerfully discerning where God has assigned us.
Accelerated
To move faster than expected. To advance rapidly due to increased momentum.
Ease
Effortlessness. Grace that removes strain without removing responsibility.
Accelerated ease is not the absence of effort. It is the presence of alignment.
In this season, I sense God accelerating outcomes that once required strain. Not because the work disappears, but because obedience, purpose, and timing have converged.
My 2026 Word of the Year: Recompense
Recently, in a small group text thread, one of the women shared her word for 2026. Others chimed in. I didn’t immediately have one, and I wasn’t concerned. I already had a phrase.
A few minutes later, I received a text from my husband.
God had moved mightily in our lives just days before, but this text was about something He had done for another couple we love deeply. Watching God move on their behalf overwhelmed me. I put on Don’t Faint by Jekalyn Carr and let it play on repeat. Some of you who follow me on Instagram may have caught pieces of that moment.
And then I sensed the word: recompense.
Recompense refers to compensation or reward for loss, harm, or effort. Biblically, it speaks to divine justice.
God declares, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay.” (Deuteronomy 32:35)
We often think of God’s justice in terms of punishment or fairness. But in this season, I sense we will witness His justice through blessing.
Not blessing for the sake of payback, but blessing that positions us to become solutions for others.
For some, this will be financial.
For others, relational.
For many, both.
My 2026 Scripture of the Year: Joel 2:25
“I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.”
Joel 2:25 is God’s promise to restore not just things, but years, seasons, and experiences that were lost, delayed, or devoured.
When the Holy Spirit highlighted this scripture to me in September 2024, I knew it was significant, but that it was a word meant to unfold over time and across multiple areas of life.
God often gives us dreams, prophetic words, and instructions to encourage us, prepare our hearts, and position us practically. Some of us hear God and rush to act in the wrong seasons, and in doing so, we unintentionally miss opportunities.
What has unfolded in recent months has made it clear. Now is the time for the actualization of this word.
Why I Know This Is God
Turn on the news. Scroll social media. Every headline tightens your body, rolls your eyes, or sends you into prayer.
At this point, whether you’re Democrat or Republican, Black or White, Believer or Atheist, many of us are praying because the world feels unsteady.
Only God can give words of restoration, recompense, and ease against this current world backdrop.
The Extra Unexpected
Christmas looked different for us this year.
My husband’s business, proverbial fruit connected to these words, is taking off, and he has a client in Fort Lauderdale. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the beach.
The day after Christmas, we boarded a family cruise with my husband’s side of the family. His 87-year-old grandmother, Grandma Sadie, the matriarch, had one request months earlier. She wanted to go on a cruise with her family.
When an 87-year-old makes a request like that, you move things around to make it happen.
Two Observations That Stayed With Me
1. Internet Obsession
The cruise charged nearly $300 for internet access. We declined.
Imagine telling three teenagers they wouldn’t have internet for several days.
It revealed how tethered we are to constant access to the world and how intentional we must be about fighting for intimacy with the Father.
2. Food Obsession
We saw many people consuming without restraint. This isn’t about weight. It’s about health.
My husband is a clinical exercise physiologist specializing in cardiac rehabilitation. Obesity is one of the primary contributors to cardiac events. Watching this, and reflecting on my own habits, convicted me.
Not about dieting.
About discipline.
About stewardship.
Gluttony & Stewardship
The day after returning home, I couldn’t shake these observations. Then I heard the word: gluttony.
It wasn’t spoken to shame or guilt me. It was spoken to sober me.
Gluttony isn’t just excess.
It is a mismanaged appetite.
Blessings from God are good, but they come with responsibility.
How are you stewarding what you prayed for?
You prayed for marriage. How are you stewarding it?
You prayed for children. How are you stewarding motherhood?
You prayed for financial increase. How are you stewarding provision?
Blessings that aren’t stewarded well can quietly become burdens. They can harm us practically, create idolatry, and distance us from God’s purposes.
Entering the New Year
As I step into 2026, I’m auditing my appetites, my habits, and my boundaries, not out of fear, but reverence.
I don’t want to just receive blessings.
I want to steward them well.