Faith in the Fallouts

Happy New Year! I am finally getting into a rhythm and will be posting consistently now. Last week, I was trying to figure out and plan how I am going to run this blog moving forward! That is not the purpose of this post, though.

Last week, the sermon at the church I attend was on confidence in the New Year. The pastor spoke on Romans 8:28-39, which is one of my favorite passages, so when I heard that was going to be the base of the sermon, I knew it was going to be good.

At the start of a new year, confidence is usually talked about as motivation or momentum. New habits. A list of resolutions. Fresh starts. Big goals. But this sermon offered a different perspective on confidence-one that I have really struggled with lately. A confidence that is not rooted in what is to come, but in trusting the One who is already there, and always has been.

Romans 8:28 is a reminder that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. It is a verse that can feel familiar to the point of becoming background noise. I know it has for me, especially when life is going well. But when things feel unresolved, when prayers don’t seem to be getting answered, that verse feels heavier. The pastor emphasized that all things are just good things, not just the planned, and not just the parts of our life that we understand. It means everything. The joy, the loss, the waiting, the confusion, and even the moments that feel like setbacks.

One quote shared during the sermon came from John Newton: “Everything is needful that He sends; nothing can be needful that He withholds.” I have sat with this quote the past week because recently, there have been things I’ve lost that I thought I needed. And then, there were things I thought I needed that I did not gain after the situations, like clarity or the answer to my whys. The idea that God is withholding something I want, and still be good, challenged my definition of need. But the more I thought about it, the more freeing it became. If God truly withholds nothing needful, then what I don’t have right now is not a mistake or an oversight. It is part of His care, even if I do not understand it quite yet.

The rest of Romans 8 continues to build this quiet confidence. It tells us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ, that suffering is not the end of the story, and that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not trouble. Not fear. Not the future. That kind of promise doesn’t eliminate that there are hard things, but it challenges how we walk through them.

What stood out most to me was the idea that God doesn’t waste anything. We often enter a new year wanting things to be fixed quickly and a plan to be revealed all at once, but maybe confidence isn’t about being sure of what is to come. Maybe it is about trusting that whatever comes next is already held by Him.

As I step into this new year, I don’t feel certain about much. I do not have everything figured out, and I don’t know how every situation will resolve. But Romans 8 reminds me that certainty is not required for faith. Trust is. Confidence, in this sense, is not loud or flashy; it is quiet and steady. It is choosing to believe God is for me, even when I do not feel strong. He is working for good, even when we do not see how.

So maybe entering the new year looks different this time around. Having goals is a good thing, but maybe it is time to step back. Walk into 2026 with open hands, trusting that everything He sends is needful, and that nothing He withholds is ever done without purpose. And maybe that kind of confidence is enough.