1 | THE START OF SOMETHING NEW

I’ll be honest, when I thought of the title of this first episode, it drew me straight back to High School Musical 1 where Troy and Gabriella met for the first time and this is the first song they sang together. I grew up on High School Musical and it’s definitely a very heavy nostalgia feeling that I get whenever I see TikTok edits of the films online, saw a photo or heard a song that brought me back to that moment of watching High School Musical for the very first time.

Man, what a moment. I was 6 years old when the first film of the franchise came out. I remember I would have been in year 2 in primary school then and the biggest worry I guess I would have had would have been making sure I didn’t miss out on the ice bun and chocolate milk at playtime. I remember it was £1 bargain for the two items. Wow. Life was simpler then. Each year when the clock would strike midnight on the 31^st of December that meant, quite literally, the start of something new. In school terms it would been entering the halfway point of that school year being the second semester but as a whole, January 1^st symbolises the start of something new- a new year for everyone.

It follows through with that new year new me slogan and how everyone gets that urge to get focused, hustle hard and aim to completely change the trajectory of their life for the better.

Today marks that day for us all. Happy new year everyone! I hope this is your best year yet.

For me, entering this new year would have involved cross-over service praising God for what He has done, for making it through the entire year by His love and protection and praying/praising Him for what He has in store for us to achieve and experience in the new year.

Side tracking back to High School Musical and going over the lyrics of start of something new the first verse by Troy says “living in my own world, didn’t understand, that anything can happen, when you take a chance” and the second verse by Gabriella “I never believed in, what I couldn’t see, I never opened my heart (oh) to all the possibilities.”

I know these are lyrics from a film that doesn’t have a direct link to Christianity, but I feel like they are relevant to what I have to say in today’s episode.

Singing these lyrics now at 25, nearly 20 years later from when I first heard it, it holds a deeper meaning. My relationship with God was rocky in 2025- life experiences, working hard and not achieving a desired result, mental health it all played a part in affecting how close and distant I would be from God at times. At times, I would be living in my own world, living on my own strength, trying to carry the weight of the world on my own shoulders and not seeking my Creator, my Father who specifically tells me to cast my worries unto Him (Philippians 4:6-7). I sought to do things my own way and in the same breath I learnt the consequences quick on why I shouldn’t live life that way. What makes it worse is that it wasn’t like I didn’t understand God’s place in my life- trust me He was at the centre of it all. Even in the times I was distant, I still would talk to God. The difference was the intentionality in me doing so compared to the times I was close with God. In my closeness, I talked to God because I wanted to; in my distance I talked to God because I felt like I had to, like completing a checklist of the tasks I needed to complete in a day. With that came the fluctuating feelings of love, peace, calamity side by side with shame, guilt and doubt. I knew that the unbalanced weight between my faith and work was being affected by my lack of growing my spiritual relationship. It was a constant battle, but November 1^st was the day I said enough is enough. I know that is a very late start of me doing the whole ‘new year new me’ but as a word of encouragement, always remember that everyone’s path is different and there’s a reason God has placed you where you are.

Tough times are for a season not a lifetime.

So, November 1^st, I picked up my Bible, my physical Bible mind you and I actually opened it up and read it. I didn’t just use the app on my phone; I went to the physical source and that has been the case every day from then till now- there was a little hiccup for a week mid-December, but I made sure it remained that size and got back on track. In doing so, I’ve gotten rid of the feelings of shame, guilt and doubt and have been empowered by God’s love, peace and calamity in my life.

Thank you, Jesus.

When you live life with God, know that anything can happen. It’s not by taking chances but by believing in His works. Believing in chances I feel like is a fleshly lifestyle- you live by luck and probabilities but believing in God- now that is living in faith which is the best way to live.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith gives you the ability to believe in things that are humanely impossible to achieve, it gives you the chance to open your heart to all the possibilities that could only be received by God’s power. He exceeds expectations, He goes above and beyond what we think is possible (Ephesians 3:20). He gives us that ability, that encounter of something new, something greater, something more magnificent than what we had in mind of what we could do.

Our humane strength makes us limited but in God we are limitless. That comes in faith, in believing in what God says He will do and knowing He will make all things come to pass along with us doing our part by putting in the work of living a life that follows in God’s way and truth.

For a minute, I had been saying look I’m done with 2025, roll on 2026 like I was done with last year. Now 2026 is here and I am like, okay what’s next? Even though that question had been dwelling in my mind all day on the 31^st before we entered into the new year, I think this is the first year in my life where I am in total, and I mean total dependence on God and what He has in store for me. Yes, I have my prayer goals, I have my ambitions, dreams, visions of what I would like to achieve but by choice, I am seeking total dependence on God and for what He has appointed for me to achieve. Honestly, I am so excited because it genuinely feels like my walk with God has been purified. You know, I am a new me, my flesh has died it’s no more and only Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20).

Getting to that stage of discipline is one thing but maintaining that level of discipline is another. You know in the past and I’ll admit on multiple occasions, I have lived through that mantra of ‘my flesh has died, Christ now lives in me, I have been reborn’ then it only lasts for a couple months, and I am back to square one having to start the journey all over again. The discipline to maintain this new lifestyle can be hard at times, but I encourage you, me all of us to keep going and don’t be distracted by worldly things to enable you to get off track. In the unfortunate times we may end up off track, don’t dwell in that environment, seek God to get you renewed again and restart the journey.

This is my start of something new, my focus for this year- in maintaining that discipline of a lifestyle in Christ. Not only maintaining the discipline but also growing and deepening the extent of such discipline in all that I do and in every aspect of my life. I just want to live a life that pleases God- that’s my goal and I know as I focus on this literally everything else will fall into place for my life- career, health, finances, physical, mental, social, personal. Everything will work out and it will be done at God’s appointed time for me, the time for which He seeks for me to embrace these seasons of growth during this year. Everything happens for a reason, and I know that God will place me exactly where I need to be to achieve and become all that I have been created to be.

I know He will do the same for you all as well. That’s a guarantee. Everything that you’re working towards, seeking to achieve, to grow, to heal from, everything and I mean everything that you have sought for 2026 to be will come to pass. Just keep believing in God, working hard, being determined and living in faith.

January 1^st, 2026- our start of something new.

Remember to Trust in the Lord, Love like the Lord, Walk with the Lord.TLW

who do we follow? thelawdsway