My Testimony: 2025

2025 was a really hard year.

It was a year of lots of sickness, loss, and more trials than victories. There were moments where it felt like everything was being taken instead of added. This was a year where I couldn’t feel God’s goodness, His presence, or even His love.

I didn’t feel comforted. I didn’t feel peace. I didn’t feel the joy people talk about. Instead, all I felt was tired, confused, and worn down. But even when I couldn’t feel God, I chose to believe what His Word says is true.

Psalm 40 carried me through this year:

“I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
and steadied me as I walked along.
He has given me a new song to sing,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
They will put their trust in the Lord.”
— Psalm 40:1–3

Waiting didn’t feel patient. It felt painful and very slow. It felt like nothing was changing, yet everything was changing all at once. Still, I held onto the truth that God hears us, even when it feels like we’re praying into silence.

Even as 2025 comes to an end and the trials still stand before me, I hold onto Joel 2:25, the promise that God restores what has been lost. The Lord says:

“I will give you back what you lost
to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts,
the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts.
It was I who sent this great destroying army against you.”
— Joel 2:25

I don’t know how restoration will come, but I know it will. I’ve seen His hand throughout 2025, guiding me through the trials, and I know His Word does not return void:

“So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty.”
— Isaiah 55:11

I lost things I prayed to keep. I walked through things I never expected to face. But I stayed rooted. And from all the hardship, Valley Flowers was born.

Looking back now, I can see God’s hand working even when I couldn’t feel Him. I can see protection in things that didn’t make sense at the time. I can see that some losses were actually God keeping me from something worse. I can see that He was still present, even when I felt completely alone.

2025 taught me that faith isn’t always emotional or uplifting. Sometimes faith is just choosing to stay and to trust God when you don’t understand Him.

As this year closes, it didn’t come with a perfect ending. But I am choosing to believe that God is faithful to His Word. I believe He will give back what was lost. I believe 2026 will be the beauty from the ashes because that’s what He promises to do with our ashes.

Valley Flowers exists because of this season. It was built in the valley, not after it. And if you’re walking through your own hard year, know God meets you in the middle of your valley and creates beauty in it.

— Emily
Founder, Valley Flowers