It’s Time in 2026 to Be Transfixed in Him!
Word for 2026

By Mari Anne Andersen

My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me.
John 10:27 (TPT)

This verse is not merely a promise of recognition, but it is a declaration of a deeper and greater relationship.  Jesus is revealing that His people—meaning me and you—are not led by confusion, fear, or noise, but by true intimacy.  2026 is to be transfixed with His intimacy, His affection, and with His voice of truth. His sheep are no strangers to His voice; they are trained by love to recognize it, to hear it, and to know it is He who is calling YOU.  Jesus does not shout over the chaos, but He speaks with familiarity, authority, and peace.

As we step into 2026, this is a year to be transfixed—not distracted, not divided—but firmly fixed into His places of peace, promise, and presence.  To be transfixed means our attention is held captive by Him.  Our ears are tuned toward heaven.  Our hearts are settled enough to listen for The Shepherd who is calling His people again.  This is not because He has been silent, but because the world has been loud. He is calling us to slow down, to draw near, and to pick up the phone to speak to answer when He calls, to listen with intention and to respond with obedience.

In 2026, the invitation is clear: to hear His voice, above every other voice, to trust that He knows you and your name personally, and that He is directing your season and timing to see promises fulfilled. 

Through my years of walking with the Lord, which was just 51 years on New Year’s Eve, I have seen patterns whether in my own life or throughout scripture how God works in the tension between promise and delay and between visibility and hiddenness.  God gives promises, but those promises are often delayed or there are feelings of being “stuck.”  This delay or this waiting can come in many forms like betrayal, false accusations, emotional struggles, mental testing, or even physical hardship.  Yet these periods of hiddenness, waiting, or delays are not meaningless. They are actually formative.  The hidden or stuck seasons, therefore, are not a sign of God’s absence but of His intentional work.  He is molding us in ways we cannot see, positioning us for a future moment of fruitfulness, influence, or victory that could not be achieved without such processes.

In short, Scripture shows a divine pattern: delay is not denial; hiddenness is not insignificance; rather preparation is the gateway to suddenness. 

I know all about the marvelous destiny I have in store for you,” a future planned out in detail.  My intention is not to harm you but to surround you with peace and prosperity and to give you a beautiful future, glistening with hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 (TPT)

We have become his poetry, a re-created people that will fulfill the destiny he has given each of us, for we ae joined to Jesus, the Anointed One. 
Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny
and the good works we would do to fulfill it.
Ephesians 2:10 (TPT)

Let’s take a nice stroll down biblical memory lane to see similar patterns to recognize the places of delayed promises or dreams, or feelings of being stuck or waiting and waiting with no movement that can be seen.  These include situations or circumstances that seemed impossible, or the hidden places of preparation that seemed endless until THE “Call” or “Summons” came from God.  That “sudden summons,” that seemingly random moment, finally came.

1. Abraham’s Promise:  God promised that he would be the father of many nations.
   • Delay: He waited decades for a son of promise.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  The birth of Issac came, unexpectedly when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old.
   • Sudden Summons:  God asked Abraham to sacrifice Issac.
   • God’s Strategy:  Test faith, solidly trust, and show God can bring life from out of the impossible.
   • God’ Truth:  God’s promises are true, even when timing seems impossible.  And Abraham was known in the hall of fame as “Father of Faith.”
2. Joseph’s Promise:  God promised that he would rise to authority and save his family.  He gave Joseph dreams of leadership and authority as a teenager.
   • Delay: He was sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned for years.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  A forgotten cupbearer suddenly remembered Joseph and his own promise that he had given to him.
   • Sudden Summons:  Pharaoh called Joseph to interpret his dreams and oversee Egypt.
   • God’s Strategy:  Using suffering and apparent setbacks to position Joseph for the greater good.  What looked like setbacks were rehearsals.
   • God’s Truth:  God’s providence turns hardships into preparation for His purpose.  Prison trained him in administration, humility, and discernment.
3. Moses’s Promise:  God promised to deliver Israel from Egypt through a chosen leader.  He was the deliver of Israel.
   • Delay: Moses spent 40 years as a shepherd before God’s call.
   • Seemingly Random Moment: The burning bush appeared in the desert that was not consumed.
   • Sudden Summons:  God calls Moses by name and told Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead His people out of slavery.
   • God’s Strategy:  The wilderness removed pride and built dependence and, in this place, God equips his call.
   • God’s Truth:  The call often comes when ambition has died and raises leaders at the right moment in history.
4. Ruth’s Promise:  God promised a restoration of lineage that would lead to King David and ultimately Christ.
   • Delay: Widowed, poverty, and displacement by working in obscurity.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  She “happened” to glean in Boaz’s field.
     God’s Strategy:  Uses loyalty and faithfulness in small ordinary hidden acts through obedience that opened extraordinary doors.
     God’s Truth:  God rewards steadfast faith and orchestrated redemption through ordinary and faithful moments.  Faithfulness in obscurity invites divine favor.
5. Esther’s Promise:  God promised that Israel would be preserved from annihilation.  Preservation of God’s covenant people.
   • Delay: Orphaned, hidden, placed in the palace without knowing why.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  The king could not sleep and asks for the royal records to be read to him.
   • Sudden Summons:  She was positioned to intervene for “such a time as this.”  She was called to risk her life before the king to save her people.
   • God’s Strategy:  Years of quiet favor prepared her for one courageous act.  Placing her in a key position for “such a time as this.”
   • God’s Truth:  Courage and obedience in God’s timing can change the course of history.
6. Mary’s Promise:  That she would bear the Messiah, the Savior of the world.
   • Delay: She was a young virgin, engaged to Joseph, with no sign of how it would happen, living in uncertainty.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  The angel Gabriel appeared unexpectedly to deliver the message that she had been chosen and was with child.  Joseph, her fiancé, decided to quietly leave her because of the unexpected pregnancy.  This could have been a moment of fear, shame, and apparent abandonment.
   • Sudden Summons:  The angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take Mary as his wife and assuring them both that the child was from God.
   • God’s Strategy:  God works through human relationships and obedience, even amid fear, doubt, and potential social scandal to bring His plan to fulfillment.
   • God’s Truth:  Even when circumstances look like delay, rejection, or failure, God can intervene
7. The Disciples Promise:  He promised them a life of purpose, to be fishers of men, and to participate in God’s kingdom work.
   • Delay: Their calling didn’t come with instant understanding, they spent time in ordinary, mundane work as fishermen, tax collectors, and laborers, unsure of the bigger plan.
   • Seemingly Random Moment:  Jesus walked by, called their names, Peter, Anderw, James, John and everything changed.  This seemingly ordinary encounter was divinely orchestrated.
   • Sudden Summons:  “Follow me.”  In an instant, they left their nets, their livelihoods, their familiar life.  The call was immediate, total, and transformative.
   • God’s Strategy:  God used ordinary life and ordinary moments to prepare them, to teach patience, dependence, and attentiveness so that when the “Call” came, they were ready.
   • God’s Truth:  Faithfulness in the everyday details primes us for extraordinary purposes; God’s timing is perfect even when unseen.

In each of these biblical stories and lives, a pattern emerges. God gives a promise, often followed by a long delay or period of seeming obscurity.In ordinary, mundane moments, faithfulness is cultivated.Then, in a “coincidental or seemingly random moment,” God’s call comes suddenly, summoning them to a divine purpose they could not have foreseen.

God loves to work through the ordinary moments and through the delay, preparing and cultivating our hearts.His timing is beyond our human understanding, orchestrating everything according to His divine providence.Behind the scenes, He is at work to bring about His purpose and ways, shaping our lives to grow in faith, obedience, and trust at the very foundation of who we are.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Chris Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

So dear friends, take heart, stand steadfast, and remain faithful for YOUR call is on the way.YOUR summons is at hand for God has been at work in your lives.You are not forgotten, you are not stuck, you are not cast aside, nor have you been left in idle waiting.God is at work. God is at hand.So, let this year—2026—be a year where YOU are transfixed with intimacy with Him.Eyes and hearts fixed on His presence, ready to receive His call, ready to hear His voice.

As we step into the 2026 New Year, we invite you to prayerfully consider how the Lord may be leading you to come alongside Freedom House.  If you feel God placing it on your heart to give whether through a one-time gift, monthly partnership, or faithful prayer, we welcome every offering with deep gratitude.  No gift is too small, and every prayer truly matters.

Thank you for standing with us as we continue this work together, trusting God for all that lies ahead as in 2026 we are transfixed with His intimacy, His affection, and with His voice of truth.

OR:

Send a check made out to “Freedom House Ministry” to Freedom House Ministry, c/o The Andersens, 652 THUNDERBIRD TRL, CAROL STREAM IL 60188-9262 

With My Heart of

With My Heart of Love and Gratitude,

Mari Anne Andersen

Director, Freedom House Ministry