Faith in the Middle of a New Year
New Beginnings, Quiet Obedience, and the Stories God Is Still Writing
By Tylia L. Flores
Some stories don’t end at goodbye.
Some stories don’t arrive with fireworks.
Some stories begin quietly—at grace, at surrender, at the moment we almost scroll past.
A new year is never just a number on a calendar.
For believers, it is a sacred threshold. A moment God gives us to pause long enough to hear Him again. While the world rushes forward with resolutions built on self-effort, Scripture gently calls us to something deeper: renewal through trust.
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” — Isaiah 43:19
Every new year carries a holy reminder: God is not finished.
Not with your healing.
Not with your calling.
Not with your story.
Even when chapters feel incomplete. Even when silence lingers. Even when timing feels unfair. God is still writing.
The Sacred Pause of Reflection
The new year invites us to look back—but not to dwell in regret. It invites us to recognize grace.
Grace in the prayers we whispered when we were exhausted.
Grace in the strength God gave us when we thought we had none left.
Grace in the closed doors that protected us.
Grace in the waiting that prepared us.
Reflection becomes holy when we let God show us where He was present all along.
There are seasons we only survive in hindsight. Moments we didn’t understand until God gently revealed His purpose later. The new year reminds us that delay is not denial—and silence is often preparation.
And then, once we reflect, God invites us forward.
Not in fear.
Not in pressure.
But in faith.
What the New Year Means to Me
For me, the new year has never been about reinvention.
It has always been about obedience.
As a Christian author, writing is not simply something I do—it is how I listen. How I respond. How I worship. Writing is my way of saying, “Here I am, Lord. Use this.”
Every story I write begins with prayer. Every character is shaped with dignity. Every page is written with the hope that someone—especially someone living with a disability—will finally see themselves reflected with respect, faith, and truth.
As someone who lives with cerebral palsy, I know what it means to feel unseen. To be underestimated. To move through a world that decides who you are before listening to your heart. I also know what it means to cling to faith when answers don’t come quickly.
That lived experience shapes everything I write.
As we move toward 2026, my prayer is not simply to write more books—but to write braver ones. Stories that honor disability as part of God’s design, not something to overcome. Stories that show faith lived out quietly, patiently, and honestly. Stories that remind readers that God often works through ordinary moments—photos, youth group trips, missed phone calls, Facebook groups, holidays—to reveal extraordinary love.
Stories Releasing This Season
Faith, Waiting, and God’s Timing in Fiction
The stories releasing this season are deeply connected by one thread: God’s timing is never accidental.
Each one reflects faith in the middle—faith while waiting, faith after heartbreak, faith through misunderstanding, faith when love feels risky again.
The Youth Group Photo That Tagged Our Hearts
In 2009, before social media became what it is today, Facebook was still a place of genuine connection—where friendships were tagged, memories were shared, and sometimes, God revealed truths we weren’t ready to name.
Chyanne and Cody have been best friends since third grade. Their bond was built through years of shared faith, quiet loyalty, and choosing each other in small, consistent ways. During a youth-group trip to New York City, one unplanned photo changes everything.
As the New Year’s Eve ball drops in Times Square, they finally see what God has been revealing all along—love that didn’t begin at midnight, but was built patiently over time.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCX7J2ZZ
EPCOT Fountain of Nations — A New Year’s Eve Love Story
A year ago, Emily DeGracia-Flores and Cody Ezekiel Pritchett met by chance—and by God’s design—at the EPCOT Fountain of Nations during a youth group trip.
She was a Florida girl in a teal wheelchair, carrying prayers she wasn’t sure God still heard.
He was a small-town Georgia boy with a crooked smile and faith strong enough to believe in miracles.
What began as an online friendship became a long-distance love story anchored in prayer, letters, and trust in God’s timing. One year later, they return to where it all began—on New Year’s Eve—learning that God doesn’t waste a single step of our journey.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXT4JVBW
The Last Sub of ’99
New Year’s Eve, 1999.
Brooke Delaney expects nothing but heartbreak as she works behind the counter at Firehouse Subs, freshly dumped and counting minutes until midnight. But God has other plans.
When Codan Rivers—a shy boy with cerebral palsy—rolls in for a meatball sub, jalapeño chips, and a brownie, an unexpected friendship begins.
This story reminds us that God often introduces new beginnings when we least expect them—and that love rooted in kindness can heal quietly.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXHLLK9V
Midnight at CityWalk
Some stories don’t end at goodbye—they begin again at grace.
On New Year’s Eve, 2000, Brianna Joy Crespo boards a church youth bus headed to Universal CityWalk hoping to leave the past behind. She hasn’t spoken to Sidney “Tiger” Whitley since the day she believed he stopped caring.
What she never knew was the truth: his prepaid phone had run out of minutes, and pride kept him silent.
Under fireworks and neon lights, God brings them back together—teaching them that forgiveness opens doors timing never closed.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXN62K83
The Facebook Group Where God Introduced Us
Sometimes God’s introductions are quiet.
On New Year’s Eve, Deborah Harper joins a Christian teen Facebook group she almost scrolls past. She isn’t searching for love—she’s searching for reassurance that God still sees her.
Living with cerebral palsy has taught Deborah how to wait. How to trust slowly. How to protect her heart. Then she meets Montgomery—a boy whose faith shows up not in grand gestures, but in consistency, prayer, and sunflowers sent faithfully through the mail.
This story reminds us that God works behind the scenes—and that love centered on faith doesn’t rush.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCXP8BM2
Honoring the Sacred Days Ahead
Three Kings Day — Faith That Gives
Three Kings Day teaches us that faith is measured by what we offer, not what we receive.
That truth lives at the heart of Three Kings and the Bear’s Promise, where love restores a lost tradition through intentional giving and grace.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXBRW17P
Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Faith in Action
Dr. King’s dream reminds us that justice is unfinished.
The Dream We Shared on the Playground reflects that truth through a child’s voice—reminding us that faith calls us to act, advocate, and include.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GC7Y81S8
Faith in the Middle
Some of the hardest faith questions come long before adulthood.
Faith in the Middle was written for that tender season where belief is tested quietly—in hallways, lunchrooms, and journals filled with questions for God.
This story is my reminder to young readers that God walks with them—even there.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Tylia-L-Flores-ebook/dp/B0FCSV6BTF
The Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Effect celebrates dignity, love, and God’s intentional design for every life—reminding us that small acts of faith can ripple farther than we imagine.
📘 https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Effect-Tylia-L-Flores-ebook/dp/B0DTLJF1PP
A New Beginning Beyond the Page
Faith Over Fried Chicken — A New Podcast Journey
This new year has also brought something I’ve been praying over quietly for a long time.
In the middle of waiting, writing, and listening, God opened another door—not away from storytelling, but deeper into testimony.
This season marks the launch of my brand-new Christian podcast, Faith Over Fried Chicken with Tylia Flores.
This podcast was born out of the same place as my books: honest faith, lived experience, and conversations that don’t rush God’s process.
Faith Over Fried Chicken is a space where Scripture meets real life—where we talk about God not just in the sanctuary, but at the kitchen table, in the drive-thru line, during hard conversations, and in the middle of everyday struggles.
Each episode centers on:
-
One biblical truth
-
One real-life application
-
One honest conversation about faith, disability, identity, love, waiting, and purpose
This podcast is especially close to my heart as someone living with cerebral palsy—because it creates room for voices that are often overlooked, faith stories that don’t fit clichés, and reminders that God works powerfully through lives the world underestimates.
🎙 Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2nF61IfAmvC9m5Xnn4Ohb7?si=7ef768b44ccf4201
Because God doesn’t only speak through books.
Sometimes, He speaks through conversations we didn’t plan—shared over something as simple as fried chicken.
Walking Forward in Faith
As we step through New Year’s, Three Kings Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, may we remember that faith is not about perfection—it is about obedience.
God is still writing.
Still restoring.
Still inviting us forward.
Here’s to grace in the middle.
Here’s to faith in the waiting.
Here’s to the stories God is still writing.
With gratitude and grace,
Tylia L. Flores
Christian Author | Stories That Heal
