Many will look back at 2025 as a year that was dominated by anxiety, instability, cultural upheaval, as people grew frustrated and fearful at a world that was changing at an absolutely breathtaking pace with one major crisis after another.
One survey found that only 24 percent of Americans were satisfied with how things were going in the United States in 2025 compared to 70 percent 25 years ago. One reason for that low number is that we are constantly bombarded by negative messages. We spend way to much time online or in front of our tv watching negative news. This constant barrage of gloom-ridden information eventually effects our view of the world around us causing us to dwell on the bad and ignore all the goods things in our life.
Perhaps the biggest event that provocked negative feelings in 2025 happened on January 20 when Donald Trump was sworn into office as our 47th president. That event triggered a pandemic that rivaled the Covid outbreak of 2020.
TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) quickly spread among liberals and crept into news rooms across America. The disease triggered intense emotional reactions including anxiety, anger and a feeling of hopelessness that still exists today. It divided families, the country, and led to nationwide violence. For those infected, their TDS made the problems in our country seem much worse than it actually was.
It is when times are the darkest that light is needed the most. And the good news is, there was actually much to celebrate about last year. Here are just a few of the positive things that we should be rejoicing about that happened in 2025:
The transgender overreach got a major push back. In Europe and America, people woke up to the reality that subjecting sexually confused kids to dangerous drugs, hormones and surgeries is child abuse at its worst. The Supreme Court sided with state bans on gender transition procedures for minors in a decision that bans body-mutilating surgeries and hormone drugs for trans-identified minors.
America’s border is secure. From literally millions of illegal aliens crossing each year under the Biden administration, the torrent has slowed to a trickle.
President Trump took out Iran’s nuclear facilities. Instead of shipping $1.7 billion in cash (including $400 million on pallets) to the mullahs, as occurred under Barack Obama, the United States bombed factories that were working to produce nuclear bombs for the world’s most dangerous terrorist regime.
Military recruitment was way up. The Pentagon reports the best performance in 15 years, with all active-duty branches meeting or exceeding goals.
The Supreme Court slapped down Planned Parenthood. In June, the court rejected its claim that South Carolina must fund it with tax dollars. Along those lines, the federal “Big, Beautiful” budget bill defunded the abortion giant for at least a year.
The stock market continues to roar and the economy is showing vibrant growth. Inflation has been curbed, and the Gross Domestic Product grew by 4.3 percent in the third quarter, exceeding forecasts.
Gasoline prices have plummeted.
President Trump and his administration brokered or advanced a number of peace deals overseas. In late September, Trump unveiled a 20-point comprehensive plan that ended the two-year war in Gaza. In August, the U.S. also brokered a deal signed at the White House that ended decades of conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh. Another brokered deal included de-escalating a tense and potentially nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan in May.
A tragedy with a silver lining occurred on September 10th when Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative Christian activist and co-founder of the young conservative group Turning Point USA, was assassinated in Orem, Utah. Soon after the murder, authorities arrested 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, who is suspected of killing Kirk over his conservative Christian views on various issues, especially transgenderism.
Eleven days after Kirk was killed, a memorial service was held at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, that was attended by 90,000 to 100,000 people, including President Donald Trump. The service was broadcast on Fox News, generated more than 100 million viewers, and many of the speakers during the event shared their personal testimony about following Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Kirk’s widow spoke during the service, stating that she forgave her husband’s murderer, drawing a comparison to Jesus’ forgiving of those who crucified Him.
“I forgive him because it was what Christ did, and is what Charlie would do,” she said. “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the Gospel is love, is always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us.”
His assassination … shocked the nation and sparked immediate questions about the intersection of politics, free speech, political violence and faith in American public life. A new George Barna survey showed that Kirk’s death has prompted nearly three in ten Americans to take some form of action, with spiritual responses far outpacing political ones.
For many, this renewed search for truth intensified after the death of Charlie Kirk. Whatever one thinks of him politically, his sudden death landed like a shockwave among young Americans already struggling with questions of meaning, courage, and mortality.
Kirk’s death unleashed what many believe is the beginning of a spiritual revival. Pastors and religious leaders across the U.S. reported a 15% to 30% increase in church attendance, and many of the new attendees referred to Kirk’s death as a wake-up call about mortality and faith.
Also, Bible sales in the month of September were 36% higher than last year, according to Nielsen BookScan. Mark Schoenwald, president and chief executive of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, told Decision magazine, Kirk’s shooting “awakened a lot of people.”
Every aspect of the Turning Point organization has seen an incredible surge of interest and that includes TPUSA Faith, a group that helps churches put their faith into action. Its church network has essentially doubled to 8,000 churches, and an additional 200,000 Christians are now involved with the organization. There were 2000 chapters at college and high schools before Kirk was murdered. They now have over 120,000 requests for additional ones.
But, even before the Kirk assassination America was experiencing major changes in the spiritual life of its people. According to Barna’s latest data, 66 percent of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today. That marks a 12-percent point increase since 2021. This shift is not only statistically significant, it may be the clearest indication of meaningful spiritual renewal in the United States.
For years, cultural commentators insisted that Gen Z was leaving faith behind. Yet in 2025, the data tells a very different story. Younger users are opening the Bible in record numbers, downloading Scripture apps, buying physical Bibles, and–most unexpectedly–walking back into churches. In fact, the Barna Group reports that young adults are now the most regular attendees among churched Christians. These include Gen Z and Millennials. Further, the decline in overall church attendance, which began stabilizing in 2020, shows no sign of diving again, with a possible revival underway. Consider the following:
College students across the country came to Jesus as never before. 4,500 students sought Jesus at a rally at Purdue University, while 5,000 did the same at WVU. Ohio State experienced a massive revival with 6,500 students in attendance and nearly 2,000 accepted Christ. 7,000 people attended a rally at the University of South Flordia with over 1,000 decisions for Christ. An event at the University of Tennessee saw 8,000 gathered. The University of Oklahoma filled their arena with 9,000. N.C. State had over 6,000 students come together to worship. There were many, many more events at colleges and even high schools that reflected the hunger that young people have for the truth.
It seems more and more that on weekends students are holding up Bibles instead of beer bongs.
But it wasn’t just young people searching for something better in their lives. 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium in California for a Greg Laurie Crusade with over 6,500 made professions of faith. 35,000 attended a worship service in Portland with 3,200 accepting Christ.
7,750 were baptized on a California beach in the largest water baptism in U.S. history. And over 28,000 people were baptized across the U.S. on Pentecostal Sunday.
Bible sales soared in 2025 with a 30% increase over 2024 and a study showed that 60% of Americans
consumed some sort of Christian media in 2025.
A scripture about God’s provision, comfort, and divine protection became the most shared, bookmarked, and highlighted verse across the globe in 2025, according to YouVersion, a top-rated mobile Bible app. That verse, Isaiah 41:10, is not the verse of a comfortable culture. It is the verse of a fearful one.
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” — Isaiah 41:10.
Isaiah 41:10 does not offer shallow optimism or vague reassurance. It does not deny the darkness. Instead, it confronts fear head-on–and then overwhelms it with presence. I am with you. Not an idea. Not a philosophy. A God who enters the fear with us. A God who strengthens weak hands and steadies shaking hearts.
In a world full of anxiety and uncertainty, people are drawn to God’s promise to be with us, to strengthen us, and to help us. That message never gets old because the need for it is universal and timeless. People are hungry for what’s real and true.
Scripture engagement does not stay confined to screens. It transforms lives, it reshapes homes, friendships, and whole communities.
It is sad that only 24% of Americans believe that America is headed in the right direction. It is sad that suicides and drug addiction are at an all time high. But I believe that those numbers are going to change for the better in 2026 as people are finally searching for the answers to their problems in the right places.
I also believe that we will look back at 2025 and realize that it was much better than we thought…except for those that are still infected with TDS. Those unfortunate ones are probably in for another 3 years of unhappiness and need our prayers.
We also need to pray that the flames of revival that appeared in 2025 will explode into a holy fire and individuals will be changed and communities and our whole nation will experience a radical transformation.
Want a happier, more satisfying life in 2026? Then limit your time on social media and in front of televised news and stop dwelling on the negative. Appreciate all the blessings that are in your life and acknowledge where they come from. Put your faith in Jesus and spend more time in God’s Word.