A Reflection on 2025 – With Gratitude and Grace
- foreverhopememoir
- Dec 31, 2025
- 3 min read
As we come to the last day of 2025, I want to pause and reflect, not just on the blessings, but on the heartaches too. Because this year was both.
To every member of my Forever Hope Family:If your 2025 included struggles, loss, health battles, C-sections, NICU journeys, premature babies and their health issues, unanswered prayers, or quiet tears … please take a moment to look at your strength. You did so well to make it this far.
No matter how you step into 2026, celebrating loudly, quietly, or simply surviving … all your feelings are valid. All your triumphs matter. You matter.
For me, 2025 was a year of blessings and struggles.My biggest challenge was my son’s health. He faced many complications, largely due to being born premature. However, on a beautiful note, he graduated early this year and was called an early bloomer … a title he wears with pride.
This year was also difficult in terms of job hunting, a journey I am still on. Yet, in that waiting season, I was given time, time to sit down, write, and pour my heart into my memoir.
In 2025, I became a South African indie author … a journey from a lifelong lover of reading to becoming an author myself. I learned how self-publishing works, fell deeply in love with writing, and discovered that this is something I will definitely continue doing.
Along the way, I made incredible friends. Even my editor became someone I now cherish dearly. This year taught me that blessings come in many forms.
I struggled to secure grants to publish my memoir and to get my message of strength out into the world. There were moments I felt disheartened. However, I held onto faith, and a beautiful soul came into my life, believed in me, and helped make this dream possible.
2025 taught me to believe in miracles.I wrote and published my memoir in just under a year, and I am so incredibly proud of myself.
I was honoured to be featured twice in The Springs Advertiser (The Citizen) and in Women on Top Magazine. I felt my voice growing, my message reaching further, and my Forever Hope Family expanding, so I can support women and families who need it most. I had a beautiful book launch and became a member of ANFASA. My memoir is even on Amazon.
This year, I was invited to two hospitals as a guest speaker during Prematurity Awareness Month … sharing hope and reminding parents that they are not alone. I also formed beautiful connections with a birthing doula and a bereavement doula, two incredible women I now call friends.
My name is now recognised on Google.I had the opportunity to do stunt work for Spoorloos and see my name in the credits … yes, I still love doing stunts too.
What an incredible year of growth, healing, courage, and resilience. Writing my memoir healed parts of me I didn’t even realise were still hurting.
Most importantly, I got to grow this beautiful Forever Hope Family. I love you all, and I am always here to support you.
As I look toward 2026, my dreams are simple but powerful:
• To grow the Forever Hope Family
• To support more women and families so they feel less alone
• To do more talks and share hope
• To continue studying and growing
• To write and sell more books (especially Forever Hope)
• To find stable work and financial security
• And above all, to have a healthy son
I wish each of you a 2026 filled with blessings, healing, and gentle moments of joy. I am here … to hold you through hurdles and to celebrate every achievement, big or small.
As you look back on 2025, do so with a grateful heart … even for the hard lessons.
YOU ARE SEEN.
With all my love,
Forever Hope
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