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Welcome to 2026!

Happy 2026 everyone! Hope everyone is having a safe and happy start to this brand-new year. I know 2025 was a wild year depending on where you were in the world, but there was a lot of chaos, fear, and panic here in the United States. However, I hope that 2025 was the year that you needed it to be. Whether you needed a year of peace, a year of growth, a year of profitability, a year of sustainability – I really do hope that this year was the year that you needed for your life and that path that God set you on.

2025 in Review

2025 was my year to slow things down. To not attempt to rush through things, but to take an intentional spot to slow things down and be more present in the moment. The more I reflect on 2025, the more I see this in three chunks: tax life, insurance life, and unemployed life.

Tax Life

I moved to year two as a tax professional. I was also starting to help with our online tech support systems, so I was answering tax questions and technical questions about our online software. It was a wonderful tax year as a preparer. I grew some extra clients, strengthened the knowledge that I had, and was able to grow into different types of returns altogether. It had its fair share of drama this year – drama, I’m obviously not gonna share, but it was enough to start questioning some things. However, I am thankful to work with some of the best people ever and we were able to get things sorted out and we closed the season out better than ever before. Since the season ended, I have done all my future training that I needed to become a Level 4 Tax Professional. I am certified to help with small businesses this year. I am a TPR, which means I can review tax forms for people who file align. I just got a call today (the day of writing this) to help save returns from being forgotten altogether (people who delay their filings or also struggle to file on time). This year is going to be a wonderful year career wise as a Tax Professional, and I am excited to be doing it full time in 2026!  

But Marc? What happened to the insurance job? Let’s talk about that…and the chaos that it was…

Insurance Life

If you remember at the end of 2024, I accepted the position to be a Life Insurance underwriter. It was a remote position, with better pay, and the chance for benefits. I couldn’t turn it down. However, the more we started getting into the training behind what my position was – the more the discomfort grew. Turns out this was a sales job. I thought it would be just a data entry position, and that’s how I understood it at least. At the bare minimum, I wouldn’t be selling a product. I was way wrong. The tactics didn’t sit right with me either. They wanted us to instill doubt and uncertainty into everyone we talked to. To not hang up or end a call ever, but to force them into a position to buy or hang-up. None of this sat right with me, and when I brought it up, it was very much a: “get comfortable with it or we’d have to part ways.” So, I sucked it up and dealt with it. I tried my best and did okay for the first month or two. I ended up having to move my desk to our sunroom because the internet would not hold the wireless connection – after purchasing $100 worth of equipment to make it work. That was a weird thing for me – I was using all my own equipment. The only thing they provided was the access to the websites I needed, which was all – and they did that through screen share via Zoom which was weirder.

Some days were better than others, but some days just sucked. The conversations I had were good, but after some time I developed a script that I could feel comfortable with. One that didn’t make me feel like I was selling my soul to the devil. One that I could live with myself with. I thought I was doing well – I was average 15 sales a month, 2-3 sales per week on average. However – it wasn’t enough. There were many meetings to discuss whether my numbers weren’t up to par and that I essentially needed to get it together. The stress was so present for me. My health was falling apart. TLDR: they released me towards the end of August, and I have been unemployed since then.

Now, I want to reassure you. I am okay. Yeah, my health was being affected by the job. My stress was very high and was starting to take a physical toll on me. I developed gall stones during this time, but thankfully they weren’t severe. I didn’t need to have surgery to remove them, but realistically just needed to change my diet and exercise habits, and work to recenter my body to a non-stressed state. It’s still a work in progress, but I have made some great steps along the way. Let’s talk about this.

Unemployed Life

So, what have I been doing over the past 4 months? Well, as mentioned, I have been eating healthier and working out more. And since I was let go from that job, I have lost almost 20 lbs. I’m about a third of the way into my ultimate goal; potentially half depending on when I plateau, but I haven’t weighed 265 in years. I’ve been averaging high 270s, low 280s for most of 2025.

I also spent a lot of time on my blog during this process. I stayed diligent not just on the writing, but on the website itself. We changed the website name (if you haven’t seen) to fully embrace the Bible Study Vibes ministry. I did a whole website overhaul to change the front page and main pages to be more accessible, friendly, and easy to maneuver. I went back to making devotionals of each blog and created the “Weekly Psalm Reading” series. I have a lot of secret projects going on in the background that I’ll touch on next, but it’s been a very creative time.

It’s also been a time to learn about myself. I got to re-identify who I am as a person, what I believe, and how I wanted to portray that in my life. I quit masking as often as I did and be the most authentic version of myself than ever before. It frightened me at times. It felt like I was seeing someone who wasn’t me, be me. It felt like I had no leash to hold on to, but I could let me wander to see what worked and what didn’t. It’s been a weird journey, but one that I don’t regret. I’m starting to embrace it and am still learning the bounds of what it all means, but I think 2026 will solidify some of this for me.

2026 Preview

Now, as you might know, I choose a word every year that I hope my year will be. This comes through prayer, what I see constantly, and where my thoughts tend to lead. In 2023, my word was growth. In 2024, my word was confidence. In 2025, my word was slow. What is 2026 going to be?

2026’s word is STABLE. Not the stable that Jesus was born in, but stable as in “firmly fixed” and “sane and sensible.” 2025 slowed things down enough to show me what I would like my life to be like, what my goals are, what career expectations I have, what small business routes I could take, and more. There is so much on the horizon that I want to get fixated on. I wanted to buckle down and learn about myself in a way that allows me to take the next step in my life. Be surrounded by people that support the work I do, more than I am now. Be surrounded by people that will work alongside to accomplish the mission I have set in place that will benefit the greater community. Whether it’s here through this ministry, or through another place altogether. I want to be firmly fixed on that goal. I don’t want to be guessing about it, and I don’t want it to be a pipe dream. I want it to be tangible, personal, and ready to make an impact.

I will work more of the year in the tax world this year. I will commit to my blog in the same way I’ve done the last two years. I will continue to create content outside the blog like my devotionals and potentially add an audio version somewhere. I have plans to open up a lesson store where people can purchase my curriculum for a small group or youth ministry setting. I also will sell these lessons as devotionals for people to utilize for themselves. I will create worksheets for people, and kids’ ministry. Not only will I be doing this for this ministry, but also for taxes and financial literacy. And I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg.

You all made the end of this blog year amazing:

• 266 posts
• 238.6K words
• 4,223 views
• 13 views on average per day
• 1,065 views in December (best month ever)
• 94 views on Worship with Me #24

We also broke the daily record for views three separate times in the last month alone. You folks have shown love to the blog in ways that I didn’t last year, when we blew up. It’s got me in the right direction to guide us through 2026, and I want us to grow bigger and better. This year still stabilizes us. This year will develop us into a unique identity, sane and more sensible than ever before.

Thank You!

I want to thank you all for giving me this platform, this support, this love, and so much more. I’ve enjoyed each step we’ve taken together, and it’s time to next one!

On January 6^th, I begin our journey through the Plagues of Exodus in a series simply called, “Plagues Galore.”

On January 7^th, I will bring back Manna for the Mind for it’s 3^rd season.

These will continue to come out every Tuesday – Saturday. There will be devotional videos like before! As mentioned, there may be a podcast version also coming. It’ll be great.

All in all, thank you for everything! Have a safe and healthy start to 2026 and make 2026 the year you need it to be. Until next time, stay blessed!