Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Enoc Garcia, Washington Conference communication director

We’re 15 days into the new year, and I am rethinking whether one of my New Year’s resolutions was too ambitious.

You see, I promised myself that 2025 would be my best year for health. More specifically, I challenged myself to get more steps throughout the day—at least 7,000.

While I have a good amount of intrinsic motivation, I tend to do better with external motivators. To stay on track, I joined an online community step challenge to monitor my progress.

The rules are simple: I wear a fitness tracker and sync the data at the end of each day. The challenge is to walk 7,000 steps for four days a week and 9,000 steps on two “power days.” Thankfully, I get one free day! The first week of 2025 was a warm-up week, but starting last week, those who don’t meet their step goals are eliminated. (Trust me, I don’t want to be the person who drops out in the first week!)

I was doing quite well until yesterday when I realized at the end of the day that I had barely logged 2,500 steps.

Since it was a power day, I needed at least another 6,500 steps! It was late, I was tired, and it was cold outside. I felt tempted to skip my walk and abandon my health challenge, but something urged me to stay true to my commitment. I went outside with my wife, and about an hour and a half later, we had far surpassed our goal.

There is power in following through on your commitments.

As I reflect on my goals for this year, I recognize an even more important commitment: walking daily with Jesus. This year, I am going back to the basics of making room for Jesus in every aspect of my life. That requires setting aside time to hear from Him (by reading the Bible) and talk to Him (in prayer).

I am inspired by the testimony of Enoc in Genesis 5:24:

I am also challenged by God’s call to Abram:

Notice that walking with God requires faithfulness—sticking to the commitment.

My greatest reward for walking with Jesus is experiencing afresh each day the goodness of His love, His mercy, and His faithfulness. Just as I aspire for this to be my best year physically, my desire is for my spiritual journey to be the most fulfilling yet. If you haven’t joined a Bible study group, prayer circle, or started a Bible reading plan, I invite you to begin today!

You can find a 2025 Bible reading plan at nwadventists.com/news/2024/10/2025-bible-reading-plan