New Year Ahead
We are on the cusp of another year. Do you look back and see a year of regret? A year of broken dreams and unfulfilled expectations? Are you crushed by the weight of your responsibilities and can’t seem to find a way through the struggle? Or perhaps you fall into the opposite camp whereby you had an amazing 2024 and can truly laugh out loud at the good things and wonderful people God put in your life? Perhaps, the reality is a mixture of both. God always blesses us, even in the trials but it’s in the hard times that we find it harder to be grateful for His hand.
The reality is also that some seasons are definitely worse or indeed more challenging than others and this time last year you may have been hopeful that 2024 would be better than the previous year, but instead, it was even harder. Does the farmer curse the hardened ground when it comes time to plant or does he sharpen his plough and ready himself for the task ahead? Does the fisherman stop fishing when the nets are empty or does he once more venture into the deep sea of uncertainty knowing he must provide for his family? What about a hard to hear diagnosis or an ongoing health struggle? The temptation to quit is real and the energy and stamina needed to slog on day after day is gruelling and at times, elusive.
What then can we make of this current dilemma and trial when deep inside we long for a new year with fresh hope and a clean start. Worries gone, debts paid, jobs secured and bodies healed. Dare we dream such things or even say them aloud to Father God?
I believe the answer to all of this lies in the relationship we have with Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53:3-4 NKJV
3.He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we ]esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
NIV
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
If anyone knows about pain and suffering, Jesus does. I can only write about this past year as it pertains to me. It’s been so very hard. But God. God has been with me through every struggle and has kept me safe in spite of me thinking otherwise. When I am still, I can see His hand guiding the tough decisions. His promise to me and to you is that He will never leave me or forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5.)
That being said, I am just a girl who stumbles and often gets it wrong. When I take my eyes off God and look instead at the storm, things go awry.
Psalm 37:4 says: Delight thyself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
This verse is often misused but essentially when I give myself totally to God and surrender to His will for my life, He will pour out His love in ways I couldn’t possibly imagine. Knowing this, I can plunge into each day, and indeed this next year, utterly confident that God has absolutely wonderful things in store for me. My part is to stay close to Him and honour Him in everything I do. If my focus is being delighted with God, there isn’t much room for anything else.
As 2024 draws to a close and 2025 rises on the horizon, there’s nothing wrong with disappointment and regret. They can be so very valuable when used to learn from. God can wrap every past hurt, failure and discouragement in His wonderful redeeming love and give us new hope for a New Year. He doesn’t promise that it will be plain sailing but He does promise to be in our boat when the seas get rough.