Happy New Year, friend! I have a special prayer for your new year! But first, let me share why I am looking forward to a new year. Maybe you will relate!

For me and my family, 2024 was a year that started with just surviving the aftermath of 2022/23.  

But God is good. He is working, and I know He has been working even on what felt like the most hopeless days. God began healing and restoration in His good time.

New Year’s Eve 2021, I worshipped and watched fireworks with my family a at a local event.  Even as I sat in joy and gratitude of what I thought God was doing in the life of someone I had long prayed for, the enemy was planting seeds of destruction in our lives that had already been weakened by weariness and worry that left us more susceptible to his subtle tactics. 

New Year’s Eve 2022, I intentionally stayed up all night by the fireplace to pray for one of our struggling teens. That was the first time in my life I was so burdened that I did not even try to sleep—and at the time, I did not even know how deep the darkness had enveloped us. 

Looking back, I see that God answered my prayers and intervened drastically within a week. I did not see it as His miracle, or even as a good thing, then. There was so much I didn’t know. I am so thankful He knew all the details I didn’t. 

Father, help me trust You more!

New Year’s Eve 2023, I enjoyed time on the beach with my family and slept beside my husband in a hotel room. Thank God for the difference! We knew 2024 still held hard things, but God had stopped the enemy in his tracks.

We will likely face unexpected hard things, but we know God will hold us together by His love and grace. He has proven His faithfulness again and again.

I don’t know what your last year was like. I hope it was amazing! If it wasn’t, trust God is working through it all. 

My husband/pastor loves to use the illustration of a huge parade. It’s like we are watching through the knothole in a wooden fence. We can only see what is right in front of us. God is watching the parade from above.He can see the beginning, the end, and everything between. He is also directing each part. Nothing has or will take Him by surprise. 

Our challenge is to trust that everything that comes has already been filtered through His loving grace. Our Heavenly Father is working for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), for His own glory, and for His Kingdom growth in this world. 

Even when we can’t see any good and the miracles don’t look like we expect, may we both trust God more daily in the new year, whether you are reading this in 2025 or many years in the future.

I can’t say it any better than my dear friend, Drewe Llyn, who has been faithful to God through her own heavy trials:

“Dear friends, I pray your [new year] is filled with breakthroughs, restorations, victories, and happiness. But if God chooses to make you more like Jesus through suffering, then I pray He fills you with His peace that goes beyond all understanding, His strength to get you through the hard times, and His presence to fill you with inexpressible and glorious joy.”

Know someone who needs a fresh start trusting God this year? Please share!