Anna's Prayer for the New Year

Lord, you have brought us through a year of triumphs and a year of failures.

Some have endured setbacks with their health, while others’ physical vitality has surged ever higher. Some have celebrated marriages or welcomed new life into their families while others have suffered the pain of separation, divorce or death. Some have committed or recommitted their lives to you while others have turned their backs on you, swearing it will be forever. In all we give thanks.

We give thanks for you. For your will. For your justice. For your grace and mercy. For your forgiveness. We give thanks for the only thing in life we can truly count on. We give thanks for the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Alpha and Omega. The Beginning and the End.

We give thanks, uncertain what the New Year will hold, but knowing that you have a plan for us through it. That you will be with us through it all, step by step.

Bless our efforts, dear Lord, to point the way for those who are lost and are searching for Home. Remind us that our every word, our every action, has potential to influence another for your glory. Help us to weigh every resolution, every habit, against this scale of influence.

Scary as it is, Lord, I give you permission to use the heartache, the tribulations, the sorrow of life to draw us closer to your heart. For it is in this brokenness that we realize the depth of your love, the vulnerability of your spirit, and the infinite vastness of your power. 

Help us not to become mired in the harshness of life but, rather, to remember your sovereignty. To rely on it. To rejoice in it. Remind us that the trouble of this life, no matter how ghastly or grotesque, is only temporary. Remind us that you have not forgotten us in it, in ways that only you can. 

You know us intimately, down to our very marrow, our very cells. You created us from dust, for the simple reason that you loved us, that you wanted fellowship with us. No one could love us more or possess a greater desire for our well-being.

We thank you. We love you. We trust you.