It’s the last day of the year. How are you?

New Year’s Eve is my fave. I love reflecting. I love eating appetizers for dinner. My husband asked me to marry him at midnight on December 31. I love everything about it. It’s like a new start right in the middle of winter.

Except for last year. It was like celebrating anything new felt wrong. My dad had passed away and had been gone less than two months. How were we supposed to celebrate new beginnings? We didn’t. To be honest, I’m not sure what we did. But it was just silent and felt unsure.

You may be feeling that way heading into a new year. Like tomorrow is just another day; just another change in the calendar. You definitely don’t want to reflect and the thought of creating new goals or hopes is exhausting.

You need to know you aren’t alone. There’s nothing wrong with you. If you resist a new year because you feel empty or weary, don’t believe the lie that you’re the only one.

Your God isn’t up in heaven shaking His head, just waiting for you to get it together. The most incredible thing about God is that He offers new life every day of the year. It’s who He is and it’s what He does. But God isn’t rushing your process, and neither should you. He’s not expecting you to be somewhere you’re not.

He just hopes you accept grace. The same kind of grace you’d extend to someone else. The way you allow others to grieve and process and journey? He’s asking you to accept it for yourself.

It’s okay to be unsure.

It’s okay to feel lonely.

It’s okay to resist hope.

It’s okay to go slow.

So instead of working hard to try to be somewhere you’re not, figure out where you are now. You are not in the same place you were last year. Whether you feel like it’s better or worse, it’s still different and new. Whether you feel like you moved forward or backward, you have grown.

Acknowledge where you are and then acknowledge your Savior, your Helper, who is reaching out to you offering grace and hope. His promises are yes and amen. His Word is true whether you can make sense of it on your timeline or not.

Here is what He says:

“I have good plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I plan to give you hope and a good future. Then you will call on my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will search for me, and when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will let you find me.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 ERV

“We are still alive because the Lord’s faithful love never ends. Every morning He shows it in new ways! You are so very true and loyal.” Lamentations 3:22-23 ERV

The world is begging you to grow in concrete ways. To keep up. But God’s view of success is different. Don’t worry about setting goals or fulfilling your dreams this next year. In fact, don’t worry about anything. God’s got your dreams covered. Make it your plan to just be.

Be you.

Be His.

 

“I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and peace as you trust in Him. Then you will have more and more hope, and it will flow out of you by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13