My friends we’ve made it into a new year and all that it will bring us. Some of us may be dreading some of what they suppose will happen. Others will see this as a new start with new possibilities and potential. Still others will take a wait and see perspective. However you and I come into this new year, we should be assured God is here as well. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:31, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Its a rhetorical question meant to elicit feelings of security and hope. If God is on our side, then nothing that we experience can overcome us.
Do we really feel this way? Do we have a perspective that is optimistic and forward looking? I know reality often smacks us up against our heads and urges us to see how things really are. What I want to say to this though, reality is a snapshot in time, it doesn’t take into consideration the long standing account of all we have already been through.
I don’t pretend to know what each of us have had to face this past year. I haven’t walked in each of your shoes. But I have walked in mine, and I know if it had not been for God, I wouldn’t have made it to see 2025. God has been with me through every sleepless night, through every sinking feeling I’ve experienced, in every opportunity where I could lose hope. God has been for me each and every time something could have caused me to be depressed, or to feel unloved, or even unwanted.
I’m thinking today about my dear friend Kathy Ezzell. Kathy struggled so throughout the year of 2024. My guess is, none of us can really ever know the depth of pain she experienced battling her third occurrence of cancer. Through all that she endured, Kathy always kept a positive and hope-filled demeanor. Kathy was a realist, and Kathy knew her time was short. What Kathy also knew was God was with her, and nothing, not even cancer, was going to get the best of her. Kathy transitioned from this life to life eternal on January 7th of this year. Cancer, however, didn’t have the last word. The author of life itself had the last word, as Kathy was ushered into the very presence of God.
My friend Kathy’s life and witness informs me on how to face this new year ahead. We face it knowing God is here. Yes, there may be some ups and downs. Yes, we may face some hurdles along the way. Yes, we may feel overwhelmed by life in the days ahead. But nothing can keep us from God’s presence and love along the journey we’re on.
For myself, I have so much to be grateful for. God continues to love me and be for me. God continues to bless me in untold ways. God continues to be THE guiding presence in my life.
Whatever this new year brings, I know God is with each of you. When the joys come, and they will, praise God for being with you. When the tough times come, and they will, praise God for being with you. When the sad times, or the lonely times, or even the times of melancholy come, and they will, we can praise God with every fiber of our being, because we know we don’t have to face those times alone. We KNOW, God is for us and with us, and this new year is going to be the best because we have God with us.
Your companion on the Way,
Pastor Tom