December 30, 2025
The beginning of a new year can spark goals and vision, but sometimes it can bring exhaustion, discontentment, and fear.
Three years ago, I started January in a tiring job, pursuing goals of professional success and financial stability that seemed impossible. Exhausted from work, from the effort of trying to fit in, and from unmet expectations, I wished for a year when things finally would go my way.
I confided in a friend about my resentment toward the previous year and my desperation for drastic change … preferably overnight. She listened, nodded, and even reflected on her own recent hardships.
Then she said, “I used to care about life giving me a ‘break,’ but honestly, I know this adversity will be an opportunity to lean on God more. Now I just ask that God gives me His strength.”
At first, I pushed back. I wanted God’s strength … and also a break. But was I really asking God to give me His strength and to make me more faithful as much as I was asking Him to make my life better?
It’s not wrong to ask God for relief and deliverance. We serve a Savior of miracles who can part the sea, give sight to the blind, and remove whatever hardship we face. But the Lord can also give us His strength to get through a disappointing day or to grow through a hard season. Our hardest trial might be an opportunity to see God’s power.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 says, “Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food … The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”
This year may hold hardships, but let’s remember these four truths:
Remember that while last year had its challenges and this year may include hard moments, your Savior will always give you His strength when you ask for it. With Jesus, there is joy in the morning and strength in the struggle.
Dear Jesus, this year, use the difficulties I experience to make me wiser, better, and more faithful. May I see them as opportunities to lean on You. I do wish life looked different, but I also know You’re a good God who can give me strength. I ask for Your strength right now... In Jesus’ Name, Amen.—Grace Valentine1
As we approach the New Year, there has been a recurring thought in my mind that may seem simple, yet it is a powerful truth: “New Year, Same God!” That brief statement reminds me of the beautiful scripture in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
In writing to the Church at Philippi, Paul said, “Brethren, … this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14).
With family, church, political and technology changes coming at us so quickly, it is comforting to know that God never changes! God doesn’t “adapt” to the times. The Word doesn’t change according to cultural pressures or crushing life situations. God doesn’t need to change because He is already the King of kings and Lord of lords! We only need to “press on.”
As we begin a new year, it is natural to reflect on the past and set goals for the future. But as Christians … our goals mustn’t be just about achieving personal success or financial well-being, but rather about honoring God and aligning our lives according to His will.
One way to begin setting godly goals is to prayerfully seek God’s guidance. Listen to His voice and ask for His direction this coming year. The psalmist says in Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When we seek God first, He will lead us and give us the desires that align with His will for our lives.
So, as we start the New Year, let us remember, “New year, same God!”—Chaplain Allen2
As we stand at the cusp of a New Year, we naturally tend to think of what awaits us in the year to come. Through this journey called life, we experience good, bad, ups, and downs, and often we haven’t got a clue what’s ahead. As Christians, we try to make the best choices we can and to live caring, honest lives that will be pleasing to God and bless the lives of others, but every day, we make decisions that could affect our future, and it’s not always clear how.
That’s not easy even in simple times, but the times we live in now are anything but simple. We can safely assume this is an interesting age for scholars of culture and history, but the reality for those of us who are living it is that each new year seems to introduce new uncertainties and risks.
One thing that we can hold on to as a sure anchor and refuge in life is God’s love and care for us, even in the darkest, most difficult times. “God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you’” (Hebrews 13:5). So “we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:18–19).
In 1939, a young preacher and musician named Ira Stanphill married Zelma Lawson, a minister’s daughter who had a lovely voice and played the piano. Unfortunately, that marriage ended in 1948, and his ex-wife was killed in a car crash not long after. During the years between their separation and divorce, and then her death, Stanphill is said to have sunk into a deep depression.
He was driving one night when he began to hum a song about not knowing what the future held and trusting God under circumstances he didn’t understand. Upon arriving home, he rushed to his piano and jotted down the words to the song “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,” which have resonated over the years with so many who face an unknown future.
Many things about tomorrow,
I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.
I don’t worry o’er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I’ll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.—Ira Stanphill
God doesn’t promise that walking with Him will be easy, but what He does promise is that every day of our lives is in His hands! As we enter into a new year, what a comfort it is to realize that the one who loves us the most knows the way and will walk through every day with us.—Ronan Keane
Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.
We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.
In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love. In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need. In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.
And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33). …
As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to … a new commitment to make You the foundation and center of our lives this year.
And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and Savior, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come. Amen.—Billy Graham3
Published on Anchor December 2025. Read by Debra Lee. Music by Michael Dooley.
1 Grace Valentine, “Four Truths To Remember About God’s Strength at the Start of 2025,” proverbs31.org, January 1, 2025, https://proverbs31.org/read/devotions/full-post/2025/01/01/four-truths-to-remember-about-gods-strength-at-the-start-of-2025.
2 Chaplain Allen Thyssen, “Reflections—New Year, Same God,” nations.edu, January 4, 2024, https://nationsu.edu/reflections-new-year-same-god.
3 “Billy Graham’s Prayer for a New Year,” billygraham.org, January 1, 2024, https://billygraham.org/articles/billy-grahams-prayer-for-the-new-year-4.
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