New Year, Same God.

While New Year is heavily celebrated around the world, I can't help but wonder what 2025 has in store for us... almost to the point where I started feeling anxious to enter another new year...

With every new year comes hopefulness, new opportunities, time for many memories to be made, new people that we'd be meeting and enjoying the company of, and may also include many answered prayers! Yet, every new year ushers in anxiety due to uncertainty for what is to come, possible loss of loved ones, disappointment, failures, rejection, and more. So why is it that New Year's is celebrated as if it will be filled with joy every single day, as if it is the best thing that could ever happen quite clearly it won't be the case for most, if not all.

As I was pondering on such thoughts, I realised the world celebrates New Year's with such excitement (apart from showing off on Instagram) because they are hopeful that this year would turn out to be the best but without any substantial reason for being hopeful. It is an empty hope.

However, it is different for those who believe in God: He is unchanging even when things change (which they often do for the worse). God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6), even amid the darkest hour of 2025, even when you face disappointment, sorrow, failure, or rejection this year. He has been our refuge and our fortress (Psalms 144:2) until now and will be henceforth, too. So, no matter how traumatic your 2024 or years past were, let's look towards this new year of 2025 full of hope based on our faith founded upon God's promises and not dwell on the past but look forward to every blessing He has in store for us in 2025 because He says: “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19. So let's remind ourselves although it is a New Year, it is the Same Almighty God who's got us!

Thank you, Jesus!