A new year. A fresh start. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Especially if 2017 wasn’t all that great. Maybe you’re carrying a load of guilt from mistakes you made. Maybe you made some poor choices that can’t be erased. Maybe you spoke words that can never be taken back.
Or maybe 2017 was a sad year for you. Did a good friend turn on you and now that friendship is history? Did your family split up, or did you lose your job? Did someone you love die? Did you fail a class or go through a breakup?
Whatever may have made 2017 a tough year, a new one is waiting for you now! Imagine yourself in your dream car, sitting at a stop sign. You’re in the driver’s seat. The choice is yours. Which way will you go? You have two options: you can shift into reverse and relive all the bad memories of last year—or you can shift into drive and take off, never looking in the rearview mirror.
I hope that you choose to go forward. Life is waiting for you! I wonder what exciting things might lie ahead for you this year? Two things are for sure. The first is that this year will bring a mixture of good and bad, happy and sad. It would be great if we could see into the future and plan ahead for how we will handle the tough times. It would be even greater if we knew what they were and could try to stop them. But we can’t, and so we take life as it comes.
The second thing that is for sure is that you don’t have to go through this year alone. Jesus will be with you. He saw you through last year; He’ll see you through this year. You have Someone to talk to. You have Someone who will listen. You have Someone who cares. Someone who is in your corner cheering for you. Someone who loves you enough to die for you. You are not alone. Happy New Year.