where we bid farewell to this year...

'isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?'  

 lucy maude montgomery, from anne of green gables

no truer words have ever been said.
tomorrow is the start of a new month.  a new year.  a new beginning.

i would be lying if i said that i am sad to see another year go.
i am not.
there is a bit of giddiness over bidding farewell to a hard, tough year.

i am not sure i can fully understand the rough waters we have sailed this year.
there was heartache and broken promises and missed opportunities.
an ocean of regret filled by salty tears in the middle of the night.
but each morning met us with the glimmer of hope on the horizon.

we clung to Him as the preserver of our lives. 
and trusted the season that surrounded us was for a purpose.  
there are moments that still do not make sense.
perhaps they never will this side of heaven.
but we believe all the days of this past year have molded us more into His image.

as the calendar page turns tomorrow, a new chapter will begin.
one we know is full of His blessings and grace.
we are not focusing on the past.  
instead, we are boldly claiming our inheritance in Christ and trusting His promises for our lives.

there are no resolutions or goals for the new year.
only to keep in step with Him.
we know that it is only through Him that we safely journeyed through the wilderness of this year.
and we drank deep from the streams of life in the midst of the wasteland.  

we will not dwell on the past.
instead, we are training our hearts to see the new things He is doing in our lives.
we graciously bid farewell to this year.
and anxiously anticipate the dawning of the next.

forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

see, i am doing a new thing!

now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

i am making a way in the wilderness

and streams in the wasteland.

isaiah 43:18-19