The end of the year is here. Before we face the next year and all the challenges that come with it, Gaby and I have to acknowledge God’s faithfulness in this one. This past year God has shown us his faithfulness in a number of ways:
- Our salvation. John Piper once began a sermon by saying, “After 30 years of ministry, I am amazed that I am still a Christian.” The only reason we are still saved is because God has kept us saved. He keeps us alive. He makes us his children and he keeps us as his children. There is no greater manifestation of his faithfulness than the fact that despite your sinful nature, you are still saved.
- Our marriage. This year, Gaby and I celebrated our second anniversary (not too long ago actually). If there is another way of seeing God faithfulness in your own relationship with Him, it is in seeing how he has kept you faithful in relationships with others, particularly your spouse. Although many people would not think that two years is a long time, faithfulness is accomplished daily and those days add up. I thank God for my wife and for the grace He gives me through her.
- Our church. God has not only saved us to himself, but he has also saved us to live in community with other believers. Without the continual support of our fellow believers, we would not be able to accomplish what we have accomplished thus far. We are currently incredibly dependent on other people and I believe God has us this way for a purpose. It humbles us, it keeps us from thinking this is a solo effort, and we benefit greatly from the love and help of other believers.
- Our education. This year I graduated from college with a B.A. degree in Christian Ministry and an emphasis on Pastoral Ministry. This is also the year that Gaby was accepted into Med School after having graduated with a B.S. degree in Biology/Pre-Med. We fully acknowledge that our accomplishments are not our own but belong to God.
- Our mission. Gaby and I have both grown a lot in the past few years. We have come to know God better and know this world that he is created. Although we still have a lot to discover and understand, we are grateful that God has provided opportunities for us to put our growth and knowledge into practice, namely moving to Guatemala as missionaries.
We hope that you -our friends and family- have a beautiful New Year and that God’s faithfulness will be as present in your lives as it has been in ours. Finally, I’d like to add a prayer for New Year’s Eve written by Scotty Smith. It encapsulates many of my own feelings and I pray it tonight. Please pray with me.
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Ps. 115:1-4
Dear heavenly Father, on this eve of a new year, I feel a wide range of emotions. Sadness and gladness both occupy appropriate space in my heart. Both of these themes are at work in my heart as I reflect on the past year. It’s a good tension—one generated by the gospel, itself.
Looking back over the past twelve months, I quickly raise my voice and with the psalmist, and praise you for your irrepressible love and your inviolate faithfulness. Father, you loved me all year long with an everlasting, engaged, unwavering love—irrespective of anything I did or didn’t do. I praise, adore and bless you for your full and rich affection for us in Christ.
Indeed, you love each of your children as much as you love your Son, Jesus, for you’ve hidden our lives in his. Thank you for your steadfast love and fresh mercies that came every single day this past year—when we were aware of them and when we weren’t; and when we acknowledged them and when we didn’t. You remained faithful to everythingyou’ve promised us in Jesus. Great is your faithfulness. You do everything that pleases you—all the time, in every circumstance. This makes me so very, very glad.
But Father, it’s precisely because of your love for me in Jesus that I also own my sadness. This past year, there were also times when I joined the nations in saying, “So where is your God?” You usually heard this complaint from me, or saw it in me, when you were busy doing what pleases you, and not what pleases me. There were times when I trusted my voiceless, sightless, senseless, powerless idols, more than I trusted you. I own my unbelief and grieve my foolishness.
But the gladness of the gospel trumps the sadness of the year; for I will not always be a man of two minds and a divided heart. Father, it gives me great peace and unparalleled joy to know that you will bring to completion the good work you have begun in me. One Day I will no longer even be tempted to worship anything or anyone but you. One Day, along with all your children, I will be as lovely as and as loving as Jesus. Hasten that glad and glorious Day.
But until that Day, fill the next twelve months with groaning and growing in grace. Let us see your hand and heart at work everywhere. Bring much glory to yourself as the gospel does its work, in us and through us in this upcoming year. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ faithful and loving name.
