A Prayer for the Old and New Year

        The last day of 2015.  Wow.
        Thank You, Father, for Your amazing faithfulness and relentless grace to each of us over these past 365 days.  Thank You for Your Word that spoke to us day after day after day.  Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that guided, encouraged, strengthened, and helped us every hour of every day.  Thank You for Your wondrous gifts of our family and friends that brought us so much joy and happiness this past year.
       Thank You for the joyous moments--and the hardest moments--of this past year, for we know and trust that You are somehow, someway using every single one of them for Your greater glory and our ultimate and eternal good.  Thank You for the new lives You brought into our world...and for those You took back home to Yourself.  Oh how we thank You for dear friends and family who so faithfully ran their races all the way to the finish line and who are right this moment rejoicing with You in glory.  And thank You for the absolutely certain hope and joy that, because of Jesus, we will see them again.
        Thank You for every one of Your promises in Your Word--all of which are "Yes!" in Christ Jesus (2 Cor.1:20).  Thank You that we can bank our entire lives and our eternal destinies on those never-failing, supernaturally powerful promises.  Thank You, thank You, thank You for never treating us as our sins deserve, "for as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him." (Ps.103:10-11)  And thank You for Jesus--our Savior, Redeemer, and Friend.
         From this morning's reading for December 31st from the One Year Bible--
        "And He who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold I am making all things new.'  Also He said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'  And He said to me, 'It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.'" (Rev.21:5-6)
        Thank You, Lord, that Jesus is even now making all things new...including our lives, our loved ones, our world, and our hearts.  And thank You that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega--He was at the inaugural moments of 2015; He is at the closing moments of this year; and He will be in every single moment of this new year that is upon us.
        We need not fear...for You are already there.  We will not fear...for You are in complete control.  And we refuse to fear...for You are working all, all, all things out for good and for glory.  If we ever doubt that, Father, turn our eyes to Your cross that we might see the worst that man could do...and the glorious, beautiful best that God did and does.  Our sins for Your righteousness.  Our death for Your eternal life.  Our ugly failures and weaknesses for Your infinite perfection and power.
       If You could do that with the absolute worst thing in the history of mankind, imagine what You can and will do with those hard, dark places in our lives?
        Thank You, Lord,  for this new year.  Might we know You more and more clearly, love You more and more dearly, and follow You more and more fearlessly for however many days You choose to give us in 2016.  In Jesus' wonderful, powerful, and beautiful Name.  Amen
        To God be the glory.