New Every Morning

ByJim Stephens

Reading: Lamentations 3:1-33

22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)

What a year 2024 has been! From a very nasty and hard fought national election campaign in the US to the politicizing of almost every attitude and action, creating deep division in so many relationships and situations! From racial tensions in the US to rising tensions among the nations.

We haven’t all been impacted equally! This year has brought inconvenience to some and disaster to many. We’ve all been in the same storm, but we certainly haven’t all been in the same boat!

And we’ve learned some things: 1) There’s a lot in life we can’t predict! 2) There’s a lot in life we can’t control. The well-ordered and predictable lives we strive for can suddenly become more illusion than reality!

But at 11:59:59 PM (23:59:59 for some of us) 2024 will end. It’ll be over! Finished! Done! But at the very moment this raggedy old year ends, a New Year begins—a year we’ve never lived before. Each day of the New Year will bring new opportunities, challenges, and experiences.

Here are my GraceNotes plans for 2025:

  • I’ll be returning to a Through the Bible in a Year reading plan. GraceNotes will arrive in your email inbox each day as usual on New Year’s Day.
  • I’m going to restart blogging in 2025. There are things I’d love to share with you that don’t fit into the structure of GraceNotes Daily Devotionals, so a couple of times a month I’ll be writing an article or two and sending it out by email just as I do with GraceNotes. Many of you are already subscribed to my blog and I’ll let you know how to invite others to subscribe.

Thanks for being part of the GraceNotes family! And thanks to everyone who regularly or occasionally clicks the Donate button and sends a gift!

Prayer:

Father, I thank you for your faithfulness through another year. I thank you that your steadfast love and your unfailing mercies are renewed to us with this New Year. God bless us all! In Jesus’ Name!