Happy New Year, Friends!

Lord, thank You that nothing is beyond Your transforming love:
our brokenness and sin,
not beyond Your gaze of mercy;
our hidden shame,
not beyond Your grace;
our descent into despair,
not beyond Your reach;
our dreams and visions,
not beyond Your power;
our emptiness or loneliness,
not beyond Your touch;
our life and our death,
not beyond Your risen power.

Now in these moments of prayer, we come before You, God,
for Your gaze of grace, Your touch of power, Your gift of life.

Or, more accurately, You come to us.

Help us to trust in You with our whole heart and live for You with our whole life, beginning now on this first day in the new year.

Amen.

by: Rev. Dr. John G. Hamilton