Christmas is past for yet another year, and the new year, 2024, is approaching. What will the new year bring?

Only God can answer that question. The real question is, can we trust Him with the new year? Can we trust that He loves us? That He always does what is best for us? That His timing is always perfect?

I don’t know about you, but I would love to say “Yes” to all of these questions. I know myself, however. The minute things begin to go wrong, my shaky faith falters, and I find myself wondering if God really cares enough about me to answer my prayers… And if I have those kinds of doubts in my mind, then it will be especially difficult for me to trust Him with something as unknown and potentially scary as a “new year”! 

Take, for example, the day this past May when my already-faltering sight became even worse. Those of you who have been following these posts over the years know that I was born with what is known as a “lazy eye”. Unfortunately my parents didn’t realize this, and by the time it was discovered, it was too late to be corrected. As a result, my right eye is pretty useless to me. Unfortunately my left eye isn’t much better. I am required to wear thick glasses to be able to see anything at all. And to make things worse, my difficulties with cognitive decline have affected my visual field and my visual perception overall. Is it any wonder I voluntarily gave up driving?

As if all of that weren’t bad enough, I woke up one day last May to find what I describe as a “film” covering my right eye! True enough, I couldn’t really see out of that eye anyway, but this “film” made it seem like I was continually looking through a very dirty window, and any bright light soon became my enemy. I was forced to live in dark sunglasses, all the time. The “film” was eventually diagnosed as a very large floater, which is, of course, untreatable… 

I have to admit, it took me down. I mean, I am already dealing with cognitive decline, and my vision was already so bad. Why would God permit even more for me to deal with? Why God, Why?

It was definitely one of those times when my faith was pretty shaky, and I admit that thoughts of “God must not really care about me” did enter my mind. And with those doubts in my mind, I began to doubt God’s promise to heal me of Alzheimer’s… It wasn’t New Years, but I definitely was questioning whether I could trust God in the upcoming days and weeks! 

As the weeks and months went by and the eye didn’t improve, I resigned myself to having to live with this extreme photosensitivity and blindness. God, do You care? 

It would appear, for all practical purposes, that God was silent on this one. My sight didn’t return, my cognition continued to slip, and I began being plagued with hallucinations. It was difficult for me to be able to separate reality from the visions in my head. Just how much more can one person take?

Then one day, just a few days ago, I woke up and the “film” on my right eye was gone! At first I thought it was my imagination, but then I went outside in the bright sunshine without my sunglasses and I could … see! God healed my vision! God understood my doubts. He knew I needed reassurance, and He gave me a gift for Christmas.

With that little miracle, my faith was restored. In His time He removed this floater that was plaguing me, and if He could and would do that, I knew I could trust Him with every part of my life. Yes, even through the uncertainty of the upcoming year! 

As I think back over the year, I realize that although there were many things that happened that I didn’t really appreciate, God was always there to carry me through and provide me with what I needed to cope. It may not have always been what I was asking for, but God never let me down. 

Jesus tells us, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” (John 5:17b NIV). This means that even when things seem to be going wrong, even when our prayers don’t seem to be being answered, God is at work in ways that we can’t see; and when the time is perfect, He will bless you with that miracle. 

Don’t you think that the God who is always working is trustworthy for the upcoming year? Let’s resolve to trust Him, no matter what. Especially in the times when we don’t see Him working on our behalf. Let’s resolve to always believe that He loves us and our miracles will come at just the right time. 

In His love,

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries