Recently, I was chatting with a former colleague, listening to him recount a year that started with high hopes but ultimately slid off the rails. You talk about a ‘bear year’ bingo board; this mini testimony had it all, from unforeseen conflicts and unprecedented struggles to wrong turns at the wrong times despite best intentions. If disappointment had a voice, no question, I was hearing and feeling it.

Perhaps some of you have been in that situation, having to pull wisdom from past pain, looking to make an encouraging connection. If so, you know the posture can be humbling.

Addressing my friend, the immediate challenge wasn’t so much accessing my library of relatable lows but conveying hope in a way that didn’t come across as cliché. For instance, I generally agree with the colloquialism, ‘It’s not about how you start but how you finish’. In the spirit of holy calibration, one has nothing but fear to lose when full surrender meets desperation and repentance. Yet often the trouble in voicing this is the embedded assumption that the other side knows what to do. How does one finish a year strong? Where is Jesus when we need Him to shine light on the way we’re to go? Those are a few of several key questions we should be asking this time of year, and in some instances, be willing to navigate with certain people God puts in our lives.

To me, finishing a year strong is less about the existing year and more about the upcoming year. ‘Tis why I love December as much as I do. While there’s plenty to celebrate, there’s the covering of Advent as a means to bless the Lord and a prompt to realign with Him. Yes, Christmas traditions are worthwhile, but so is the net effect of taking inventory of unhealthy patterns, breaking off agreements with the enemy, and posturing in gratitude to what saves.

Wherever we find ourselves, I encourage us to look this year in the mirror and declare it as one God can use. What has happened, good or bad, doesn’t define us. Even if there have been discouraging developments, we must not exalt them to the point our faith erodes but rather see them as motivation to lay our all at Jesus’ feet. We may not feel we have much to give, we may wrestle with our sense of purpose and future from our current perspectives; however, when we consider Christmas is the celebration of Jesus incarnate – the reason for hope, the beginning of salvation, the reality of reconciliation – we understand how these weeks of anticipation can extend into the new year where fresh starts and clean slates await.

Accordingly, as we delight in God’s sovereignty this Christmas, let’s be mindful of what this Advent season can ignite. Immanuel, God with us in storm and fire, merry and bright, there’s nothing He can’t do to make things right. Still, we must accept our call to make Him room; hence, why we must embrace Him as ‘present’. The same God who understands where and why you are is the same God who gave His only Son to purchase and preserve you at a price. You don’t have to wait until New Year’s to recommit your ways. Start now, start today, and watch what God will do.

Cover graphic creds: Christianity.com