We welcome this New Year not knowing what to expect. Do we welcome it with joy or do we await its unfolding with cautiousness? These would have been the emotions of the Blessed Mother. She had previously been found to be with child and now that the child had come into the world, what more could she expect to happen.

For thirty years she waited for the prophecies to be ful¬filled and the sword to pierce her heart and she witnessed her Son’s passion. But the word says for all those years she pondered over the prophecies and words given to her. I am reminded of a beautiful testimony where a young man from another faith. He was introduced to the Lord Jesus and was so convinced that the Lord Jesus was the Lord and Saviour. Though he had it logically well-explained in his mind, it was not penetrat¬ing his heart. He says that one night as he sat on his bed, for a good two hours he repeated the word from John 3: 16 which says, “God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Just past the 120-minute mark, he began to bawl out and a new faith, light, and awakening were etched in the sanctuary of his heart. The light was switched on and in an instant, everything came together in his heart and mind. He was truly born again. Now he was utterly convinced of the Lord Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.

As we face this New Year, we honestly do not know what to expect. But we can also expect that even if the world goes through turmoil and the backlash of the previous months, we are still being held in the arms of the Saviour and He is still in control. In Galatians 4: 7 the word reminds us that because we are children, God has sent into the Spirit of His Son into our hearts and we cry out;

Abba that is Father! we are no longer slaves, but sons or daughters, and ours is the inheritance, by God’s grace. In this New Year 2021, may the Lord bless us, keep us and make His face to shine on us.