Today’s Verse
“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.”
Psalm 77:11
Looking Back to Move Forward
The 27th is a bit of a strange date. It’s stranded right between Christmas and New Year, a week when time feels suspended, when the celebrations have passed but the new year hasn’t quite begun. It’s the day I try to take a moment to pause, and look back at the year that’s nearly behind us.
We’re not naturally good at this. We move quickly from one thing to the next, already thinking about resolutions, goals, fresh starts. But there’s something powerful, and biblical, about stopping first to remember what God has done.
Throughout Scripture, God’s people built altars, stacked stones, celebrated feasts, all designed to help them remember. Not because memory is sentimental, but because memory builds faith. When you recount God’s faithfulness in the past twelve months, it strengthens your trust for the year ahead. When you catalogue His goodness, it reminds you who He is when circumstances try to convince you otherwise.
This year wasn’t perfect. There were disappointments, losses, prayers that still feel unanswered. But if you look closely, really look, you’ll see God’s fingerprints everywhere. The provision that came at just the right time. The conversation that shifted something in your heart. The strength you found when you thought you had none left. The health that held. The relationships that deepened. The small mercies you almost missed. The quiet ways He carried you through every season.
Reflecting on God’s goodness isn’t about pretending everything was easy, it’s about recognizing He was present in all of it. The joys and the struggles. The victories and the valleys. He didn’t leave you.
Today, before you start planning ahead, take time to look back. Write it down. Remember. Let the testimony of God’s goodness in 2025 become the foundation of your trust for 2026.
Today’s Prayer
Lord, help me reflect on Your goodness this year, to pause and remember all the ways You’ve shown up, provided, protected, and carried me through.
It’s easy to focus on what went wrong or what’s still missing, but when I actually look back, I can see Your fingerprints all over these past twelve months.
Teach me to catalogue Your faithfulness, to recount the prayers You answered, the doors You opened, the ways You made where there seemed to be no way.
You’ve been good to me even in the hard seasons, even when I couldn’t see it clearly, Your goodness woven through both the joys and the struggles.
Help me remember the moments I almost missed, the small mercies, the quiet provisions, the ways You sustained me when I felt like I couldn’t go on.
Remind me that reflecting on Your goodness isn’t just nostalgia but fuel for my faith, building confidence for what’s ahead based on what You’ve already done.
Give me a grateful heart as I look back, seeing not just what I accomplished but what You accomplished in me and through me this year.
Let this reflection deepen my trust, as I remember Your goodness this year and carry that testimony into the next, knowing the God who was faithful then will be faithful again.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.