A new year often brings thoughts and hopes of new beginnings. Many of us look back on the year gone by with both thankfulness for the things the Lord has done and that certain seasons of our lives are over.

My husband and I went through an intense battle in 2017 for the safety of our foster daughter. Her case had twists and turns that we did not anticipate, and a lot of wrongdoing occurred at the hands of some of the officials involved. Our emotions fluctuated from despair when we thought the worst-case scenario had happened to jubilation when the end came in November and we knew she would be part of our forever family.

We had to learn to trust the one who can do more than we can ever imagine and choose to dwell in His presence and His truth.

We entered 2018 with a sense of excitement and anticipation of our coming adoption but immediately were hit with travel trials and the flu during a special trip we took in January, which threatened to dampen our spirits about what this year could bring. Often looking ahead with hope and looking back with the truth from the Spirit isn’t all that easy.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 says, “For we don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in the province of Asia: we were completely overwhelmed, beyond our strength, so that we even despaired of life. However, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.”

Nothing the former year brought or the current year can bring will outweigh the value of the deepened trust and dependence I now have on our gracious Lord Jesus because of all that we’ve been through. Whether it’s waiting out adoption through foster care or having both hopes and disappointments of full-time ministry or personal areas of life, knowing the Lord more through trials and tribulations has proven to make every minute worth it. Most of what our family endured in 2017 was completely out of our control. We had to learn to trust the one who can do more than we can ever imagine and choose to dwell in His presence and His truth.

I pray for all of us who serve the Lord as vocational ministers that 2018 will be a year that we can look back on where our trust has deepened and our eyes turned consistently to the face of our Savior.