With a lot of hopes and dreams New Year is approaching us. This New Year asks us to face our life with confidence and strengthens us with the surety that our Lord is with us in all the moments of our life and he is always with us to help and comfort us.

All throughout the Scripture we find God, who is always with the human beings in their pains and sorrows. “He sustained him in a desert land, in a howling wilderness waste; he shielded him, cared for him, guarded him as the apple of his eye” (Deut 32: 10). Perhaps we may be passing through a desert experience in our life. In a situation where all the hope is lost; when pains, sorrows, debt, decease etc surround us, we may be searching for a refuge and comfort in life. There may be situations in which we become all alone, rejected by whom we loved most and about whom we expected that they will be with us in all the difficult moments of our life.

If you feel that you are all alone and your life is passing through a desert experience, be sure that the good Lord is with you in all the difficult moments of your life. He is not a myth who is hidden somewhere in the skies, but he is an ever present reality. May this realization make our New Year a pleasant and hopeful one. Through prophet Isaiah, God reminds us: “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear” (Isaiah 59: 1). God knows us perfectly and he is always taking care of us. “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle” (Ps 56: 8).

God will never allow anyone who trusts in Him to be broken or defeated. “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever” (Ps 125: 1). As we enter into this New Year, let us comment all our toil and labor to the hands of the Lord. Even if everyone on this earth may reject or abandon me, my Lord God is always with me. May this confidence, help us to face the desert experiences of life with peace and joy

Fr. Prince Chakkalayil CST