Touching the Hem After a Hard Year
Every December, I’m struck by how obsessed we all become with reflection. From obvious data factories like Spotify Wrapped, preemptive list-making of new, New Year’s Goals (that will all know will be forgotten before February), or just plain remembrances about what we loved and/or hated this year, it’s incredible how we want to wrap our last 365 days into a pretty bow while simultaneously planning ahead at how we can reinvent the next.
Yet, how disappointing this can be when our year wasn’t straightforward. When life was messier than normal. When we can’t express our disappointment, joy, anger, or excitement with words because they coexist confusingly in our circumstances. We are often left feeling hopeless and unsure, even while knowing we have a good God. It’s a complicated paradox that comes with a small print of faith.
I can’t help but think of the Woman with the Issue of Blood (Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48) under these same conditions. She spent twelve years living in a body that was only getting worse. How confusing is the effort to make peace with a body that’s betraying you! Can you imagine what her thoughts probably sounded like?
“Why can’t my body do all I want it to?”
“What have I done to deserve this?”
“When will this suffering end?”
“Where can I go to find healing that actually works?”
“How can I continue to live with this every day?”
In her doubt, Jesus said to her:
“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
This story is not one we should look at and think faith = healing, because they don’t go hand-in-hand. In fact, the story God has written for each one of us does not consider this as the ultimate goal, answer, or prize because it isn’t – He is. To think of it as such is to remove Jesus as the Savior of the World altogether.
But we all can relate to her continuous and confounding struggle – life is hard and complicated. We can never be sure of what will happen, because it is so often out of our hands. What happens if our worst fears come true? How can we navigate living in and through tough scenarios? How can joy emerge when it feels so little?
Be encouraged that none of these realities or anxieties is even a little bit of a surprise to God. Faith gives depth to these inevitable unknowns. We can trust that even our scariest nightmares are held in His hands. Romans 8:28 reminds us,
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
So, in the midst of Christmas season activities and all that you’re dreaming up for 2026 after hardships, delights, and in-betweens you encountered in 2025, I pray you seek Him most of all, just where you are, knowing that God sees you. So much so, that he sacrificed his only son in hopes that you would delight in Him forever and ever – in every circumstance now on Earth, as well as in Heaven for the remainder of time (John 3:16).
I promise He will not come up void.
