Altars & Ashes: A Farewell to the Year
December is a sacred threshold. It holds the ashes of what we’ve lost and the embers of what we’re still believing for. This year, we’ve built altars in unexpected places — on hospital floors, in quiet car rides, in the middle of unanswered prayers. And God met us there.
He didn’t always change our circumstances, but He changed us. He taught us to trust the slow work of grace — to release timelines and receive peace. To see the year not as failure, but as formation.
We’ve learned that surrender isn’t weakness, it’s worship. Waiting isn’t punishment, it’s preparation. And even in the wilderness, manna still fell.
Reflection
As we close another chapter of another year, pause and consider:
Where did God surprise you?
What did He prune, protect, or prepare on your behalf?
What are you carrying into the new year — not as baggage, but as a blessing?
Allow this passage of scripture to be your guide in the New Year: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up… He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” (1 Samuel 7:12).
If Samuel built an altar to remember God’s help and as a testimony of His faithfulness, so can you. Remembering the altars where God made a way, parted your Red Sea, and rained down manna when you least expected.
Your Personal Benediction
Let this closing of the year be your altar. Let it be your benediction for what has been burned away, preparing you for the new that is coming. Let this be your heartfelt thank you. Your whispered well done to yourself — for a year that did not break you, but prepared you for what lies ahead.
May you look back and see how far you’ve come when you thought there was no way out. May the altar you build in remembrance of struggle now stand as a testimony of deliverance.
Allow the ashes of past mistakes, letdowns, and disappointments to scatter like the wind — the wind of change and transfiguration — as you stand on the cusp of a new season, a new year, and a new life because “for behold, the old has gone, and the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
A Closing Prayer
“Lord, thank You for the altars and the ashes — for what You gave and what You took. Thank You for the grace that carried me and the glory still ahead. I rise into the new year with open hands and a steady heart. Amen."
Charlene A. Berry is a Professional Prevention Specialist in the field of Social Work and Mental Health. She is also the Movie/Book Editor and Contributor to Link2Us Magazine, where she heads the magazines faith section.