8 Prayers for the New Year

1 ^{of 8} Happy New Year Prayer

May the Lord make my New Year a happy one…
Not by shielding me from sorrow and pain, but by strengthening me to bear it if it comes.
Not by making my path easy, but by making me sturdy enough to tread any path.
Not by taking hardship from me, but by taking all cowardice and fear from my heart as I meet hardships.
Not by granting me unbroken sunshine, but by keeping my face bright even in the shadows.
Not by making my life always pleasant, but by showing me where men and His cause need me most and by making me zealous to be there and to help …
God, make my year a happy one.

—Guideposts magazine (January 1973)

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2 ^{of 8} Prayer for New Year Blessings

Father, I abandon myself into your hands.
Do with me whatever you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
Into your hands I commend my spirit.
I offer it to you with all the love that is in my heart.
For I love you, Lord, and so want to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father. Amen.

—Charles de Foucauld, 1858-1916

3 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer for 2023

Heavenly Father,
At midnight,
When the old year dies,
And the new comes bounding in,
I draw strength from knowing
That in the next twelve months
The snows will go
The buds will burst
The heat will rise
The leaves will fly,
That all these things will happen
According to Your schedule
And in Your time;
That there is order in Your universe,
And that I am part of it.

—Van Varner, former Guideposts editor-in-chief

4 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer for Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

—St. Francis of Assisi

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5 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer for Safe Travel

I believe
That I enter a glorious new year
To be filled with prayer and praise.
With service to God and mankind,
With inspired creative activity.
I believe
That God’s presence goes with me
Wherever I shall go this year,
By train or Ires or car or boat,
Slowly paced on foot, or high in air.
I believe
His love is shining in my body,
His wisdom guides my mind,
His peace fills me with poise,
His strength is ever at my call.
Oh I believe
That this is God’s new year.

—Elizabeth Searle Lamb

6 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer About God

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

—St. Teresa of Avila

7 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer for My Family

Our Father God,
parent of all children, father to all parents,
Be with us, and in particular with our families.
You know our needs
for health, happiness, wholeness,
for shelter, safety, solace,
for the overworked and unemployed among us.
Mend the rifts between us,
restore the lost ones to us.
And let nothing come between us and You,
Creator of our universal family
of humankind.

—Rick Hamlin, Guideposts contributor

READ MORE: 6 Positive Habits for Your Marriage

8 ^{of 8} New Year Prayer for Friends

The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn His face toward you
and give you peace.

—The Aaronic Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26, NIV)