“SONA 2011: 27 rounds of diesel price hikes highlight Aquino’s failure”

“69,287 people to spend Christmas in evacuation centers; ‘Sendong’ deadliest cyclone in 12 years with over 1000 dead”

“Over 1,000 Pinoys live in areas hard-hit by tsunami; 38 Filipinos, Filipino-Japanese listed missing”

“China executes Filipino drug mules”

“Families rating themselves as Mahirap or Poor bounce to 52% according to SWS Survey”

These are just some headlines we have encountered in 2011. While they have been anything but encouraging, life still went on.

As you bid goodbye to 2011, have you thought about how you would face the coming year? What are your biggest concerns for 2012? Are you looking at the New Year with eyes of faith or with eyes of fear?

If your 2011 was marked by fear or worry, you should take heart and learn a thing or two about overcoming them from the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 and 17-18, he says: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going … for our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long.  Yet they produce for us an immeasurable great glory that will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”

As we face the year 2012, here are three things that should encourage us.

First is God’s protection.

Are you afraid that calamities would once again devastate the country? Or tragedy would befall your family? Fear not. You can boldly declare Psalm 32:7, which says, “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble…”

Second is God’s provision.

Are you worried that your needs or that of your loved ones would not be met? Fear not.

The Lord assures us through His words in Matthew 6: 25-26, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Last is God’s presence.

Are you anxious to face something you’re not familiar with or do not exactly understand? Fear not. You don’t have to face it alone.

We may not have the slightest idea on what or how we are going to face this coming year, but we can be sure of thing—God Himself said in Hebrews 13:5 that He will never leave us, nor forsake us.

We should take comfort in the thought that He will also never give up on us.

No one knows what the New Year will bring.  Nobody can say what will happen to us in the next 365 days.  But for our every fear and worry, the Lord always reminds us, “Fear not.”

This year, it is my prayer that we would all learn to surrender our fears and worries to the Almighty and face each day with confidence, knowing that God is with us.

On behalf of your FEBC Philippines family, this is Dan Andrew Cura wishing you Faith-filled New Year!