This prayer is for the last evening of the year, when the calendar is about to turn and many of us feel a mix of gratitude, tiredness and nerves about what comes next. Pray it on New Year’s Eve, either before midnight or in the quiet hours after dinner, and read it aloud exactly as written or use it as a starting point for your own words. Both are fine, because God hears honest prayer in any form.
Blessings for New Year’s Eve
Lord, thank you for bringing me to the end of this year. Some of it was good and some of it was hard, and you were present in both. I bring you the things I am carrying into the new year: the work that still feels unfinished, the relationships that need mending, the worries I have not yet said out loud. Take them from my hands and hold them, because I cannot carry them all at once.
As the clock moves toward midnight, bless the people I love. Watch over my family, my friends and those I am tempted to forget. Give my children, my spouse and my neighbors a sense of your nearness in the year ahead. Where anyone is grieving, sick or far from home tonight, be close to them and let them feel you in the quiet.
Father, give me a steady heart for whatever the new year holds. Teach me to trust you one day at a time, to receive what is good with gratitude and what is hard with courage. Let this coming year be one in which I grow more like Jesus, more patient, more generous and more honest. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Amen.
A Shorter Version to Pray in a Moment
Father, I am standing at the edge of a new year and I do not know what it will bring. You know. Bless the year ahead and go before me into every month of it. Keep me close to you, give me what I need each day, and let my life point people toward your goodness. Thank you for carrying me this far. Amen.
Scriptures to Pray Alongside
Numbers 6:24-26
24 ‘The LORD bless you, and keep you. 25 The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. 26 The LORD lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’
(WEB)
Pray this blessing slowly over your own name and over the names of the people you love. Ask God to keep them, to shine his face on them and to give them peace as the year begins. It is an ancient blessing that still fits a new year.
Psalm 90:12
So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(WEB)
As the year closes, ask God to help you number your days well. Pray that you would use the coming year wisely, with attention to what matters most and with a heart that is willing to receive wisdom.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
Thank God that his faithfulness does not end when the calendar does. Ask him to remind you each morning of the year ahead that his compassion is renewed, and let that truth steady you for whatever each day holds.
Isaiah 43:18-19
18 “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
(WEB)
Bring to God anything from the past year you need to release. Ask him to open a way for you in the new year, trusting that he is able to do something fresh in your life even where the ground feels dry.
Philippians 4:6-7
6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
(WEB)
Name your anxieties about the year ahead and hand each one to God in prayer, with thanksgiving. Ask him to guard your heart and mind with his peace, which can settle you even when the future is uncertain.
How to Pray This Prayer
Find a quiet place in the last hour of the year, even if it is only a chair by a window or the edge of your bed. Before you begin, take a few slow breaths and set your phone aside. If your hands want something to do, hold a cup of tea, a candle or a pen so that you can write down the names and worries you bring to God.
You can also invite someone to pray with you, whether a spouse, a friend or a child old enough to join in. Read the prayer together, taking turns with paragraphs, and then pause to let each person add a name or a hope. Many families find that praying together at the turn of the year becomes a meaningful tradition.
A Blessing to Close
May the Lord go before you into the new year and walk beside you every step of the way. May he give you rest when you are weary, courage when you are afraid and joy in the small gifts of each day. May you know that you are held, known and loved as the year begins.
