A very dear Christian lady was suffering from much weakness; and as the New Year approached, she was sad and depressed.
For many years she had sought and received a New Year's text from the Lord; and now, once more, the dear Christian lifted up her heart to her faithful God who had been her stay so many years.
As she committed herself into His hands before she fell asleep, she breathed out this simple, childlike prayer:
"Give me, O Lord, a word from Thyself to comfort me in the New Year." Immediately the words came to her:
"Run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus" all the way, for "the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." (Heb. 12:1, 21Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1‑2); Deut. 11:1212A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. (Deuteronomy 11:12).)
She arose, cheered and encouraged in her God; and when her friends came to see her, she was delighted to tell them of the Lord's goodness to her, saying, after she had ended her little story,
"There now! Must not that have been the Holy Spirit who brought these texts to my mind? I am sure I could never have thought of them myself, and you know it was the very word I needed. The Lord has just told me to run with patience the race He has set before me."