7 Encouraging Scriptures for When Your Year Feels Off Track. Every new year arrives wrapped in expectation. It comes with great anticipation and quiet hope that this time we’ll turn the page cleanly, step into a fresh beginning, and write a better chapter than the one before.
We all see the new year as an opportunity to start anew, wipe the slate clean, and write our stories afresh.
But sometimes the year unfolds in ways we never planned. The script we wrote in our minds doesn’t match the reality we are dealing with. And now January has slipped away, leaving you looking back and wondering why nothing has gone the way you hoped.
If this feels like where you are now, I’m sharing seven encouraging verses to steady your heart and remind you that even when your plans unravel, God’s purposes do not. His timing is different, His ways are higher. And sometimes, our ways must unravel to make room for His plans.
7 Encouraging Scriptures for When Your Year Feels Off Track
1. Lamentation 3:23-23. His mercies are new every morning.
Yes, turning a new year is a big deal. It is a big opportunity to start afresh on a seemingly clean slate.
But there is no cleaner slate than the refresh and restart God offers us each new day. A rough start to the year doesn’t cancel God’s daily reset of His mercies. So no matter how tough your year has been, new mercies await you each morning. And with each new wave of God’s mercies comes unlimited opportunities.
2. Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you…”
Your year hasn’t started as planned. But your story isn’t derailed. God’s plans still hold, even when yours don’t.
3. Philippians 4:6–7. “Do not be anxious about anything…”
Peace isn’t the absence of problems; it’s the presence of God guarding your heart in the middle of them.
4. Romans 8:28. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
God works, regardless of whether things go as planned or fall apart. Your disappointments and hopelessness don’t hinder God’s work. When you hit a roadblock, God doesn’t stop working. When your ways are crumbling right before you, God is
5. Isaiah 43:19. “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
God is never limited by closed chapters; He specializes in fresh starts.
When your plan fails, God is already weaving something beneath the surface. Pray that God will open your eyes to see the new things He is doing, the new doors He is opening, and the new relationships He is leading you into.
6. Psalm 121:1–2. “My help comes from the Lord…”
When the year feels heavy already, this verse lifts your gaze from the struggle to the Source.
7. Psalm 34:18. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted…”
The fact that you are having a difficult start to the year does not mean you are alone. God
Conclusion
Finally, don’t stop praying!
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this year you have given me.
Even though it has not started as I planned, I thank you because you are the beginning and the end.
Remind me that your presence is steady even when my plans are not.
Give me courage for the days ahead, peace for the things I can’t control and faith to trust that You are working all things for good.
Restore my hope, renew my strength, and guide my steps.
In every high and low in the year, let me rest in the certainty that You are with me and You are for me.
Amen.
What Scriptures have been lifting you in this season? Share them in the comments — I’d really love to hear what’s been speaking to your heart.”
