Piece by piece, the men at the station stacked my furniture on to the top of a rickety African bus. They seemed to know what they were doing. Still, I wondered how secure it was and what condition I’d find my belongings in after traveling hundreds of miles across Eastern Sahara.

This past year has been much like a wilderness journey. I’ve walked through major transitions and into great unknowns. My team has changed, and I’ve moved across the Sahara to a new city.

Change, it seems, is one of life’s constants.

It isn’t always unpleasant. The new year, for example, is a change many of us welcome as a fresh start. With hope and expectation, we commit to new habits, attitudes, and goals. It’s like a second chance—a new mercy that comes once a year.

But God’s mercies are new every morning. He gives us a fresh start not just at the beginning of the year, but every morning.

Last year’s wilderness journey was hard for me. Many days I felt lost and disoriented as I walked through unknown territory.

Every day I had to simply trust God to keep me secure and bring me safely through one season and into the next. I have come through it feeling a bit like my furniture piled up at the bus station in my new city: dusty, a little scratched, and out of place.

Still, here I am at the end of it, telling the Lord, “I made it through every day of last year. And because of You, I still have joy in my heart!”

I know 2017 will bring new daily challenges as I seek to bring the Gospel to Muslims.

Yet, with the flame of hope in my heart—fueled by My King, His Word, and His Presence—I face the trials ahead with joy.

Expectantly, I celebrate His mercies, new every morning, which He pours into my life and into my ministry.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**

Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/article/new-every-morning