You Can Make It Even with What You Come From

“From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” - John 1:16
 
New Year’s Eve carries a strange blend of reflection and hope. People look back at where they came from and wonder what the next year might hold. For some, that reflection brings pride. For others, it brings a quiet ache. Not everyone comes from a steady home. Not everyone grew up with support, peace, or a clear example to follow. When your story includes pain or dysfunction, the future can feel smaller than it should. Yet the arrival of Jesus tells us something different about what God can do through a complicated beginning.
 
His family line was far from perfect. There were scandals, failures, and deeply flawed people woven into His ancestry. Still, God placed Him there. He stepped into a story that looked messy on purpose. Nothing about that background limited His calling. Nothing slowed down His purpose. Nothing prevented Him from becoming exactly who the Father sent Him to be. His story teaches us that where you come from is never stronger than the grace of God working in your life.
 
Some people grow up believing they need a better family history to have a meaningful future. They assume that broken examples determine their ceiling. They think certain patterns will always follow them. It is easy to absorb those lies when you have lived through things you never asked for. But God does His best work in places the world calls unlikely. He does not wait for perfect roots before He grows something meaningful.
 
As you stand on the edge of a new year, try to notice what God has already been shaping in you despite your past. Maybe your compassion developed because you know what hurt feels like. Maybe your strength formed because you had to learn endurance early. Maybe your hunger for God grew because you lacked stability elsewhere. None of these things erase the pain, but they show how God has been forming purpose in places that once felt hopeless.
 
You are not bound by the patterns you were born into. You are not trapped by the limits other people reached. You are not defined by the brokenness you witnessed. God can redeem what you came from, restore what was damaged, and build something through you that does not mirror the past.
 
Tonight, let that truth settle in. You can make it with the story you have. God has been writing over every chapter, and He is not finished yet.