It is Christmas, 1939, in London, England.  King George VI addresses the British Empire as he does every year at this time.  In his speech he quotes a beautiful poem that his daughter has just given him.  The powerful words would continue to be connected to the Royal Family for years to come.  They are inscribed on the gates of the chapel at Windsor Castle:

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:  “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.  That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.  And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.

The words, now known as At the Gate of the Year, were written by Minnie Louise Harkins.  Her original title was: God Knows.

We too stand at the gate of a new year.  The unknown lies ahead.  But God knows.  He is there already.  He will be with us when we arrive.  He will never leave us nor forsake us!  And “that shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

“When thou passest through the water, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee” (Isaiah 43:2).

Put your hand in the Hand of God and walk through the gate of the new year in faith.

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