Jeremiah 29:11 says;
‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ‘
I love this passage of scripture. I have leaned into it. I have clung to it. And if I am being honest, sometimes I have doubted it or even forgotten about it.
Have you ever wondered what God must be up to? I don’t mean, what is He up to regarding keeping the oceans in place and the moon in the sky. I am talking about, what is He up to in YOUR life? I mean really, we all start off in this world with dreams and expectations. Some of us work really hard at achieving them, some of us are more carefree and just believe that it is our destiny to get to where we want to be. And then life happens.
The reality of the dream we were chasing derails when we aren’t accepted to the school we applied to or the job we interviewed for. The hopes and dreams of the family we always wanted is suddenly torn apart as ones we love choose to leave and we must face life knowing a piece of us died when they left. Or maybe we are understanding what getting older means and things that were once easy, reliable and constant have become weak, scary and confusing. How do we react to God’s promise then, when the future we envisioned and wanted has no hope of happening at all?
We allow ourselves some time to fall apart.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7
We belong to a world that tells us the strong will survive and the weak will wither away, so push it down, swallow it hard and just keep going. Try harder! Work longer! Make it happen! But we Christians know that this could not be further from God’s truth. Pretending to be strong will grow us weary. Falling into Jesus’s arms weak will make us strong, as He heals us and carries us forward.
Genesis 28:15 says;
“I am with you now, I will protect you everywhere you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done everything that I have promised you.”
We learn to trust more when we surrender to God. We learn to believe ALL His promises are true, when we allow ourselves the time to walk side by side with Him, and feel His presence with every shaky or heartbroken breath we take. We learn to abide in Him, because we know that without Him, we can’t make it through another day. And THAT is the beauty of this life and a wonderful gift from God. When we finally stop chasing and trying to manipulate God into giving us everything we want and feel that we deserve. When we instead humbly break, and stop to receive everything HE KNOWS WE NEED, for true peace and fulfillment.
THAT my beautiful friends is my prayer for you today. That God’s presence will be SO strong in your life that all striving and achieving will cease for a moment, and that you will take a long deep breath and thank Jesus for never letting go of your hand as you walk into this new future, never alone, always with Him by your side.