Plans to Prosper You

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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-13

Bad things happen. Women loose their husbands, get cancer, have abusive relationships, miscarriages, get fired and get stuck in the bottom of a bottle. I used to tend toward the “that’s their lot in life” or the “bad things happen to good people, too” theories. You can drum up a hundred clichés that will suffice for most. But what if you believe in God and look to Him for answers and not Oprah?

There’s no way that I can look at that verse of Jeremiah and say “oh, so that’s why (insert tragedy here) …God has a plan for me”. I cannot know the mind of God, and while I may not know what the plan is…at least I know there is a plan. Some of you are nodding your heads, you’ve come out the other side of tragedy and the Lord has put those in your path that you might help with what you know. You’re a better person, others around you are better for it too. Others of you are shaking your heads and wringing your hands in hope that your faith is not misplaced. Me, I’m in between the two. I can certainly see how my life has been shaped by my experiences, but man, there are some scars that are still sore.

Guess I better head back into God’s Word to find the answers. We had a discussion on forgiveness last week and that got me thinking. I thought that I had no problem with the forgiveness. I need to know that even after forgiveness, when the hurt is still there, that God is using all of this “to prosper…and not to harm…plans to give hope and a future”. I need to seek God with all my heart, ‘cause that’s what he says to do.

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