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Break It Down

I received a Bible from my parents when I graduated high school. The verse inscribed on the front was Jeremiah 29:11. This verse has followed me throughout life these past 19 years. Every so often, Jeremiah would creep in with a little reminder that I have a hope and future and that life is not completely about suffering. I figured I needed to break this verse down if I really wanted it to be a part of who I am. So, here I go; a girl on a mission to discover what her life verse is really all about.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Let me start by saying that I completely misrepresented this verse at first. When these words were first spoken over me, I took them to mean I would never face disastrous things because I was following God. I thought my future would be great and all sunshine and rainbows. I knew I would face challenges, however, I thought life would be all good since I was now on a journey of faith according to this verse and the way I manipulated it for my gain. I think I do this a lot. I read the Bible and misinterpret the meaning of the words. I find a verse I like and mold it to fit my life circumstance. I make it pretty and neat and shiny when maybe, it's purpose was to be messy and expose the ugly in me. I decided it was time to let the Word speak to me instead of me to the Word.

Let me break it down...

"For I know the plans I have for you (emphasis mine): These are His plans not mine. HE has the plan for me not I have the plan and He makes it work. I need to be open and willing to be shaped into His plan instead of forcing mine into a story where they do not fit. I would save myself a lot of grief and frustration if I followed this view. Imagine if I truly surrendered my life: "Take my life, I lay it down." Great things would occur in and through me if I whole-heartedly surrendered to His plans for me.

"Plans for good and not disaster": Ok. So, this was a toughy for me to accept and understand. While His plans are good, perfect really, the world in which I live is not. Just because His plans are good for me does not mean that disaster will not strike. I could be following His good plan and bad things still occur. This does not mean that His plans are not good or that He created the disaster in my life. This means, to me, that while His plans for me are good and beautiful, I live in a broken world full of sinners and things will go wrong.

"to give you a future and a hope": I think I took this part of the verse as finding hope in this life. What I didn't realize at first was that HE is my future and HE is my hope. When everything has gone crazy and nothing makes sense and all hope is lost, I can still hope in Him and my future in Heaven. There is never a time to lose hope or be scared of the future because eternity is in His hands and I can rest easy in that.

So, there you go. A quick break down of the verse that has traveled many years alongside me. I needed a little more enlightenment and understanding of these great words. I needed them to be from Him and not what I implied. Ironically enough, this verse brings me more comfort today now that I understand it from an unselfish non self-serving place. I am excited to watch His plans unfold in my life as I rest in His hope and His future for my life.

Love & Blessings,
Meg

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