Kicked to the curb

"The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 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 29:10-11

Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favorite verses. In fact I have that verse hanging throughout my house as a reminder for myself that God has a plan for my life and when I choose to follow His plan instead of my own, there is hope. Verse 11 is full of promise and hope but when you read verse 10, you realize that something else was happening and things may not have been so good. It appears that the people of Israel were going to be spending a long period away from their homeland as a form of God's discipline but after that time, God would return them to their land. He had a plan for their future.

When we sin, we often times find ourselves filled with great feelings of desolation and our lives seem so bleak. These times can lead us to feel completely hopeless and alone but we have to remember that those feelings do not come from God. God is our Hope. He is the author of our Hope. Even when we feel like the world has kicked us to the curb, God has a plan and even those hard moments are part of His plan and ultimately lead to our good.

When we are facing times of hopelessness, it could be the result of someone else's sinful actions or choices or we could be reaping the horrible rewards from our own bad decisions. It all comes down to discovering that our hope is solely found in God's love for us and through the sacrifice of His Son. We must cling to His Truth and Hope and know that we will find peace when we choose to seek out the plan that God has for us and remember that every hard road will only grow our faith and trust in Him.