The guest blogger for today is my beautiful friend, Sabrina Owens. Sabrina is one of those girls who much like me, you will always know where you stand–she does not hide her emotions well. If her words do not tell you, the expression on her face will. I LOVE that about her because I can tell her what I think–and I know I will get the straight up truth! She also has a tender heart, loves her man and her children fiercely, and follows Jesus with her life.
Jeremiah 29:11 was a verse I discovered in my early twenties, but today when I was reading it again, I saw something I have never seen before. I saw the words “For I know …” Today those words became the focus. God knows–He knows our pain, He knows our joy, He knows when we suffer, He knows when we are grateful, the list of what God knows is unending. He knows everything about us, and He loves us so much that he makes plans for us–just like He did for the Israelite nation so very long ago.
Maybe you too will get a new perspective on this verse today, or maybe this is your first time reading these words, either way be open to what God might be trying to show you as you read what Sabrina shares below.
Some days, I am a bit nostalgic. Today, as we celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, I look back over the last twenty years. I wonder where they went, and how we got here so very quickly. In all the hills and the valleys, though, and there have certainly been both, there have been many times that we didn’t know how things were going to work out, we didn’t know which way was up, but let me just tell you…God always provides. Always. Here is an example for you. In 2004, my husband was called into bi-vocational ministry. In 2009, he was called into full time ministry—125 miles from where we lived, in February. I’m a teacher. I couldn’t move then. The plan, our plan, was to move in May. Little did we know that there would be a hiring freeze where I was supposed to move. For 2.5 years, we lived 125 miles apart. That’s 2 houses, 2 household sets of bills, and the gas to run between the places just kept pumping. A teacher and a preacher do not make enough to support all this craziness, but God provided. I’ll never be able to explain it any other way. All the bills were paid. All the responsibilities met. It still blows me away.
He knows the plans He has for us, and sometimes requires us to simply trust. Just trust that He will take care of us. For many years, Jeremiah 29:11 has resonated with me. Through all the trials, I’ve tried to remember that the Lord has plans for me, that none of life’s experiences have caught Him off guard.
Jeremiah 29:11 has been on my mind for many years. “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.” Admittedly, I didn’t know a great deal about the context of it, so I began to dig.
When Jeremiah wrote these words, he was speaking to the Israelites in exile in Babylon. This verse is often taken out of context and assumed to mean that the Lord will remove our suffering the moment we ask. What Jeremiah told the Israelites in verse 7 was to “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” This was not what the Israelites wanted to hear. In fact, they had to wait seventy more years before they were out of exile. Many of them died, and didn’t see the land of Judah. Through all the time of exile, God was still providing. Even though times were hard, God still provided.
While Jeremiah 29:11 may not mean what many think it means, it still resonates in me. Though there may be suffering, pain and many hard days, God will provide for His people. In His time.
Sabrina Owens