Road to Hope

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV) is a very familiar passage to most Christians: 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 upon 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.

Linking the words I know to our future seems like an oxymoron until you consider who is saying, they “know.” Our Lord God states unequivocally that He alone knows. Not only does He know, but He has plans. Not for just an ordinary what-to-do-today agenda, but He has a long-term goal to flourish, thrive, prosper and grow you, And on top of all that, you get hope. Hope. I could go a long time on just hope alone.

It seems sometimes that we vacillate between conceit and despair, thinking we know it all, only to ultimately realize we don’t know anything. Then God comes into our lives. When we met God for the first time He was already completely aware of everything that was, is, and will be relating to us, past, present and future. He is the Source, and in His hands He holds the plans He has for us. We may only see the circumstances swirling around us and with that view, there are times when despair sets in; but God sees the whole picture.

Knowing our future as He does, His desire is for us to come to Him and talk about the unique plan He has for our life. The word used in the verse is “seek.” Seek means to search, set out for, and request. Is He hiding? No, the point is that while He is always available to us, our charge is to be aware of our need, to set out and seek for Him, to turn to Him, and to turn nowhere and to no one else. God wants us to seek after Him and as we find Him, He has given us a clear and explicit promise that He will be found. Run to Him and discover all the great plans He already has for you!

Life's Tapestry

Viewing our lives as a tapestry, from the front of the tapestry, there is a beautiful picture. It is made up of many different colors of thread to form a lovely scene or picture. But, turn the tapestry over and you cannot tell what the picture on the front looks like. Furthermore, the back view just looks like a mess of knots and threads, seemingly arranged without rhyme or reason. I believe that sometimes we are only looking at our lives from the back. All we see are the knots, the problems, the hanging threads, and the unresolved issues in our lives. But take heart! There is a beautiful picture being created on the front.

If just one of the threads were to be pulled out, the picture would be incomplete. It would not be the picture it was meant to be. So it is with our lives. Each and every experience, every difficulty and lesson works together to weave the picture of our life. We would not be the person we are without every single thread; every unique lesson.

If you choose to view the experiences, the difficulties, the bad days of life as a way of teaching and helping you to grow, you are the better for it. Not only you, but those that you come in contact with are given the opportunity to learn from your life tapestry.