Hope and a Future

Jeremiah 29:11

“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.”

I declare April 20, 2009, as my “re-birth day” in prison, when I totally surrendered my life to serve my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It happens also to be my actual date of birth 57 years earlier!

About a month earlier, after I had written my family to ask forgiveness for the many ways I had hurt and offended them, I received letters from both my brothers expressing their forgiveness towards me and extending their love and assistance.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I read their kind words of mercy and compassion. It had been a very long time since I was capable of relieving my heart though tears. Being alone, lying on my bunk, God began to encourage my heart through a verse my brother wrote in his letter.

I believe this was the first time I had ever read or heard about the verse written above, Jeremiah 29:11. I needed hope. I needed encouragement. I thought my life, for all practical purposes, was over because of a past full of poor choices and sin. I did not know God still had a plan for me – a plan to prosper me, and not to harm me.

That very day I chose to believe God forgave my past, and that I could trust Him to provide hope and a good future for me. What a tremendous birthday present!

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

Believe God. He forgives your past, and has a good plan for your future. Receive hope.

Dive Deeper: Study Jeremiah 29:1-23; Romans 15:4, 13; Isaiah 42:10, 61:7; Zechariah 9:12; Hebrews 6:18-20, 7:18-20; 10:23; Psalm 16:8-9, 11; 31:24; 25: 3-5; 33:18-22; 42:5; 62:5-8; Proverbs 10:28; 11:7; 23:18; 24:14, 20; Titus 1:2, 2:13.