31 Days of Devotion, Day 10 by Jim Pinkard

Daily Reading: Jeremiah 29:7-11

“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.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

This is my wife’s favorite verse in the Bible. A Scripture filled with hope in times of despair. A promise of light in the darkness. I tend to focus on the part that says, “the plans I have for you”. One of the greatest things I received when I gave my life to Christ was a purpose and a plan for living. Jesus, himself gave the plan to us in the Book of Matthew, chapter 22. Jesus summed it up when He commanded us to love God and to love others. People that I know and don’t know. People I see everyday and people I will never meet on this side of heaven.

I found myself in the last few weeks in the greatest pain in my almost sixty-two years of living. I wanted to give up and walk away. I couldn’t figure out why all this was happening to me.  Somewhere in the midst of the pain, I remembered the plan and the promise God made...It wasn’t about me. I stuck to the plan. I didn’t feel like loving God or people, but I did it anyway. I trusted Him. While I got busy loving God and loving people, the pain dulled in my life. Oh, my circumstances have not changed that much but my perspective has. And when my view changed, my burden became lighter. I can now see the hope and the future that He promises. As I grow and learn in Christ, I realize My growth should always be for the sake of others and the cause of Christ.  I see now that He has his hand on my life and no harm will come to me. God gets the glory and that’s the plan. I smiled.

Daily Prayer
God, sometimes it feels too hard or difficult to follow You. Help change my perspective. Let me see how I can reflect your glory and grace right where I am rather than seeing my circumstances as a barrier to ministry with those you are calling me reach. Amen.