
I was laying on my bed today, resting in the warm glow of the sun that was spilling through my bedroom window.
As my eyes came to rest on this picture I have hanging on my wall, they landed on the last word of the verse and just settled there.
“A future…”
Such a loaded word.
One I think of quite often,
wondering what our future will look like.
The future of this world, not even just in the distant future but in the next few years.
The future of our family. How many generations will I get to see? What will that look like, feel like?
But I don’t usually think on that for too long.
Today has enough of its own concerns, the good Word reminds me.
Still though,
there’s this verse,
in all its ambiguity…
“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.”
This same promise is to all who believe in Him and will follow after Him,
walking into the plans He has for us.
I think what trips us up though,
is we think of that “walking” only in the flesh,
and we focus on our feelings instead of the Spirit.
And feelings- whether good or bad, are so enveloping that when we are wrapped up in them, it’s as if there’s nothing beyond them.
It’s as if they’ll last forever.
But with time, we discover that this simply isn’t true. (Which is why relationships and our lives must be rooted deeper than just feelings. We must anchor our souls to faith instead…)
But as I was resting in this moment,
I had some thoughts…
You know that feeling when you’re young
and you’re graduating?
And you have your whole future ahead of you?
The hope that comes with that?
Or when you’re standing at the altar,
or holding hands on your honeymoon,
and planning for the life you dream of living together?
Or when you’re holding a tiny newborn,
and you look into their face and wonder what they’ll grow into, and you find that suddenly all your hopes and dreams are now BEYOND you, you long for this little one to be blessed in life far more than you even wanted it for your own self?
So good.
But do you know the feeling when (think) you’ve “blown” the pretty plans you had for your future?
Or when life didn’t go the way you thought it would?
Or when you’re just scraping by and beginning to run out of hope, that you’ll ever get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle?
Or when the pain of infertility and miscarriages has rendered you virtually unable to hope for a baby again?
Or the feeling when you’ve lost a loved one, and you think to yourself – whatever wonderful things your future may hold, it could just never be the same amount of wonderful as it would have been if they were still here…?
Or maybe the one who stood at that altar with you, dreaming and vowing, didn’t keep their promises, or you didn’t keep yours. And now the picture that you had painted together of what you thought the future would look like has been damaged?
Or maybe you’re ill,
Or in the final years of a long life,
Or maybe- you’re thinking of a young life that was gone too soon…
And you wonder-
What about you?
What about them?
Where is the hope, God?
Where’s the future?
When the nest is empty,
When you can no longer work the job that fulfilled you,
When the casket has been closed
the dirt piled on top,
the grass grown over it as time has passed
like nothing ever happened to it at all.
And the world marches on as if you were never even in it?
What then?
Where’s the promise?
Where are the good plans, when it not only doesn’t feel good but it ISN’T?
When nothing in the whole world could put your whole world together again? 💔
Well those are exactly the times we find that we need something {Someone} OUT of this world! ❤️
We need a Savior that can heal it all.
Broken hearts.
Broken bodies.
Dead dreams.
Death itself.
We need a Savior that can give us something BEYOND this life. We all long for that, deep down.
We were made for a place where everything is perfect.
No death.
No pain.
No destruction.
No deception.
No imperfection.
No doubt. No fear. Just perfect love.
Our soul’s longing for that didn’t change,
when the world did after the first sin.
What changed is that what we believed and hoped for- what we knew was waiting for us- turned into a wish instead.
Adam’s wish- and Eve’s-
“I wish I didn’t do that.
I wish I could go back.”
When we make a mistake,
mess up our “perfect”,
we sound like that too, don’t we?
Or even when it’s not about a mistake-
we wish we could go back.
To when life was simpler.
Love was newer.
Kids were younger.
Hair hadn’t gotten grayer,
or skin saggier.
The longer time marches forward,
the more it would make sense for us to feel
hope-less…
And we often do…
UNLESS…
Unless we know that it’s not the end.
That this life isn’t all there is.
It’s just a warm-up.
An audition.
With only ONE thing to get right…
Only one qualifier that will separate those who will dwell in the literal Heaven and perfection of His Presence for eternity, ❤️
From those who will refuse the present of His offer, and dwell forever in the hell of being away from Him, and the torment (among other torments) of a soul that still longs for perfection and heaven but will never get to arrive in it. 💔
And this is it –
“Will you believe in Jesus?”
“Will you follow Him?”
“Will you follow the one- who rose up out of the grave?”
“Will you reach up, in praise, and ask Him to help you out of the graves –
of guilt,
grief,
grinding,
that are burying you before you’re even dead?”
“Will you believe that He’s got something more for you? Even if you can’t see it? Hope and a future BEYOND your time in this world, but which you can experience some feelings of, starting now- at the very moment you decide to put your hope in HIM, and not your finances or circumstances, or any of this world’s statuses…”
What if I told you that His plans, were to give you a seed…
A seed that would grow inside you
and transform you from within?
A magical seed that may or may not change your world- this world that you’re currently in…but would most certainly change YOU and your perspective of the world…the universe…eternity.
(But likely, certainly even, a changed you would in fact change some part of your world- like a tree changes the landscape it is in. Providing shade from the heat. Providing fruit for the hungry. Without even trying.)
That’s exactly what He does.
His “seed” of hope doesn’t have to look big to you, for you to take it.
A mustard seed of faith, is all we need after all.
And you know what?
I used to even struggle with that.
Because I thought it had to “muster” up the mustard seed myself.
But I didn’t.
All I had to do was ask Him!
All I had to do was say to Him, “I believe, I want to believe, but help me with my unbelief!” (There’s a reason why He gave us an example of faith like that in the Bible.)
So today –
If you feel hopeless…
Or if you find yourself hoping less, as time goes by,
I pray this helps you feel hopeFULL once again.
It’s not over,
Not truly over-
Until Jesus comes back.
And then- if we have chosen Him-
and held onto Him, even when life is hard-
we will never, ever have to experience the feelings of hopelessness or emptiness again!
What a beautiful promise to dwell in!
From Full 