I went to the dentist early Wednesday morning thinking I had a small issue. I left two and a half hours later with a sore, swollen mouth and two new side-by-side crowns! So. Much. Fun.
I truly do have the best dentist ever! She has a brand-new office decorated in bright pink. If you’re lucky, you may get to sit in the pink room with the pink chair. Even saying all this good about my dentist, she’s still a dentist. The drilling of the old crowns lasted a good thirty minutes. Who doesn’t like that lovely sound of an electric dental drill digging deep into your teeth?
I surely didn’t have a 2.5-hour dentist appointment on my agenda that day! I was in semi-misery the rest of the day as my teeth were super mad from all they had endured.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, do they? It's a reminder that we are never in control as much as we’d like to be.
When God’s people received a letter of encouragement from Jeremiah, they were in exile in Babylon. Can you imagine what it would be like to live under the domination of your enemies? How would it feel to leave your homeland and settle in a foreign country? So, Jeremiah spoke the following words to the people during hardship and suffering:
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
God didn’t immediately remove them from the situation in Babylon. Instead, God promised that He had a plan to prosper them during their current situation. Then, God proclaims through Jeremiah that when you "Call on me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you see me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
Wow! God is with us and has a plan when our plans don’t go our way. When God leads us into difficult seasons, it’s not to punish us. He knows exactly what’s going on in our lives and cares for us perfectly.
How do you deal with plans that don’t turn out exactly as you'd envision? Do you believe that God holds the plans for our lives? We don’t have to worry about our future! Instead, we are to trust Him for each moment.
Don’t miss this! God promised that if they sought Him with all their heart, they would find Him. Today, Jesus invites us to seek Him. He meets us in the dentist's office. He is present in hurricanes. He cares for us in sickness and pain. He calms us in election anxiety. He's with us also when everything is clicking on all cylinders. The question remains: Will you trust Him?
I surely didn’t have a 2.5-hour dentist appointment on my agenda that day! I was in semi-misery the rest of the day as my teeth were super mad from all they had endured.
Sometimes things don’t go as planned, do they? It's a reminder that we are never in control as much as we’d like to be.
When God’s people received a letter of encouragement from Jeremiah, they were in exile in Babylon. Can you imagine what it would be like to live under the domination of your enemies? How would it feel to leave your homeland and settle in a foreign country? So, Jeremiah spoke the following words to the people during hardship and suffering:
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
God didn’t immediately remove them from the situation in Babylon. Instead, God promised that He had a plan to prosper them during their current situation. Then, God proclaims through Jeremiah that when you "Call on me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you see me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
Wow! God is with us and has a plan when our plans don’t go our way. When God leads us into difficult seasons, it’s not to punish us. He knows exactly what’s going on in our lives and cares for us perfectly.
How do you deal with plans that don’t turn out exactly as you'd envision? Do you believe that God holds the plans for our lives? We don’t have to worry about our future! Instead, we are to trust Him for each moment.
Don’t miss this! God promised that if they sought Him with all their heart, they would find Him. Today, Jesus invites us to seek Him. He meets us in the dentist's office. He is present in hurricanes. He cares for us in sickness and pain. He calms us in election anxiety. He's with us also when everything is clicking on all cylinders. The question remains: Will you trust Him?
Take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOuRS7x55Nc
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain of the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.
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