Last week I wrote about the words we write upon our heart. Today I thought I would talk about that a little more and give you one of the first passages I learned by heart. 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.“
The words we speak matter. Studies have proven that gratitude rewires the brain and increases feelings of happiness and satisfaction. But those studies don’t tell you that the reason for this is because we were made to be in a relationship with God. All of us are born with an inherent need for something greater than ourselves. C.S. Lewis characterizes it best when he says
“Hunger would be absurd if there was no such thing as food. Thirst would be absurd if there was no such thing as water. Loneliness would be absurd if there was no possibility in satisfying that yearning in a relationship with another human being. The desire to find God would be absurd if He did not exist.”
It has been my experience that one of the first things to happen when you seek a relationship with God is you start to become grateful. Grateful for the people in your life who love you, grateful for your job, your house, the simple joy of a sunrise or a green light. And the more you practice saying “thank you” for the small gifts in your life, the more you see things to be thankful for. I can’t tell you how many times my exasperated teenage son would say “Mom you don’t need to thank God for every single thing!” after I said “Thank you, Jesus” for a break in traffic. I would argue that you do.
The verse above from Jeremiah helps to put things in perspective. How many times have you cried out “Why are you doing this to me, God?” Or thought “If God was real he wouldn’t let this bad thing happen to me.” But the verse in Jeremiah gives us hope. God doesn’t want bad things to happen. He loves each and every one of us, fully and completely. The Bible is full of verses tell us not to fear, not to worry, and to trust in Him. This past year we went through perhaps the most difficult thing a parent can go through – the loss our our first born. But never for a second, as we walked through that valley of darkness, did I think that God did not love us or care for us. I would have been easy to focus on what we lost, instead of the gifts we were given even in the heart-beaking time. The gift of holding him my arms and singing him into God’s care. The gift of saying good-bye. The gift of knowing how many lives he touched deeply. And even in the months after Hayden’s passing God continues to give me gifts, to remind me that while Hayden is no longer physically present in this world, he is always with God and I will see him again one day. And so even in the storm I could not help but praise God and thank Him for his unfailing love and the gifts he gave us.
The biggest gift God wants to give you is one so many people turn their backs on – His unconditional love. This week my challenge for you is to memorize the above verse and hold it in your heart as the promise of love it is meant to be. That God has plans for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God Bless,
Meredith
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