Holy. Cow. It is April 13th. Seriously? Seriously. It's April 13th! I can't get over how fast time is going by! I mean, I know people say that all of the time, but seriously! It's flying by! Even in the week it's been since I've last written, so much has happened. An impromptu visit to my AUNT GAYLE'S house in Dallas, Texas with my sister J. & my other sister Bowgirl...and I'm still alive! First week fully weight bearing & I made it across the country. I'm pretty sure that this year is going to be full of big things. I mean, walking (in shoes, which means minus a boot) will be here before I know it! (T-minus two weeks, and counting...)
I am blown away.
Seriously. Every day I walk down (and up) the ramp in my garage and I think, "Whoa. Did I really have to ride in a wheelchair down this sucker?" or, at night when I turn over on my side to fall asleep, "Man, I can't believe how good this feels." Flying. Driving. Walking. Shopping. Swimming. Bike riding. Eatingatthetableing. All these "ings"! So much is happening at one time. It's like the millions of daffodils popping up in my neighborhood right now.
Tonight, I was reading a letter from a friend from high school, and I got to thinking about Jeremiah 29:11. My sister, J., recommends the verse highly - I love it too, but to me it has lost so of its meaning. I have heard it so much that I have started to forget what it means to me. It's sort of the verse that a lot of people use for "graduation/times of transition/don't be afraid" cards. Don't get me wrong, I have appreciated the many times that people have spoken this verse to me, but my ears have not been very good at listening to its message in recent years.
So, tonight, I read it in context. The funny part is that a few verses before my deaf-eared verse, I found something that I heard for the first time a couple of weeks ago that greatly challenged my thinking:
This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God, to all the exiles I've taken from Jerusalem to Babylon:
"Build houses and make yourselves at home. Put in gardens and eat what grows in that country. Marry and have children. Encourage your children to marry and have children so that you'll thrive in that country and not waste away. Make yourselves at home there and work for the country's welfare. Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.
Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel's God: "Don't let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don't pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you. They're a bunch of liars preaching lies—and claiming I sent them! I never sent them, believe me." God's Decree!
This is God's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."
God's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. Jeremiah 29:4-14
So of you may know Jeremiah 29:11 better this way: "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 love the "believe it or not" part. Ha ha, like the people Jeremiah was talking to were shocked too. (Can you see their mouths agape?)...It makes me feel better. I understand that there is a season for thriving and prospering (and I'm not sure I completely understand the context of this passage...there are times of extreme discomfort as well...), but to hear God say it? Whoa. (Why is that surprising to me?) When I think about the concept of time, and I think about where God has brought me from & what he has brought me through, I stand amazed. Through the painful times. Through the sun-filled Spring. Through the questions and frustrations. Through the poop. Literally. Through the pain, and through the fun. I can count on God. The language of God is so wonderful to me; he is so good to us. His declarations give me goosebumps.
I encourage you, that wherever you are on your faith journey, that you get serious about finding God. And I don't just say "finding God" in some super-spiritual way; I mean seek after him like you are pursuing a hidden treasure. You will never be able to figure him out, but start trying. Explore. (Read.) Ask questions. (Pray) Be still. (Listen.) Seek after him! Like you are a nine-year old trying to catch a frog. Like your dream of piloting an airplane is dangling two inches from your face. Like you are about to scratch off a winning lottery ticket.
You will not be disappointed.
