God’s Plans

 2. GOD’S PLANS

Hello and welcome to my walk with God. Please join me as I heal from domestic violence through the Bible. Don’t forget to stay for your special prayer at the end.

Today I am drawn to Bible verse: Jeremiah ch29 v11 (NIV)

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.

My life hasn’t been easy sailing. There have been some highs, however there have also been some monumental lows. At one point, I was living in a domestic violence situation. At that time, I certainly saw no possible reason of good it might be.

However now, decades later, I can see that God did have a plan. Without the bad, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy my freedom now. Without my experience of domestic violence, I wouldn’t be able to help others in a similar situation that I had been through, in quite the same way.

I can see now the point of God’s plan in my low. It truly was for good, and not harm. However I didn’t see it that way at the time. There is a saying which I had always thought of as condescending: ‘God never gives you more than you can handle’. But it’s true. I wouldn’t be as strong as I am now without my lows. Or rather, I wouldn’t know just how strong and resilient I am, through God’s gracious power.

God means every experience in our lives for our ultimate good. Every hurt, every pain, is not to pull us down. When you are grieving, God will comfort you; when you hurt, God will pacify. If nothing else, God may be saying in your darkest moments, “ Hey, I’m here. Come to Me and I will light your way.”

Are you at a low in your life? Can you see how any good can come out of your dark? You may not, but God can. Think of Jesus. You can’t have much more of a low than dying on a cross. Yet God did it for our good. In the harm, there has been ultimate good. Jesus’s friends and family didn’t see at the time how such pain could possibly be in God’s plan. But it was.

Without what seemed like such a harmful situation as Jesus’s death on the cross, we couldn’t be saved. We wouldn’t be able to come to God now, and know that His love is truly boundless. God had a plan in His son’s death. And we are the ones who can see that plan now.

Do you know the plan for your life? Can you see the good in the harm of your life? You might not now. But God can. All you need to do is trust.

I invite you to pray along with me:

Thank you God for knowing 

the plan of my life. Thank you 

that in my darkness, You are 

there to light my way. 

Please give me the strength 

to keep on going. Please help me 

to trust that it’s in Your plan 

for my good. In the heavenly 

name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

Amen.

Thank you for sharing this walk in God’s light with me. Please leave a comment on how something harmful in your life was actually for your ultimate good. It doesn’t have to be large life-changing moments as others may see them. Even the “little things” can hurt. Until next time, have hope — and faith.

In God’s love, Ruby