I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
The Best Plans
Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that’s often slapped onto journals, etched into coffee mugs, and printed on t-shirts.
“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.”
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
And God does have a plan for you.
God does want to bless you.
God does want to give you hope and a future.
But, we should also pay attention to the original context …
In this case, God was speaking through the prophet Jeremiah to the people of Judah—people who’d recently been exiled to Babylon for 70 years.
The Jewish people were banished to a foreign land because of their insatiable appetite for sin. In fact, for 23 years Jeremiah had been warning them to stop rebelling against God or prepare to face the consequences.
God is patient, but He is also just.
In other words, the Jews were sent to timeout. And as you can read in the preceding chapters, God made a case against His beloved people …
They’d exploited foreigners, orphans, and widows. They’d denied the rights of the poor. They’d refused to stand up for truth or obey God’s instructions. They’d murdered the innocent and committed adultery. They’d rejoiced in doing evil and their lives were ruled by greed. They’d even built pagan shrines, sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fires. It was a dark time. And yet, somehow, God’s mercy always extends to the darkest places on earth.
That’s why, just a few verses later, God said they could seek Him and find Him, and He would bring them back from captivity (Jeremiah 29:13-14).
That’s why he encouraged them—while in exile—to build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, and work for the peace and prosperity of their temporary home (Jeremiah 29:5-7).
He wanted them to know: He hadn’t forgotten them. He still wanted good for them. He still had plans to restore them.
God is serious about sin, but He’s just as passionate about redemption.
Though Jeremiah 29:11 was meant for a specific people at a specific time, God’s heart for the restoration of broken people is generationally timeless.
Even when we feel stuck in the process, God still has a plan.
We can put our trust in the God whose goal is always redemption.
Luke 16
“And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my Lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had ...
My True Identity
John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.”
Many of us define ourselves by what we do. You might be a teacher, or a firefighter, or an accountant—“that’s who I am." But God’s plans often lead us outside of the very things we believe define us.
Our ultimate defining identities are not in what we do, but in who we are: children of God. It sounds simple, but it’s a deeply profound truth.
Receiving Jesus and identifying as a child of God isn’t passive. It’s not just slapping on a name tag and continuing life as usual. Taking on that identity is a daily, active decision. It means fully accepting Jesus’ love, authority, and call on our lives.
He gives us the freedom to live beyond labels, past wounds, and even seemingly good things that can hold us physically or emotionally captive. He breaks the chains of people living in poverty, addiction, or grief.
You are no longer a...
