A different view of prospering

'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

This is probably one of the more recognizable verses in the bible-one that believers go to when feeling alone or when life seems to be a series of closed doors. This verse comforted me in teenage and young adult years when my life was before me like an open highway. Adventures, changes...who knew what would happen around the next bend? I had the assurance that my unknowns were not unknown to my God. A career choice? God's wants to prosper me. Dateless nights in high school? God has a plan for my future. Hurt feelings? God offers hope.

13 years after graduating college (sheesh-I am feeling old...) this verse speaks to me in a slightly different way. I'm a little more tired, I've lived through some amazing times and some tremendous hurts, and I have a slightly different world view through the lenses of some experience. God has carried my family through some big things and he has truly worked them together for our good. Sick newborn? God has plans for his future and ours'. Sacrificing for me to be a stay at home mom? God has plans to prosper our family.  Husband laid off after transitioning to being a single-income family? God has a hope for us and plans not to harm us. Such a humbling list of God's timeline over the last few years and are some of the more vibrant threads in our testimony as a Christ-following family.

All of this to say that it is amazing how the word of God is truly alive and breathing and meets our current needs. This verse spoke to me in my teenage years and early 20's differently than it speaks to me in my mid (early?) 30's. :) Previously, it opened my world to big experience and now it brings my world into a manageable place of peace and security. I do have a distinct feeling, however, that God is working to break open my quiet sense of comfort and security. I believe that we are ready to be stretched and this verse will carry us through any uncertainty that may come. This verse will breathe new peace into my life throughout these times.

God's plans for us go through stages of change and times of stability. May I never become complacent in the quiet times and may I never fear God-ordained change.

Love and Blessings.