The blessing of God's word

I have two verses today that I want to thank God for. The first one:

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I have towards you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace not evil. To give you a future and hope.

The world can have a view of us that can perplex the core of who we are. We ask ourselves how this view can be when the person rarely spends time with us, and then views our world through past experiences when perhaps bad choices were made. And believe me I have made some humdingers. The world would like to hang onto anything that suggests we are less than who we are today. But take joy today in knowing that God knows our thoughts, our hearts, our agenda's, our pursuit of being closer to Him. He is about peace not evil. He is about a future filled with hope as we grow closer to him. His amazing grace gives us that hope and confidence that the old is old and the new is new. Let no one stand in the way of all that God is doing and wants to do in your life.


Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

It is so easy to become dismayed over the world's views. It is so easy to become weak in our spirit, a beaten down so to speak. But God doesn't just make a polite suggestion to us. He states that He clearly commands us to be strong and of good courage. I love how that is written. "Good courage", not bad or sulking courage, but confidence in God kind of courage.

At times I look back into my past and the places I have been. I am reminded every single day of one drunken night which produced the most blessed little boy. A very hard time in my life. A time when many had great reason to whisper and talk. Boy did I give people reasons to talk, and question my entire life of being a Christian. I lacked strength and courage to get me through some very hard times. I was dismayed and all around me were no thoughts of peace, or even a future of hope. Praise God for that time in my life to bring me to my knees before Him, to rise up and take hold of His love and forgiveness in my life. My future and hope are in His Word, and not the words of others, not the views of others.

If you are reading this today and have hurt lurking in your heart, know that it is not of God. Write out these two verses on a post-it, and put your name in there. Move forward in your relationship with Christ. He wants us to look at the future he has for us. One of hope in Him. I know that God has amazing tender thoughts of me his child, learning and growing more each day. Training and teaching. I don't get an "A" on most days, but I know I am above the scale of failure in His eyes ALWAYS and so are you.