Jeremiah 29:11 says, “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 once was involved in a single-parent ministry at a mega church in the Dallas area. And, this was our scripture. The scripture quoted each time we gathered. The scripture quoted each time someone had a crap day to let us know that God has us, that God has plans for us, to lift our spirits and help is remember we are not alone.
God has great plans for us. But, are they always easy to remember?
When your kid won’t go to sleep and it’s 1am and you have to work in the morning?
When illness strikes a family member and you are thrust into the caregiver role when in all reality you want to be camping or reading or anything else.
When your beautiful baby is diagnosed with ADHD, learning disorders and intellectual disabilities even though you didn’t do any drugs, drink alcohol or dive off bridges during your pregnancy.
I didn’t.
But, she did.
Well, I’m not sure about the bridges.
You see, I’m talking about the “biological” birth person of my child. Mother is a valuable term to me, and it takes more than birthing a baby to be called one in my opinion. Dad and Father are valuable terms too. I think you know what I mean here.
God knows the stories and the destinies when each of us are born. In Ephesians 1:4-5 it tells us, “Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”
Before God created the foundations of the world, he created you in his heart. How does that make you feel? Big? Significant? It should. You are.
You are mightily important in God’s scheme of things. He predestined you for greatness. He planned out all the details of your life the way he wanted it to be long before time began. For you to walk and be in his will.
“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ~Ephesians 1:11-12
God created you in his heart. He planned your timing. He planned your parents and your lineage. He planned the very second you would come kicking and screaming into this world sucked out of our 98.6 degree haven and thrust into a world with bright lights, new sounds, and these people who think you are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
And, he planned every second of my daughter’s life, too.
But, one thing he doesn’t plan out – Our free will.
Now comes the sticky part…
If God plans out all of the great and fabulous things he wants for us, does he plan out the bad too?
No. God is love and wants what’s best for us.
God didn’t plan for my daughter to be adopted. However, he did know that I needed a daughter and this little girl would need a home becomes of the free will of man and woman he blessed her with. Children are a blessing, whether you “deserve” them or not. Children are predestined, pre-formed and pre-determined by our Creator. Every child matters. No child is ever a mistake. Remember that today. No person is a mistake. Every single one of us had a destiny planned out before time began.
It all comes down to what we do with it.
What will you do with your destiny today?
