It's not about you

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jeremiah 29:11

This verse popped up on my Bible app as the daily reading for November 14th and it caught my eye. In order to properly study any verse, it helps to know the full content and the entire story. I am familiar with the book Jeremiah, although maybe not as familiar as I should be. While I was perusing Google for commentaries on this subject I came across Jefferson Bethke's YouTube channel. He really did have a blunt and modern way of putting things when that history barrier intervenes.

Even though there is a plan that He has for us, it doesn't mean that it will all happen immediately or even at all. We as fallible humans like to make plans for OURSELVES and decide to sit and pray and hope and wait for God to hand us our plans thinking that what we want is what He wants for us too.

It is so easy for me to sit here and plan out my entire life and the life of my family. If anything the past two years has shown me is that my goals are nothing compared to what He wants for my children and I. Waiting for everything to fall into place and fit into this perfect little box I've made for myself has made me completely miss the opportunities God had been giving me this whole time. I missed everything He was doing in my life and my family's life. Instead of enjoy all those beautiful little opportunities that were being handed to me, I sat in my depression longing for the dreams I had made for myself. Something as simple as a beautiful sunrise and listening to the wind in the trees and the birds waking up could have been the beginning of a beautiful day. Basking in His simple glory should have been enough for me to smile and be thankful. Perhaps if I had paid more attention to those little details it would have been enough to give me the drive to do HIS doing. Instead I ignored them and basked in my own sadness and let all the chances to better myself, my family, and my community slip by. So what if I don't become an engineer like I planned? So what if I can't make it into the Reserves? Who cares if all my plans go astray. I'm here. I'm alive. I'm healthy and so are those I love.

I'm trying to become this person that I know He wants me to be. It's difficult but anything worth doing is going to be.

All I can do is leave it in His hands and know that I am well taken care of.

Like Jeff Bethke said, "Because He is good, because He is God, because He is Father, it WILL happen."

Genesis.

Genesis means "coming into being". The beginning of this little online journal of mine will be my genesis.

As a mother of a 9, 6, and 4 year old, wife of a soon-to-be ex-Airman, eventual radiographer and as a woman of this earth trying to get as close to my God as possible, I'm hoping that keeping this little place on the internet active will help me get to where I need to be.

People like to say "desperate times call for desperate measures." This will be mine. A place to go to in order to make myself reflect on Biblical passages and move past my lot in my own way.

So to start I'll choose my favorite passage: Revelation 21:6. For those fluent in video game you'll recognize that as the passage they shove down your throat in Fallout 3. It also happens to be my guilty pleasure. I've repeated and memorized it but haven't quite dwelled on what that passage might mean.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Rev 21:6

God is the beginning of all things. He is the one who brought the Earth into being. No matter what you believe He is the one whom brought the first living thing into creation. God also does not leave anything unfinished. Everything has an end, no matter whether it is a good or bad one. Everything ends. Some will argue that prayer isn't important and has no effect on any outcome. The blessing of the water of LIFE to anyone who is thirsty enough and willing to ask will go fulfilled. According to Biblehub "No promise shall fail—the needy and thirsty so often invited to Him may find fresh springs of life in Him. (Comp. Isaiah 55:1; John 4:10-14; John 7:37-38.)

Prayer helps. Believing helps. Knowing that there is someone out there looking after you and making sure you're taken care of. Someone whom is willing to help you out when you're lost, alone and thirsty. If you need Him enough, believe in Him enough and love Him enough then that water you are so desperate for will be handed over to you with nothing expected in return.