Plans To Prosper You And Not Harm You

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 verse is on a white board near a door as we leave the house.

I look to it often to remind myself that what the Lord himself declares, stands.

He Declares His Holy Word To Our Souls

God has plans to prosper you. God has plans not to harm you. God has plans to give you hope and a future.

Years and years ago, on my birthday, I took my yellow lab for a long walk and listened for God, which sparked a birthday tradition that I have kept since: the long walk listening for God.

Surprisingly to me, each year I sensed a singular word (this happened long before it was popular to have a word to define your year). There have been years of joyous words, years of anxiety-provoking words, and years of words that only become clear after new year’s words come and go.

For the year 2023, I thought I might not have a word, as I walked in silence for over an hour. As I resigned myself to a wordless year, and possibly the end of sensing any new word forever, the word “prosper” whispered into my ear.

I stopped in my tracks and started laughing. I was in the midst of personal upheaval. My husband and I were moving from our home of over 30-years to the only part of Texas I had yet to live in: East Texas. We were selling our house and buying a new build, which entailed many trips back and forth as we decided on the details.

If you have ever had to move a lifetime of belongings, rearrange every detail of your life, you understand that whatever you think it’s going to cost, that’s not enough.

So, my laugh was provoked by this particular definition of the word prosper.

Money was flying out of our account. We were doing the opposite of prospering.

God’s Plan To Prosper You

Then, I realized that God’s plans to prosper me may have nothing to do with money. That changed everything in my perspective.

God says his plans are to prosper you – to not harm you – plans to give you a future and hope. As I look over my life since hearing this word, I see I have prospered in God’s love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness. I have prospered in the fullness of The King of Kings.

So many of the mountains concerning our move have been made low. The same is true for the valleys made high, as we traveled during that time. God eased our way in every step (well, maybe not on the 5th TRUCK LOAD of belongings…).

We leaned into him, in blind faith, not knowing how our worries and concerns would resolve. Yet, they did in his time.

Lean in, my brothers and sisters.

His Word Is Truth

Through the days, through the months, of moving, organizing, and settling in to a new home, we have prospered in too many ways to count.

On that birthday walk, I had another moment of complete glee. As I was on my way home, I spotted a dime on the ground. A perfectly clean and remarkably shiny dime. God was already on the move!

Last week, on another walk talking to God, while having a particularly tough day/week/month, missing my left behind community and the comfort of all I had been accustomed to, I found the dirtiest, scratched, jagged dime laying on the road. I laughed again.

I picked up the dime and saw that it looked like I felt. Run over and discarded, yet still retaining its worth.

You Are His Beloved

Our journey has not been easy or smooth, and like the been-through-it dime I found, I still retain my worth and I know that my God is prospering my life in every way. How do I know? Because God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the maker of heaven and earth, our beloved Father, has declared it.

When you are in a valley, when you are feeling defeated, when you feel your sin has marred you enough to be discarded in the streets, recall the word of God and know you are the shiny dime.

You are his beloved. He knows the plans he has for you. You shall prosper in the Lord. His word does not fail us or go out void.

Let us claim God’s declaration of his plans to prosper us and not harm us, no matter where we find ourselves.