Plans to Prosper and Not to Harm

My earthly father talks with my heavenly Father. I didn't say he talks "to," but rather "with." I believe this with my whole heart. It is not just because I have watched him late in the night or early in the morning, on his knees petitioning the Almighty. It is primarily because he delivered an accurate message to me before I fully understood its veracity.

Shortly after we moved into a house in DeKalb, Illinois, my father sent me a letter. In his letter, he explained that he had been talking with God about me and he felt very strongly that God wanted me to know that I would shortly be entering a wilderness period. I wish I could find that letter right now (if you read this blog faithfully, you know me, and you know that I still have it ... somewhere). I took to heart the primary bit of information, the word "wilderness" and then watched my own exile into the wilderness begin to take shape, starting with my marital separation.

Many things have happened in the years since. Although, our marriage survived the separation, I believe I am still in the midst of that wilderness experience. I'm not sure how long it will last. At times, I have grumbled and complained and been not entirely convinced that God would, indeed, bring me back.

I recently came upon a blog post at http://www.afamilyreunited.blogspot.com/ which tugged at my heart. The blogger, Julia Norris, tells the story of her adopted Chinese son. When Julia was 33, she traveled to China to spend a month working in an orphanage. She was single and had no intention of seeking out a child. Yet, the Lord placed a particular child, a boy named Jiacheng, on her heart. The boy had been found huddled under an overpass and when police could not find his family, he was brought to the orphanage. She returned a year later to adopt the boy. Whenever this young boy made any mention of his past or how he came to be in the orphanage, Julia wrote down all the details. Eventually, when the boy turned 14, he asked Julia to help him find his biological parents. Through her efforts and the help of a Chinese agency called "Baby Come Home," Julia located her adoptive son's birth family and discovered the elaborate tale of how he came to be in that orphanage.

It turned out that the child's past (his initial six years in China) was complicated and confusing. He was the second son of a couple (both doctors). Wishing to avoid problems with the one-child ruling, they sent the boy to be raised by the boy's uncle and grandmother. However, when he reached school age, the parents felt it best to bring him back to the city for his schooling. By this point, the child felt deeply connected to the uncle and grandmother and pined for their small village life. The father set out to take the boy back to the village. In a busy bus station, the father put the boy in a bus seat and quickly ran to the market for food. When he returned, minutes later the bus was gone and the boy ended up lost and abandoned three hours east.

As I wrote a comment in response to the blogger and their story, my mind was fixed on a verse of Scripture, Jeremiah 29:11: "'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.'" (NIV) Seeking out the reference, caused me to review the context of the verse.

This verse is part of a letter from Jeremiah to the Jewish elders, priests and people, who were in captivity in Babylon. His letter contains a message from God, telling the people that they will be captives in Babylon for many years. He encourages them to go about the business of living and to seek peace and prosperity in that land.

As the Living Bible puts it: "The truth is this: You will be in Babylon for a lifetime. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest." (Jeremiah 29:10-13)

Wow! My wilderness experience could last a lifetime. What do I have to cling to in the midst of that wilderness? I must go about living and seek peace exactly where I have been placed. My heart can hold fast to His promise, that even when I don't understand the paths which led to my exile, I can be assured that His plans are "for good and not for evil." They will give me "a future and a hope."