When Sjon-Paul was little, his dad used to say, “Sjon-Paul, God has big plans for you.”

Sjon-Paul would answer, “When will I see the plans?”

Isn’t that just like us?

In Jeremiah 29:11 God says, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” 

Here’s the funny thing. God gave his people, the Israelites, that promise at the same time he told them that they would be enslaved for the next 70 years as a consequence for their disobedience. Basically, things were bad, and they were going to get a lot worse before they got better. It doesn’t sound very good, does it? It doesn’t sound very hopeful.

For those who have heard me speak about the night of Brandon’s death, you know that was the verse I prayed over him just minutes before he drove away for the last time. It’s a verse that has plagued me since.

I didn’t want to write about anything sad. In fact, I didn’t even want to mention Brandon’s name in this post. I know I write often about him or my grief. That’s not my intention. So, I have been searching through old journals, questioning family and friends, looking for funny stories to share, and I found plenty, plenty that I will share at some point in time, I’m sure.

But, it was this story of Sjon-Paul that called out to me the most today, this story of God’s big plans that drove me back to Jeremiah 29:11. I found it in a journal of letters I wrote to Sjon-Paul when he was young. Underneath Sjon-Paul’s quote, I had written:

“That’s so much like all of us, but God doesn’t work that way. He hasn’t revealed the plans for any of our lives completely… Sometimes, I think that’s why Satan tries to drag us down so much now…He wants to hinder (our) physical, mental, and spiritual development as much as possible.”

I wrote that on July 1, 1999, but today, God brought my very own words back to me. Life is pretty stinky at times. Sometimes, like the Israelites, we have to face the consequences of our own bad decisions. Sometimes, it’s just the normal course of events in a fallen world. Sometimes, we are caught in a whirlwind of circumstances over which we have no control. Sometimes it takes a long, long time before we get to see a hint of the good that is coming.

The truth is that no matter how we got where we are, no matter how crummy things look from our current vantage point, as children of God, we can be certain He has plans for us—big plans. We may not be able to see them right now. Things may look so terribly grim, that we may not even be able to imagine them. But God said it; so, it is so. No matter what we are going through, there is a future, there is a hope through Jesus Christ.

I am thankful for that reminder, and I wanted to share it with you.

Interestingly enough, after years of telling Sjon-Paul, “God has big plans for you, son!” Sjon-Paul finally admitted something to us one day.

“Mom, I always thought Dad was saying, ‘God has big plants for you.’ I figured he must have been talking about the little trees we planted out in the yard.”

That’s OK, Sjon-Paul. The point is still made. Now, years later, even those little plants have grown into big shade trees. Whether we’re talking about plants growing or plans unfolding, both have an element in common—time. So, if you’re like me and still struggling under the weight of life, keep your chin up, child! God has big plans for you!