Devotional - March 1, 2007

“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

I remember the first time I noticed this verse.  I was a teenager and someone in my church sent me a card with this verse on it.  I have gone back to this verse many times over the years.  My mom had always told me God had a plan for my life.  She’d say, “You can be anything God wants you to be!” and I was always convinced that God did have big things for me.  That verse confirmed the fact that God thinks wonderful things towards us and has a great plan for our lives. 

When I was 15, I went to Bible camp.  I had gone every year since I was a small child.   As I knelt down with my Bible one afternoon during our mandatory devotional time, I had a great desire to have God move in my life.  You see, I had read in the Bible about people God had used mightily; I had heard stories of missionaries and others that God had worked through miraculously.  I was on my way to heaven, but I knew there was more to my life than just going to church and doing and saying all the right things.  I wanted to open God’s Word and have Him speak to me like I had heard He would for others.  Sitting there on the steps to my dorm, I asked God to show me something in His Word.  I opened up, began to read, and I really didn’t get anything.  But instead of giving up, I closed my Bible and said, “God, I need to hear from you.  Please show me something.”  I again opened my Bible and, believe it or not, I didn’t get a thing!  Still I did not give up.  I was desperate.  I needed to hear from the God of heaven and I wasn’t willing to stop seeking until I received what I needed.  No one had taught me that; I just knew God would come through for me.  I knelt again and begged God to reveal Himself to me through His Word.  This time it was different.  I opened up to the book of Philippians. From the first verse to the last in that book, the words leaped off the page and spoke to me like never before.  Verses I had read many times became meaningful and I found they were applicable to my life.  I have that same Bible today and you can look through and see where verses are underlined all through Philippians because of that day.  It’s also the most worn out section of my Bible! 

--Sonya