“For I know the thoughts I think towards you,” says the Lord, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will seek Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:11-13

There are certain books of the Bible I don’t enjoy reading and Jeremiah is one of those. It jumps around in history, it has a lot of prophecies' condemning nations for their sin and announcing judgments of destruction. Jeremiah is sad throughout, persecuted, and denied the opportunity to take a wife or bear children.

But every book of the Bible is relevant. Every book has nuggets of wisdom, lessons we need to learn, and verses of hope and healing. Jeremiah 29 verses 11-13 were written to the Jewish exiles living in Babylon. These are verses of hope and healing which are relevant throughout history and can be applied to every person.

I can only imagine how they felt. They were captive in a land that was not their own. The land was unfamiliar, the food different, and the people spoke a language most could not understand. They didn’t know if they would ever go home or even if they had a home left to go back to. They must have felt hopeless. Then Jeremiah sent these words to encourage them.

I just finished my second battle with cancer. There were surgeries, chemo, radiation, pain, and despair but Jesus brought me through it all. I was comforted to know His thoughts toward me were of peace and I had a future beyond cancer. I am now in remission and walking out that future He has designed for me.

Let us seek the Lord with our whole heart, mind, will, emotions until we find Him. Let us remember that His thoughts toward us are ones of peace. He wants to give us a future and a hope we haven’t had before.

So how can you seek the Lord? Through fasting, prayer, reading His Word and meeting with other Christians are some of the best ways.

In fasting, as you spend less time thinking about eating, preparing meals, designing menus, you will have more time to think about the Lord and His will for your future.

Take this time to commit your hopes and dreams of the future to Jesus. Seek Him about the next steps you need to take toward accomplishing these dreams. Fasting helps open your ears to hear His direction. Remember He has good thoughts toward you and He wants you to succeed.

Prayer is talking to God. He is our intimate friend and we can trust Him. Whatever we leave in His hands, he will care for. Release your burdens to God through prayer and trust Him to care for those things.

We can also draw close to God by reading and studying the Bible. Use a study guide, or do a word search or a search on a topic such as ‘fasting’ and see what God will teach you. Join one of the women’s Bible studies or come to Wednesday night Bible study.

Finally, don’t neglect coming to a church where you will have a close encounter with God through corporate worship. There are life changing moments that occur during corporate worship you will miss if you are not among your brethren in the Lord. Things you have been studying in the Word are reinforced during the preaching. You may receive, as well as give, encouragement. You will develop lasting friendships with others, a sense of community.

No matter what hardships you are going through, draw close to God. Seek Him and you will find Him and find comfort, peace, and hope for the future.

Denise Ouellete is a Pastor with the Assembly of God. She is currently creating a career out of her God-given gift of writing. She writes the newsletter for her church and townhome community monthly, weekly devotionals for her home church, and is working on publishing youth and children's books.