Being faithful in our walk with Christ is a good reminder for adults and kids alike. Share this excerpt with your daughter from God’s Girl Says Yes and encourage her to be faithful to Him, no matter what.
I love reading this verse because it reminds me that God has good plans for us. But did you know that when God first gave this message to His people, the Israelites, a lot of not-so-good things were happening?
During this time, the Israelites were exiles living where they did not want to live. They had been forced to leave their home in Jerusalem and were being held captive in Babylon, a place that was nothing like their home. Furthermore, the Israelites were not always treated well by the Babylonians.
From the Israelites’ point of view, it sure didn’t look like God had a plan—especially not a good plan. But He did. God wanted His people to learn to trust Him even though they were going through difficult circumstances.
He even told them to pray for the people around them and to serve and help in the city where they were forced to live. (You may know how hard it is to pray for people who are mean to you!) In other words, God wanted the Israelites to remember their relationship with Him even when they couldn’t see good things happening around them. God wanted His people to be faithful to Him even when life was hard and His ways were puzzling.
God wants us to be faithful too. He wants our relationship with Him to be the most important thing in our lives even when nothing around us seems good.
When everything in life is going well and we’re feeling happy, it’s a little easier to trust that God has a good plan for us. However, when things are hard and we’re sad or frustrated or worried, we can forget or even stop believing that God actually has a good plan for us. When people are being mean to us, when we can’t seem to get good grades, or when we don’t think our parents understand, it becomes really tempting to stop trusting God and instead take charge of our lives. But God wants us to continue to trust Him and to continue to follow Him… because He has a plan.
As the plan unfolds mysteriously and sometimes slowly, remember that God always wants you to talk to Him and to ask Him for any help you need. Even though God has good plans for you, your life will sometimes be hard. Realize that God uses every situation—the good ones as well as the not-so-great ones and the totally hard times too—in His good plan for your life.
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Wynter Pitts is the author of several books, including God’s Girl Says Yes. Wynter and her husband, Jonathan, live in Dallas, Texas with their four tween daughters.
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