Meant to say something about this Tweet a couple of days ago, but forgot until now:
@palmettofamilyPalmetto Family
Gov. Haley’s SC Prayer Breakfast text: Jeremiah 29:11. #fb
Betcha I know where the gov got the idea for that!
That happens to be a favorite passage of her friend and mine, Nathan Ballentine.
If you’ll recall, the prophet Nathan brought that verse to my attention back when I first got laid off two years ago (has it been that long?):
Anyway, my point is to share what Nathan sent me. He e-mailed me to say I should consult Jeremiah 29:11. Which I did:
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope.
Just the right words, the ones I needed to hear. In this context I also love to read Matthew 7:7-11. (Look it up.) But I already knew that one. Nathan pointed me to a source of inspiration I had missed, and for that I am very grateful. I bookmarked it on my Blackberry, and take heart from it each day.
I also very much appreciate the verses that precede it, which I recently cited in my “Stand in the place where you live” post (1/17/11):
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses to dwell in; plant gardens, and eat their fruits. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. There you must increase in number, not decrease. Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare depends your own.
I’m sorry I missed the prayer breakfast. I would have liked to have heard that.
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“Promote the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare depends your own.” Thanks for posting this.