A future and a hope

This week’s column is dedicated to Year 12 as they prepare for exams and consider their future. It reflects on the Bible verse found in the front of the school handbook. (Jeremiah 29:11). We pray that they Year 12 may know the future and hope God has planned for them.

Have you ever felt like God has forgotten you? Have you ever thought that God wasn’t listening or didn’t care? God’s people felt like that when they were taken as prisoners of war to Babylon. They had spent close to seventy years away from their homeland when the prophet Jeremiah brought his message of hope to them. Through Jeremiah God said,

“I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
"When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen.
"When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
"Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, [14] I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God's Decree.
"I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"—God's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14 The Message)