September 6, 2001
Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.
Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria;
the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit.
Jeremiah 31:4a-5
They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel's father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands:
'He who scattered Israel will gather them and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.'
... snip ... snip
They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
I will satisfy the priests with abundance and my people will be filled with my bounty,"
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:9-14
Reading this comforts me that for whatever difficulties God allows in life they are only for a season. There is a time allotted for them, God is aware, has a plan, has determined an end time for whatever it is. I may, and usually do, struggle because I'm not in control.. because I don't have knowledge of that, but I'm learning to content myself with the fact that God does have a plan, that I am safe in his arms and that he shepherds me through all that he has planned for me..