Many of you have been hearing Jeremiah 29:11 for your entire lives. But what does “hope” and “future” mean to you? Some of you may be going through a lot right now. Hardships you may never have thought possible. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one due to COVID-19, police brutality, mental health crisis, or something else. Maybe you’re suffering, and you wonder where God is. When will this hope and future begin? Is it only something to hope for in the next life?

I don’t know what’s going on for you. Maybe you’re not in a place to hear these hopeful Bible verses right now, or that things actually will get better if you hold on. I’m not going to say that you can do it, because maybe you can’t. But God can. Lean on Him, cry out to Him, as He cried out in his deepest sufferings. Whatever it is, I’m so sorry.