Good morning! Today I started Jeremiah. I’m not sure exactly how I went from Job to Jeremiah, but it’s where I felt God leading me and boy did He have a lot to say to me this morning. Jeremiah is a book on prophecy. I’m fascinated with how God used Jeremiah. I started in Chapter 1 today and there is a very popular verse that most mothers know. Verse 5:” Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” I just love that verse. God really does have the whole picture in mind and He is making plans for our life BEFORE we even enter the world. I think about people who have had difficult pregnancies, lost babies, had sick babies and even people who’ve had perfectly healthy babies. Everything that happens from the womb to the grave is all apart of God’s plan. Then in verse 7 it gets really good. Jeremiah is worried that he is “like a child” in his walk with the Lord. He feels that he isn’t wise enough, smart enough and even old enough for God to use him. Oh how often I have felt like that. I think because I don’t have a degree in theology or bible that God can’t use me, or I think I just don’t know enough about the bible and how would I be able to guide others if I don’t know enough. But God says to him, NO, You MUST do what I tell you to do. (verse 7) Don’t be afraid, I’m with you and will rescue you. Isn’t that just like Satan to put that stuff in our heads??? As I went through verse 11 I loved how God gave Jeremiah a small vision of an Almond tree and asked him, “What do you see Jeremiah?” Of course God knew that he could see the tree but he wanted to show Jeremiah that He’s always watching because He wants to make sure that His word is fulfilled. God was giving him confirmation. Notice I said GOD was giving him confirmation. I feel like sometimes when we feel God has called us to do something we run around to all of our friends and family to see what they think and we actually care very deeply what they think. Then if what our friends say don’t line up with what we know God’s called us to then we doubt God and ourselves. I believe that when God calls you to do something HE will confirm it and with Jeremiah he did it TWICE. (verse 13) So Jeremiah has a big task ahead of him, he’s bringing a not so sweet prophecy to the people of Judah (verse 15-16). Sometimes what God has to say isn’t always sweet and nice like we’d all like to be sometimes. God has thing that He’s got to say especially to those who are far away from Him and it’s not always nice. I’m anxious to see where this goes. One more neat thing. Since I was studying the names of God, I found out that Jeremiah means: Yahweh establishes. I thought that was very fitting. Well, it’s Monday, Taylor’s off to school so that leaves the younger two and myself to clean the mess up from the weekend! We should find out today about the van situation, I’ve been praying so fervently for God to speak to us about this. I hope you have a very blessed day! If I can pray for anything specific for you, please e-mail me and let me know!