Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know that plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

At my church, we have a few Sundays a year where the youth do the service and on two of those occasions, I have been the one preaching the message. This past time, I used this verse in my sermon and talked about what it meant to me and how I could relate a lot of things in my life to this one verse. I talked of how when we start something new, it can be a scary time for us because we do not know what to expect. We think of everything that can go wrong instead of thinking of what can go right. I know that I do this a lot; I am always thinking of the worst possible thing that could go wrong instead of what could go right.

I also talked of when we don't know what to do or when we think the world is against us that we become discouraged and throw a self-pity party because we're all alone with no one to turn to, but that's not true. We have a loving and caring Lord that never leaves our side, he is always there for us, even when we don't think that He is. God does not give us more than we can handle, we might think that at times, but He knows each and everyone of us and knows what we can take.

Every time that you feel alone,discouraged, or broken, remember this verse. It has gotten me through a lot of hard times in my life. And I feel that now, with all of this election mess, that it is a part of God's plan for America and we need to sit back and watch what unfolds. There is no need to turn against one another, we must remain strong and remember that we live in a great country. We need to appreciate the fact that we live in a country where we can elect who will run our nation and that it isn't decided for us. We need to be thankful that we live in a country where we can freely worship the Lord and not be persecuted for our beliefs. Always remember that things happen for a reason and that God knows what He is doing.