New perspective on a well-known verse

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,

plans to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

By the time my freshman year at OBU ended, hearing this verse about drove me crazy.  I think that every student at OBU had a "life verse" (myself included - even have a cool story to go with mine but that's another blog post) and for 95% of them, I'm fairly sure Jeremiah 29:11 was their verse.  (Now, I know this is from the Bible and I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God).  I had kind of like a been there, heard that attitude to this verse until this week.  I was reading in 1 Pet. 1 about the living hope that has been given to us.  Reading the words "living hope" got me to thinking.  I had always thought that hope was something about the future and not something that could get me through today (forgive me for being someone that sees the glass as half empty).  But I know that the important thing is not the path, but the end result.  Then there's the word "prosper".  I tend to think of a prosperous person as someone who has been successful with money and business.  Maybe the word here could refer to faith.  God will help faith to prosper and the result will be a faith-filled future filled with hope.  And the way to have that hope comes two verses after the above verse:

You will search for Me,

And you will find Me,

When you search for Me with your whole heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

(Diana paraphrase - empasis is mine)

Getting to the future and a hope does not require action on God's part alone.  It will take a little effort on my side as well, through prayer, scripture reading, and being open to hearing His voice.