Plans to Prosper us!

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 hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart".
                                                          -Jeremiah 29:11-13

For so many years I have felt like God had no plans for me. When I quit working to be a stay at home mom, those feelings became stronger yet. I then told myself that God's plan for me must be for me to  raise my boys. Of course that was and still is part of His plans. However, I still felt incomplete and useless in so many ways. Myself got lost some how, I didn't realize that my identity was fading away until I couldn't remember who I was anymore. To many times I felt like all I was good for was babysitting. It wasn't until two years ago when we started going to church every week. I started helping out with the children's classes just so I felt useful. After some time I became a regular helper as a supervisor for the class room. I started helping in the church office on Fridays. So I had Sunday and Friday each week that I was giving back to God. My feelings of uselessness slowly started to fade, yet for the first time in 11 years as a stay at home mom, I felt very restless. I felt like if I had to stay home by myself for another school year, I was going to loose my mind. So I applied for a job at the school. I thought for sure that is where God wanted me. It was the perfect job for a stay at home mom. I was gonna get the job! God had other plans for me.
Literally, within a week from being told that I did not get the job, God threw and I mean threw a food bank into my lap. I opened the bread crumb food bank on Sept 10th 2012 with 10-20 customers. Within three months it grew from just me to a board of directors with four of the five seats filled and serving 100 plus customers each week, With so much more growth to come. I have never felt so needed and loved in my life. Its funny how helping others really makes a person feel complete! Any how my point in all of this is, that when we think that God can't use us or won't use us for whatever reason, He will and does!
We have to remember that not only does He have to prepare our lives and hearts, but also the lives and hearts of everyone else that will be involved. See three years ago I wasn't ready to help in the church or anyone else. I knew absolutely nothing about being a leader and was scared to death to stand up and talk in front of others. (still working on that) Two years ago I would have told God no, I don't want to help people. I was pretty lazy and selfish. One year ago I would have given up before I really got started as it is a hard job.
God does have plans for each of us. "Plans to prosper us." Plans to improve us and make us better. Plans to enhance His kingdom and not ours. 
Father, Thank you so very much for loving us like you do. For caring so much for us that you take time to make plans for our lives. I pray that whoever reads this will see that they are not just walking around this world aimlessly, but that you have a plan for them. That they are right where you want them to be, through the good and the bad. Help them to see that no matter what situation they are in, you are using it to make them better for it. They will come out stronger in the end. Father, continue to mold them and shape them in to the person that you made them to be. Into the person that you need them to be to use them for your kingdom. In Jesus name amen.
with God's Love,
Christian