God's wonderful plan

"God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" Simplistic, or true? True, if we understand that the wonderful plan is not to get the things we want, or to be free from trouble, but to grow in character. Jeremiah 29:11 is a well known promise: "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." The context is God telling the people not to listen to the false prophets predicting pleasant circumstances. God's plan to prosper his people at that point involve going to Babylon for 70 years of exile. This will be good, not evil, because God will be with them in exile, and they will learn to walk more closely with him. "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." So let us not assume God is not with us when life is difficult.