Blue's worry dispersed almost immediately as she prayed. Her hands folded passionately together and the words of her plea coming out in thankful, hopeful gasps. She knew she could trust God with this situation, this worry some situation she was stuck in. Her parents had both lost their jobs and she was unsure how they were going to pay for everything they needed- groceries, bills, other necessities. To make matters worse, their house needed a number of renovations that could be harmful to the foundation if they weren't fixed. Blue always tried her best to not worry, to keep smiling and look at the brighter side of things, but this was different. Her parents had never been let go, laid off, or fired before, this was a first. Blue took a deep breath. "Lord Jesus, I need You now," she whispered prayerfully, with her head bowed and eyes closed. "I'm so worried about how we're going to get by with my parents both unemployed now, what will we do?" Then, as if to answer her prayer, she remembered Jeremiah 29:11. "For You know the plans You have for me, Lord, plans for prosperity and not to harm me, but to give me a future and a hope." She prayed. "Jesus, I trust You, do as You will, not as I." She continued praying throughout the day about anything and everything. Jesus seemed to comfort her in her times of need simply by being with her. There were times when she felt guilty because she spent more time with Him when bad things were happening, but she was thankful that at least she thought of Him first when anything went wrong. When she laid down at the end of the day, she continued her prayer. "Thank You, Father. I love it when I can feel Your presence so near, it comforts me so, but I know You'll take care of us. You always have by blessing my parents with good jobs and by blessing me with such hard-working parents. Thank You, Father, You are so good to us even though we don't deserve it."

Moral:

1) Blessings come in many forms. I know it seems odd to call some of the bad things in life a blessing, but the way I see it, they are just that! God uses bad situations to bring us closer to Him and if you ask me, that's the greatest thing He could do for us! I absolutely love being in His presence and closer to Him even through rough situations- He just makes it worth going through!

2) God WILL take care of you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope." (NASB) what I find really amazing that I didn't know until just recently is that God told His people this during their exile to Babylon! God is basically telling them, "I know it looks bad, but trust Me, I'm doing this for your good." And honestly it's that same idea in every situation.