Good morning,

Our devotion for today comes from Jeremiah 29:11 "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." 

Wherever you are today, meditate on this; on a bleak winter morning, Jim felt overwhelmed by a sense of failure.  He kept thinking, My life is worthless.  I don't fit in.  He was forty-three years old.  Alcohol was destroying his life, and now, he had lost his job.  Jim didn't see that he had any future.  Then he remembered Ted.
    

Ted was Jim's AA sponsor, a crusty straight talking farmer.  Jim drove to Ted's house and found him sitting by his wood burning stove.  Ted seemed genuinely pleased to see Jim and began telling him how things were going on the farm.  Finally, Jim begain to pour out his heart to Ted, rehearsing years of disappointments, hurts, and failures.

"I know things seem hopeless right now," Ted told him, "but God has a wonderful plan for your life.  Give Him all your disappointments and failures, and He will give you a sense of peace deeper than any you have ever known."
    

"God wouldn't want me," Jim responded. "My life is a mess.  I have nothing to offer Him."  
    

"But He does want you," said Ted. "He wants you just the way you are.  You give Him your mess, and He  will give you His peace.  It's an amazing offer." 
    

No matter what condition your life is in, the same offer is available to you.  Have a blessed accepting day!

Your brother in Christ,
J. H. Flakes, III