He Knows the Plans He has For You

In Jeremiah 29:11 The Lord says...............
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. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.
When I was 19 I found myself in a jail cell (not the first time I had been arrested) I was very drunk and trying to sleep with one very thin blanket. Then this person was brought in and thrown in the next cell to me. She screamed the whole way, what she was going to do to the cops and so on. Even after they had locked the door, she continued screaming obscenities and threatening violence. I knew it was going to be a long night. Ironically, this crazy girl( a well know lesbian and drug dealer) stayed in the same project as me so we shared a taxi back to our neighborhood the next morning.

This drunkenness was a way of life for me. I grew up in a working class society where drunkenness was a right of passage. I very much admired men who could consume copious amounts of alcohol and still continue to drink. My highest ambition was to become just like them. For the most part I achieved my goals.
In a couple of desperate moves, I moved my family to London and then to America and finally, at the age of 26, having being married almost ten years, I came to Jesus and He changed me completely. I had been saved for about 4 years, when the Lord, completely out of the blue, said "I want you to go home and share the Gospel."

After many miracles, we sold everything and moved back to Scotland. I got involved with a small Pentecostal church and various outreaches. I was able to share my testimony in the local prison. My brother, who is in prison then, and still is as I write this, warned me not to mention his name. I think having a brother as a Christian would kinda ruin his " street cred."

Of course I mentioned my brothers name every time I spoke to the men which opened many doors for me with these guys.
There was one outreach I was looking forward to very much. We had hired a small building right in the heart of the project I had lived in for 7 years. It was known and still is known as "The Strone." This name would strike fear into most Scottish people as it was probably the most notorious government housing project in Scotland. For a long time it was also a "no-go ," area for the police.


We would hold meetings in this little building every Saturday night for six weeks. In between we would go round the doors posting flyers and speaking to people. I would show up every Saturday night, and every Saturday night there would be a pretty good turnout of Christians. Now don't get me wrong, I love to fellowship but the whole point of this outreach was to, well, reach out to the unsaved. On the fifth Saturday afternoon my mother and grandmother were visiting, my grandmother being in a wheelchair. I told my mom that I would drive Grandma home as I was not going to the meeting that night. I told her it was pretty pointless as only Christians showed up.

The meeting started at 7. At four that afternoon the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart "I want you at the meeting tonight." I told my mother and she said that she would take Grandma home.
I walked into the meeting that night and looked around, all Christians. Not only that, it was a young noisy worship band that I really did not care for. I stood with my eyes closed, thinking how much noise these young people were making. All of a sudden the Holy Spirit fell. A heavy holiness from the Lord had quieted the young band and suddenly He was in charge and His presence was everywhere. I heard some noise in front of me. Someone had come in and sat right in front of me. This person had their head shaved all the way in and I could see the tattoos on their neck. I felt compelled to reach my hand out and pray for the person who was obviously not a Christian. I could now see that is was a female. Her shoulders started to convulse as she sobbed. I could see she was fighting to control her sobbing. Then a young Christian girl came over and put her arms around her. As soon as she touched the unsaved woman, she jumped to her feet and literally ran from the building.

Before I knew what I was doing, I jumped to my feet and ran after her. There was three set of double doors and I caught up with her at the last set. It was only then that I realized who she was. It was the screaming girl that had shared the next cell to me all those years ago. Her name was Susan. I said to her very gently "Do you remember me Susan." Susan came from a notorious family who everyone knew. She said she remembered me. She also said that she knew she was to meet someone here this night. I explained to her how Jesus had completely changed my life and that there was a different way to live. She listened carefully and than asked "what do I do now?" I told her that we could go back in and that she could give her heart to the Lord. We walked through the first and then the second double doors. As we got to the third she began to tremble. Here was this woman, who could take on and beat most men I knew, terrified of walking down the aisle. I took her arm and told her that I would walk down with her. She walked forward and was gloriously saved.

I believe with all my heart that the major reason that my wife and I went all the way to Scotland for a year was for the saving of Susan. Can you imagine a God that would go to enormous lengths to save someone that society did not care in the least for. I can see the Lord looking down, twelve years previous to a drunken screaming woman, and a hopeless drunk guy and thinking to Himself " I know the plans I have for you," "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. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity."
The Lord has delivered Susan and I from captivity. Perhaps you have a family member or friend or loved one that seems to be in a hopeless situation, you may even have given up all hope for that person. Yet Our Lord is Hope itself. Hope is the wellspring that all of our joy flows from. We have two choices in this life, even as a Christian, we can live in hope or we can despair. Hope gives birth to joy and to life and to strength. It is because I am in Christ that my hope springs eternal. It is awesome to know that our Heavenly Father is willing to go to enormous lengths to fulfill His plans.

Psalm 139

You hem me in--behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.