“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for woe, plans to give you a future and a hope.”
— Jeremiah 29:11
There is a particular kind of ache that comes when you cannot see the road ahead.
Sometimes it appears at a crossroads. A job ends. A relationship shifts. A season of life closes, and suddenly you are standing at the edge of something new, searching for a sign that tells you which way to go.
Sometimes it arrives in the middle of something heavy. A loss. A health crisis. A slow, grinding struggle that wears on your spirit and leaves you wondering if things will ever feel right again. In those moments, you may not be standing at a crossroads at all — you may feel as though you are standing under the weight of a cross, asking the same quiet question:
Can I trust what comes next?
Into that uncertainty, God speaks one of the most personal promises in all of Scripture. Not a vague plan. His plan. For you. For your welfare. For your future. For your hope.
I have carried Jeremiah 29:11 with me since I was a young adult. It steadied me in seasons when the road ahead was wide open and full of possibility, but also full of unknowns. And it held me in seasons when everything felt dark and the next step was hard to find. The verse did not change my circumstances — it changed the posture I brought to them.
When we walk by faith and not by sight, the image that helps me most is walking by candlelight. We are not given the whole map. We are given just enough light to take the next step. And when we take that step, the light moves with us, revealing the next one.
Early in my adult life, I began a practice I call an Appreciate Life Walk. I would walk through the woods — later, around the block — naming my blessings out loud to God, one by one. Then I would offer everything I was carrying: my hopes, my plans, my dreams, my fears. And I would entrust it all to Him, ending every walk with the same prayer:
“I will go if You lead me. I will stay if You stay with me. Thy will be done. I trust in the plans You have for my life and for all those I love most in the world.”
Life unfolded in ways I never could have scripted. I moved to another country. I unexpectedly met the man who has been my husband for over 30 years. My career and our family grew in ways I could never have mapped on my own. And I have also carried crosses heavier than I believed I could hold.
In every single season, God’s plans were better — deeper, wiser, more life‑giving — than anything I could have imagined for myself.
If you are in a season of uncertainty right now, consider this an invitation. You do not need to have all the answers. Offer what is on your heart. Name what you are grateful for. Entrust what you cannot yet see. And trust the One who already knows the plans He has for you.
I have no doubt — they are for your good.
Angela Scaperlanda Bujan is the founder of Resilience Land and Help Professional Services. She works with individuals, teams, and organizations to build personal and organizational resilience from the inside out. To learn more or to connect, visit www.helpps.org.