The verse that means the most to me is Jeremiah 29.11

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

‘The verse that means the most to me is Jeremiah 29.11. It 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.” Someone gave me that verse when my husband, John, was made redundant at the age of 52. He’s an accountant.

‘At first, we focused on him getting a job locally, then in London, then we thought about him being away all week. Eighteen months went by and he hadn’t got a job. This verse took away all the worry. 

‘I realised that Christianity wasn’t a hobby. I couldn’t not bother and take up golf instead. I realised that I had to commit and I started with this passage. There were times when we thought he would never get another job in the corporate world. He got a redundancy package which paid the mortgage and the bills, but we had to cut out everything else. It’s amazing what you don’t have to have in life.

‘I wasn’t nagged by worry and that’s because of this verse. It’s still my little motto. It all worked out well in the end. He got another job locally. But without this verse, I would have tried to take control of the situation and that, for John, would have been the worst thing. I needed to be supportive in the background. This verse meant he didn’t have to worry about me, because I was keeping everything on an even keel, because I thought it would be alright in the end.’

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