Delivered

From J.E. Tada's More Precious Than Silver

Jer 29:11 ¹¹ 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.
[This verse is in the context of the exiles being taken to Babylon]
God gave this invigorating and encouraging promise to inspire the captives. One day God would deliver them and bring the nation back to Jerusalem. 
In the past, have you assumed that today's verse was your guarantee that God would keep at bay pain and disappointment, trials and tribulations? God's purpose is to make us more like Christ.

Mulling this over...I think we must have lost so much with the Fall. Obviously we left the Garden, but we also lost a walking-and-talking relationship with God for many generations...there is a space in Abraham's life in which nothing is apparently said by God for 25 years! We are blessed to have what we have now in the Holy Spirit...
There is still so much to be learned to mold us into Christ's form. If one fault is fixed, another rears it's ugly head.

I love elderly people...I have worked with them a lot. But I can say that the kindest people on earth are elderly Christians. They have been molded to a near-perfect Spirit. The body may be broken, but it is housing the most beautiful soul, mind...some of these people nearly glow with the near-perfection that only heaven will give them. I wish I was as patient and kind as those dear souls I met...yet someday we all will be. It takes many bumps in the road to iron out our sinful desires and ways, to learn how to fully rely on God and give up those desires. It is possible; I have seen it. And He is always there.