Many of you know that earlier this year, my husband and I were expecting our first baby. And then shortly after we found out, I had a miscarriage and we lost the baby. As I’ve gone through this year, I often check the calendar to see where I would’ve been had my pregnancy not ended. With the month of October, the thoughts surround me quite often, as this would’ve been my ninth month of pregnancy. My due date was estimated to the end of October.

Had everything worked out, I’d be preparing to go on maternity leave with my job. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a government employee, too. No one in our office has been furloughed yet, but the impending thought hangs over our office like a very dark cloud. I can’t help but think how much extra stress my husband and I would be feeling right now, if I were about to take my maternity leave, only to realize that all the sick time and vacation time I had saved to cover my maternity leave was about to vanish in the blink of an eye.

“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.” ~Jeremiah 29:11

When things happen in our lives that we don’t plan or don’t want to happen, we have a tendency to blame God for those circumstances. We have never once blamed God for the miscarriage we had. We’ve asked “Why?” but never blamed Him. The devil is the one that steals our dreams, kills our hopes and destroys the things we hold dear. But God comes to give us life. And not just life…ABUNDANT LIFE!! The devil may have temporarily stolen a dream from us, but God is going to restore that dream. And not just restore what was stolen…restore it 100-fold!

I can’t help but think this current time I’m enduring at work is a small answer to the “Why?” question. It could just be my own human mind trying to make sense of a tragedy that I suffered. God knows our future. He knows what’s ahead. He sees what we cannot see. God sees the BIG picture. God doesn’t take our future from us; he prepares us for what’s ahead.

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…” ~Ephesians 3:20

Our dream is soon to be restored and I look forward to that coming day. Right now, I sit and pray and wait expectantly for the “exceedingly abundant” things to come. No matter what our future holds, God is taking care of us, providing for us and preparing the way for the ABUNDANT LIFE He has for us!!