This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis [ts@godspeak.net]

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                  What Lays Ahead For You

Dear one, I have good plans for you, and I want you to look eagerly 
forward to your future. 

The enemy of your soul has been trying to make you weary, to steal 
away your hope and your joy. He wants you to believe that the future 
will be dark and dreary, and that all you have to look forward to 
is persevering in difficulty, affliction and trials. He wants you to 
forget that I have come that you might have life, and that it might 
be abundant--that is rich and full. 

The enemy of your soul wants you to base your sense of well-being 
on the circumstances that surround you. He wants you to forget 
that I give a supernatural peace and a supernatural joy that transcend 
your circumstances. He wants to grind down your hope in light of the 
difficulty and despair that the world faces. But, dear one, I am the 
God of all hope, and I have both a hope and a future for you.

The enemy wants you to base your sense of self-worth on your what 
you do and what you accomplish, and on what others say about you. He 
doesn't want you to know how precious you are. He doesn't want you 
to be mindful of the great treasure that I have placed within you.
He wants to tear down all the good things that I have been building 
up in you.

Guess what, dear one? He is not in control of your future--I am!
The enemy of your soul does not control your destiny, nor can he 
prevent you from walking in it. I am coming alongside of you to help 
you, to empower you to walk in the fullness of every good plan that I
have for you. I have made you an overcomer. My anointing and My 
miracle-working power flow through you--nothing is impossible to you. 

I am the God Who supplies all of your needs through My riches in glory.
My will for you is good, My desire for you is that you be happy and
fulfilled. I am not calling you to a life of suffering, not am I
calling you to a life of constantly making due with less than you need.
I want to bless you in every way: physically, emotionally, financially
and spiritually. That is what lays ahead for you, and that is what you
have to look forward to.

Yes, dear one, at times I take you through short seasons of difficult
growth. There are times when I force you to look at some aspect of your
life or character that you do not want to acknowledge. There are times 
when I make you face hurts from the past--but that is so that I can
break their power over you. I want to set you free from the things 
that hold you back, that inhibit you from enjoying the full measure
of all that I have for you. I do allow seasons of discomfort for you,
that you might grow. I do cause you, at times, to pass through the
valley of the shadow of death. But I do NOT leave you there. 

It is not My will for you to live out the remainder of your days in 
that valley of the shadow of death. I want to bring you to the mountain
top of My presence--that is where I want you to dwell.

My will for you is abundant life. That is what I want you to expect 
from Me and that is what I want you to look forward to in this coming 
year.