RELEASE DAY!!! The Plans I Have for You

Today marks the long-awaited (by me, anyway) release day for The Plans I Have for You, a manuscript that sat in my Ideas folder for years and was in publishing production for a couple more. 

But from the beginning, I knew that this was a message God wanted His children to hear. One day, I just began to hear the words, 

Hey YOU! I’ve got big plans for you!
Yes, you, and you, and you over there too!

I've been doing this long enough that when I hear that Voice, I grab a laptop--or a pencil or a lipstick!--and begin to take it all down. So I wrote down the verses and then saved it away in my Ideas folder.

About a year later, my teenage son was sitting in my office when I came across it again. Now, teenage sons are not necessarily the ideal audience for sharing tender, new ideas. But I began to read, 

Hey you, I’ve got big plans for you!
Yes you and you and you over there too!
I’ll need you in a hospital and you in a zoo 
and you’ll be an entomologist in a forest in Peru!

When I finished, he looked at me and said, “That is good.” 

I was just as surprised as he was. “It is good, isn’t it?”

A couple of years later I was in a workshop at Mount Hermon Christian Writer’s Conference. When the subject turned to God’s plans for us, I dug up my manuscript and began to read, 

Hey you, I’ve got big plans for you! 
Yes you and you and you over there too. . . . 
Oh, it’s no little purpose. I don’t do things small. 
Yours is the most humongous purpose of all!

And as I was reading, I saw this little children’s book shine a ray of hope on the careers and dreams of these adults. One author loved it so much that she asked the leader of the conference if we could read it at closing ceremonies!

Those experiences all showed me why that little Voice gave me these words. This is not only a picture book for kids. It’s a message vital to the hopes and dreams of kids and teens and adults everywhere. 

We all ask those questions: Does God have plans for me? Do I have a purpose on this planet? Am I doing something that matters? And the answer is YES. 

Open your heart and listen real close. 
You’ll find that one thing that you love the most.
. . . . . 
Remember that I, who made the whole world, made YOU.
There’s nothing that with My help, you cannot do.

This is one message that we can't afford to miss. We want this message firmly planted within the hearts of our kids so that they carry it with them throughout their lifetimes. And it’s my hope that through this book, kids and teens and adults will walk away empowered with the plans that God has for them. 

The whole world will be better, thanks to little ol’ you . . .
All because you did what I created you to do.

So while I'm celebrating the release of The Plans I Have for You, let's also take time to celebrate--every day--the plans He has for YOU!

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