Purpose, Hope and Revelation

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says The Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”.
 
For several months I kept stumbling upon this verse; daily devotionals, opening my Bible directly to it, hearing it in sermons or messages – or even 

just in talking with a friend.  It haunted me… It got me some how. 
 
I have a future? I have a hope? It’s peace?  Those were extreme concepts for someone to grasp, especially one who came from darkness. 
 
Did God really have a plan for me? I mean, I try to do good, be good, help others and such – but a plan? A real “you were born for a purpose” type plan? 
 
We live in a dark world of “instant”.  Instant gratification, instant messaging, instant soup… everything is now and everything is me.  We scramble from day to day, living for the moment, not really thinking about tomorrow.  We spend what we don’t have and think that “one day” it will all work out.  We live in “if only” and don’t want to take responsibility for our own stuff.  People betray us and hurt us, people kill and rape, there’s wars and threats, natural disasters… We want to believe in God, we want to believe that there is good in this world… but where is the evidence of it? 
 
Somewhere, somehow, we keep grasping, we keep hoping.  We actually WANT to see the good in this world.  We hope that things will turn around, we hope that things will get better.  And somehow, that hope keeps us going for another day.
 
And THAT is where the evidence is… In THAT hope.  That tiny little glimmer, that small voice inside that says “Hang on!”  For I know the thoughts I have for you; peace, a future, and hope.
 
If we only really REALLY knew what God thought about us… How would our lives be different?