“Reaching Today’s Teens” columnist Dr. Marsha Boyd-Mitchell (L) invited her friend and former college roommate, Julie Hoekstra-Birtch, who resides in Brookville, Ontario, to write the April RTT column.

Jeremiah 29:11 was our wedding text: “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” (NIV). Sometimes it’s hard to see God’s plans to prosper us, especially when things are difficult. Jeremiah was talking to people going through hard times.

I am a mother of five (plus one bonus child). Our world was rocked by addiction a few years ago, an addiction that led my husband down a dark path. The journey included him doing 42 months of jail time. This also led to a path of redemption and making our family stronger. In June 2021, in the middle of COVID, I was diagnosed with cancer and prescribed chemo every three weeks. I am on medical leave from my job, which was a calling to me. My life has changed a lot. And, it is not just me on this journey: guiding teens and young adults through this is tough, with no magic answers. What has helped is focusing on today—whether that is COVID-19, cancer, money issues, or relationship problems—and doing what we can do.

Faith is trusting that God’s plans for us are good. Corrie ten Boom is my heroine; my birth family is Dutch, as Corrie’s was. Her family lived in Holland and hid Jews during the Second World War. Corrie survived being in a concentration camp, but her sister, father, and other family members died. In her book, The Hiding Place, she tells a story of her father, who was a watchmaker. He would travel to Amsterdam to get the correct time for her city, and sometimes, as a little girl, Corrie would get to go with him. She would want to hold the train ticket, but her father would not give it to her. He told her he would not give her the ticket until she needed it. Corrie compared this to our struggles and worries, saying that God gives us the faith we need when we need it.