What happens before Jeremiah 29:11....

This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1...)

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (29:4-7)

[vs 4: Note: If God caused them to be carried captives, they might be sure that he neither did them any wrong nor meant them any hurt.]

They cannot but weep sometimes when they remember Zion. But let not weeping hinder sowing; let them not sorrow as those that have no hope, no joy; for they have both.

Jeremiah counsels the Babylonian exiles to “build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.” In other words, Jeremiah is saying: “Folks, hunker down where you are right now; make the best of it because you’re going to be there for awhile.  Live as best you can and realize that God is with you there, even in exile in a foreign land.” The people had believed that God had given them the Promised Land. What were they to do now that they had lost it? Jeremiah says, “Keep on living, there’s much to live for right where you are.”

Dear friends and family in Cambodia,
"[We] thank our God every time we remember you. In all our prayers for all of you, We always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for usto feel this way about all of you, since we have you in our hearts and, whether we are in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with us. God can testify how we long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is our prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God."

[Philippians 1:3-11]

Praying and waiting,
Jewel (and Pastor Titus)