Preparing for a New Normal

 “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.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Jeremiah 29:5-8 NIV

The people of Jerusalem were under invasion. Nebuchadnezzar and his armies were taking the people from their homeland, distributing them throughout his empire. The prophet Jeremiah had called them for years to repent and turn back to God but it had fallen on deaf ears. Now they would have to prepare for a new normal. They would be held captive 70 years before returning home. 

Does any of this sound vaguely familiar? Will we have to deal with a new normal? For how long? How should we prepare? What did the Lord tell Jeremiah and the people?