Imagine this…
- growing up all your siblings hate you enough to want you dead
- they sell you off into slavery
- you go to prison for a crime you didn’t commit
- in prison you help two other prisoners, but they forget about you when they get out
- waiting 22 years to see God’s promises fulfilled in your life, 13 years spent in slavery/prison
Did you imagine all of that? Do you believe you could have made it through all of that?
God gave us an example of someone who made it through all of that. If you aren’t familiar with the story of Joseph, he actually made it through all of that. What’s even more fascinating about Joseph’s story is that it all started with a dream and Joseph sharing that dream with the wrong people.
Have you ever done that?
God showed you some of the plans He had for your life and if it was good of course you wanted to tell someone.
But the thing about dreams and promises is that there is always a process in between the two.
There is character development that God has to do in us.
There is pruning that needs to take place in our relationships.
And unfortunately for many of us, we have to hit what feels like rock bottom.
It’s not that God causes these difficult things in our lives, but He does allow them because ultimately what the enemy meant for evil, God plans to use for good.
In the story of Joseph, we watch how he is betrayed by his brothers, but in the end, he is in a position to save his family’s life in the midst of a famine.
God had a plan even before his brothers put him in that pit and sold him into slavery.
Just like with Joseph God had a plan even before you went through that divorce, or you can fill in the blank with whatever difficult setback you have experienced.
No matter what your setback was, God had a plan for your good, but there’s always a process to get there.
Most of the time there is a valley before we make it to the mountaintop.
It is in that valley, that you get to decide how long you’ll stay there, if you’ll die there, and what will you do when you make it to the mountaintop.
I’m not saying that you have control over God’s timing but think of the children of Israel who let their complaining turn an eleven-day journey into 40 years.
Also think of Moses who did not get to go into the promise land.
God wants to take your story and show others what is possible when we learn to walk by faith and not by sight.
Yes, that setback hurt. Yes, your life looks nothing like you thought it would.
But, despite all that God wants to know if you can decide to still trust Him anyhow. Can you let Him give you beauty for ashes?
The Word tells us that we “overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony” (Revelation 12:11).
For some of you reading this, God has called you to share what you’ve been through in a book.
Some of you are called to speak on stages.
It’s not about a platform.
It is about using all that God has given you, your setbacks and your successes to make an impact in this world.
You have an opportunity to be a part of something greater than you. It’s not about making a name for yourself. It’s not about proving to others what you can do.
God is setting all of us up to bring Him glory.
Now that’s a setup I don’t mind being a part of.
