I am Joseph

I am Joseph....

   The moment Joseph reveals to his Brothers who he is...Wow...and then on top of that his next words are....Don't be upset and angry with yourself for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here...

   Think about that for a minute. He's finally standing in front of the brothers that bullied him, were jealous of him, so jealous they stripped him of his robe and threw him into a pit....and then they sold him into slavery and lied that he was dead....

    I can't move past this moment without stopping and looking at my own life. When we left California it wasn't all pretty. Our leaving shook a foundation that had been set in place for a long time. It was the beginning of chains being broke off my life and the enemy didn't want that. I can relate to Joseph in alot of ways. One way was when I felt the call on my life to the ministry and decided to attend Bible college. Having grown up in a ministry home I assumed my family would at least be supportive but instead there was criticism and constant fun being made at my expense. I went anyway but I spent a year battling my fear and the constant stress from them and after the year was up I became a Bible school drop out. And for the last 22 years I lived under that cloud. I was a joke, exactly what they said I would be. It hurt for years, it held me back and suffocated the call on my life.. but I let it. Joseph didnt.

    I was a Bible school drop out.

And for a long time, that label had more power over me than it should have. It became the pit I kept climbing back into, the story I kept rehearsing, the proof the enemy waved around whenever I thought about stepping forward again.But Joseph didn't let the pit define him.He didn't let betrayal name him.

He didn't let other peoples jealousy rewrite God's calling on his life.

    Somewhere between the pit and the palace, Joseph learned something most of us struggle to learn.

   🌟 What others meant to break you, God can use to build you. 🌟 

   Joseph didn't minimize what his brothers did. He didn't pretend it didn't hurt. He didn't say it was okay.He said it was God. "God sent me here ahead of you."

   And I realize now, looking back over my own life, that God didn't waste a single year. Not the year I went. Not the year I quit. Not the 22 years I lived under the weight of shame and silence. Not the fear. Not the criticism. Not the chains. God was doing something I couldn't see yet.

The call never left.

It was just buried for a season.

   Joseph stayed faithful when it would've been easier to grow bitter. He kept serving when no one was watching.And when the moment came when he finally stood face to face with the ones who hurt him, he chose freedom over revenge.

   I want that kind of freedom.The kind that looks at the past and says, You don't get to define me anymore. The kind that can finally say, God sent me here. The kind that understands that pits don't cancel promises, they prepare you for them. I want that for you too. 

   So today I'm gonna be extra grateful and aware, as I walk around this school, at my job that I love...everything I've been through led me to here..God went before me, he prepared me for this and im so thankful that he did. He's preparing you for something too...

Love Pastor Mandy (Bible school Drop out 😀)

Ark of Hope Ministry 

Daily reading Genesis 44-46