Have you ever thought about writing out your future story? Maybe you have not written it but thought about what you would like your life to be like later in life. Those pages and thoughts would be full of great stories, adventures, love, and accomplishments. However, life doesn’t usually get written that way.
Everyone of us has a story, two, or years of stories that we would not have written into our story. Some of those stories are a result of choices we made or friends we spent time with. Others were things that happened to us. Some of those stories led to resentment towards someone or a group of people. Others led to deep regret which is resentment turned inward. Again there is no way we would have written that into our story.
Joseph (Not Jesus dad) was born into a family of 11 other brothers from 4 mothers and one dad. Joseph was born into a family where the wifes and brothers fought for Jacob’s attention, affection and position. In the midst of this Joseph starts having dreams from God about being put in position over his dad and older brothers. Like many young men he shares this dream and his brothers hate him for it.
The brothers conspire to kill him but don’t want the guilt of his death. So they sell him into slavery to the Egyptians. I am sure that was not apart of Joseph’s dream. However in slavery, he is loved by his master. Then his master’s wife offers herself to him, he refuses. She becomes angry and accuses him of rape. So Joseph goes to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.
In jail, he is loved by the warden and is put in charge of the whole prison. In prison, he meets some people who have some dreams. Joseph interpreted those dreams. One person who got an interpretation, goes to work for pharaoh. However, he is forgotten.
His story changes when pharaoh has a dream and the man remembers Joseph can interpret dreams. That day he is brought before pharaoh and impresses pharaoh so much he is made 2nd in command of all Egypt. Later his brothers show up and Joseph confronts them.
Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
Joseph was able to look through the mess of his life and see God was able to use it. He even sounds grateful for it. He was able to see past his pain and hurt. What about you? What part of your story do you wish wasn’t there? What would happen if you invited Holy Spirit to heal and forgive? What if God could use even the darkest stories to reveal His great light?
I challenge you right now to pray and ask God to highlight one moment from your past, and ask Him to heal, forgive, and use it for for His glory. I want to let you know doing this does hurt, often very deeply. But when you watch God use that story to help someone else it will all be worth it!
Recklessly, obsessively following Jesus
Brandon Sereg
