Hey TTSP tribe,
Happy February 1. I felt this week that I should get on and share with you in real time, some things I'm learning in my life as I'm in the process of "Picking up the Pieces" after a very difficult 2020. If I'm being open, which I try to be on this platform, 2020 was a year of loss. I lost a dear family member, I lost my job, I lost an opportunity to travel to Uganda, I lost a relationship, and I truly lost life as I had known it.
This isn't a pitty party, in fact, looking back I can see a lot of silver linings in a very dark season, and I will be the first to confirm that God is faithful. But that doesn't mean I don't feel all the feelings, and even in 2021 I'm still feeling all the feelings. I have good days, and I have bad.
Some days I want to crawl into a hole and never come out, can anyone relate?
But here's the deal. It is human to feel the feelings: hopelessness, sadness, pain, anger, depression, hurt, betrayal. So yes, I give you permission to feel. We must, we have to.
However, we can't stay there.
Once we start to feel these feelings, we are at such a vulnerable state to allow fear and doubt to creep in. And when that happens, and isn't dealt with, our lives look pretty grim.
Let's take a look at Joseph in the Bible. Put yourself in his shoes (that's empathy by the way, a gift/tool essential to have in this life). Yes, he was a bit cawky. And yes it was probably his arrogance and pride that started off the chain of events: oh you know being sold into slavery to a foreign country, being accused of rape when you actually ran away, being thrown in prison for the rape that you didn't do, and then forgotten by the guy who promised to help get you out.
Yea, I could imagine that Joseph felt all the feelings.
I could imagine Joseph's struggle. I could imagine the hopelessness Joseph must have felt.
But what I love about this story, is we know that God used EVERY season of Joseph's life to help cultivate him into the man God had intended him to be. God doesn't waste a season. God doesn't waste pain.
How do I know this?
Well Joseph's story starts off at "Look at me brothers" as he showed off his beautiful coat to a jealous group of brothers, who yes, then took their jealousy to the extreme. Pretending your brother was murdered by a wild animal when you actually sold him instead is never a good idea.
But when Joseph, after years in prison falsely accused (remember?), was called into Pharaoh's court to interpret Pharaoh's dream, Joseph had grown, he matured. Old Joseph would have responded..."Pharaoh, my man, it is I, Joseph son of Jacob, that interprets dreams and they come to pass, pretty cool right?". Or he could have been bitter Joseph, "Pharaoh, it's about time. Before we get to your dream, let's talk about all the ways I've been wronged..."
But instead we see the "new" Joseph. "Pharaoh, it is not I that interprets dreams but God".
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