Joseph and his dream

Breathe... breathe and be at the feet of Jesus! Today could not be a more appropriate day to launch my new blog and post what God is whispering in my ear and stirring in my heart.  Standing smack dab in the middle of the stress and uncertainty of my child being in the operating room for a major surgery and long recuperation I need to take a deep breath and fill myself with the peace of God...not that easy!

Sooo, how do I start!? Well, this post is a good start and having you, my brothers and sisters, joining me with your prayers, thoughts, encouragement and insight is the icing on the cake! And what girl doesn't like cake?!!!! The next step is to start typing and let the Lord speak to us...you have to breathe if you want to listen, type, and pray at the same time...LOL!

God has given us so much to learn from. He not only gives us a manual filled with instructions He includes in that manual real life experiences and accounts of God's people. Each chapter of the bible is filled with tools for us to find peace in the midst of chaos, anxiety, fear, and disappointment. Help in how to breathe and be. Let's start by taking a look at one of those real life people accounts. A man who really needed to breathe and be. A man that needed to sit at the feet of Jesus and take a deep breath... Joseph.

Joseph was the 11th of 12 sons born to Jacob and his beloved wife Rachel, whom he loved more than all his wives. Because of his great love for Rachel, Joseph was his father's favorite son. Due to the favor that was shown to Joseph, the other brothers in the family were very envious of him. Not just jealous but so jealousy that it turned to hate. At the age of 17 two dreams came to Joseph and he shared the dreams with his beloved father and brothers.  In Joseph’s first dream, he was working in the field binding sheaves of wheat with his brothers. His sheaf stood upright and their sheaves bowed to his. When he told his brothers, they were angry with him. Joseph had a second dream where the sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed to him and he was quick to share this dream with his brothers and his father. After telling his brothers and father, his father questioned him, asking if he and Joseph’s mother along with his brothers would come to bow down to him. While his brothers envied  Joseph, his father noted what Joseph had told him. The animosity, hate, and envy grew to the point the brothers devised a plan to kill Joseph. They were going to kill him and put him in a waterless pit. But Joseph's oldest brother. Reuben, countered and instead of killing him they sold him into slavery for 20 pieces of silver to a caravan that had come along.  

Joseph is now headed to a foreign land as a slave. Quite a change from a favored son in the land that is familiar surrounded by your family. BREATE! As soon as he landed in Egypt he was sold as a servant to the Pharaoh's captain Potiphar. Because of Joseph's great work ethic Potiphar put him in charge of all the household affairs. "The LORD was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master” (Genesis 39:2 ) God had given Joseph administrative and organizational gifts. We see these gifts given by God blooming even though nothing going on in Joseph's life is like the dreams of fields, suns, moons and stars bowing down to him.

And things for Joseph get worse. There arose a situation between Potiphar's wife and Joseph. Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to sleep with her and because of his refusal she falsely accused him of rape and our poor Joseph was thrown into prison. I don't know about you but I wouldn't be able to breathe at all. I would be an all out mess! But there again, those gifts and talents that God had blessed Joseph with were used. While in prison Joseph was interpreting dreams. Pharaoh is now having dreams that his guys cannot interpret and word get back to him about Joseph. He sends for Joseph and has him interpret the dream. Joseph tells him there will be seven years of abundance followed by  seven years of  famine. Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of preparing for the famine. Even though the journey looks different from the one that a young seventeen year old boy had God had given him gifts and talents and put him in a place to use those gifts and bring about God's plan.

As you read on through the story of Joseph we see that God uses him to save thousands of lives in Egypt and the surrounding regions. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt. (Genesis 41:39-41). Joseph was able to be reunited with His family and use his position to save them during the famine.  Joseph also offered them forgiveness and they all lived in Egypt together for the rest of their lives.

This blog is dedicated to helping us navigate the bumps and turns, the disappointments and the failures, the chaos and the uncertainty of life. What can we take from the life of Joseph to help us breathe and be in the arms of God instead of holding our breath and drowning in anxiety, frustration, chaos? One thing that jumps out at me is how long and how many roads it took to get to his original dream. Joseph had a dream when he was just 17. That dream came but it came many, many years later...probably more years later than he would have ever thought. Remember that there is no mistake where God has you. You are where God wants you to be and so go with it, embrace it, praise God for it and seek God peace and provision instead of working against His planting of you..."Whether in plenty or in want" (Philippians 4:6)... Joseph had to be faithful enough to follow God where ever that road took him. Whether tending sheep with his brothers, being  in a pit, riding in a caravan to an unknown region, in the Pharaoh's house, or in prison Joseph remained faithful to God's vision not his own. He followed God in obedience and integrity no matter what..."I can do all things through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13)

And sometimes that only comes after we are broken down, stripped of what is comfortable. There are those times when, like Joseph, he was taken from a pretty good life. A life where he was probably a little spoiled, coddled and privileged to some degree and thrown into the worst of circumstances. Betrayed by his own brothers, sold into slavery, accused of rape, and imprisoned.  When we are taken from what is comfortable we are forced to rely on God. This is vital to our spiritual growth and gives us the opportunity to grow our faith. I am here to tell you that your growth in faith is a lifelong work. It is a day by day, year after year process of changing how we view things, how we let go, and how much control we hand over to Him. But as we work on it our faith becomes deeper, stronger, sweeter...we are able to Breathe when trials, hardships, struggles come our way. We are able to see peace instead of chaos and live a more peaceful life.

I hope that this post helps you take out your bible and read more about Joseph, a wonderful example in the book of Genesis of a man that had faith in God no matter how his dream changed. He was able to breathe, be in the place God placed him and ride out his circumstances doing God's will to fulfill God's vision for him and "the entire land of Egypt".

"My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped." Psalm 17:6