meant for good

The kids and I have been studying the life of Joseph since we started school this year.

His life: unbelievable.

Can you imagine being hated so much by your siblings, that they scheme about ways for you to die?
Or being treated so horribly by your siblings that they figure out a way to get rid of you: sell you off and tell your dad that you died so he will never come looking for you, leaving no hope of you ever coming home?
Or being a servant in a home where you are given the highest of responsibilities and respect by the head guy in charge only to be lied about by the wife who really just wants to sleep with you, gets mad when you refuse, and you end up in jail?!
Then helping a fellow out while you all are in jail and he forgets to do his part to pass on the good word about you so there you sit, in jail, for years...

What a crappy life!

Years later, when his brothers come to him for help, not realizing it is actually him, it puts him in quite the predicament. These guys plotted to kill him years ago and now they need food?! The perspective that Joseph has can only be God-given because our human nature would most definitely not see the situation the same way:

He reveals himself to his brothers and tells them not to be distressed or angry with themselves for selling him because it was to save lives that God sent him ahead of them. And even goes so far as to say that it wasn't them who sent him there, but  it was God so that he could save their lives by a great deliverance!

Ummm....wow!

I've had some not-so-wonderful things happen in my life. There have been a number of times when life felt horrible. But my brothers never tried to sell me (as far as I know, anyway!) and my brothers never plotted to try to kill me (pretty sure about that one)! And I haven't been sold from my family to a far away country.

But I'll tell you what: even with my "minor life struggles" (which actually felt/feel pretty huge sometimes), it has taken a lot to bring about a perspective that is even slightly in line with Joseph's.

But what I'm realizing about the tough stuff (although sometimes it comes with pain) is that God means it for good. Whatever I have been through in life, God has always meant it for good. Maybe not the actual anxiety disorders or deaths of people that I love or extremely difficult parenting moments or relationship issues, but the outcomes and the changes and the lives affected because of what I have been through - this is where the good comes. I might not always understand it at the time, but I see it in hindsight.

The future looks a bit scary to me. My kids are growing up in this crazy, ridiculous world and I can only hope and pray that I am preparing them for it. I've also learned that death can be right around the corner for the people I love. And that tragedy can strike at any moment. And I'm not prepared for any of it.

But I am walking alongside a God who is prepared for it. He is prepared to hold me up and to bring about whatever good He is capable of bringing out of the horribleness (which is immeasurable amounts of good because, well, because He's God.)

So I can either choose to live in resentment for the tough stuff of life, or I can look for the good that has come out of the difficulties.

I choose to look for the good.
(But sometimes I need a reminder to do so!)

KC