Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
Joshua 1:9
![]() Some days ago I watched a movie entitled “I am Potential.” It’s the true story of Patrick Henry Hughes, who was born with a rare genetic disorder that left him without eyes as well as physically disabled. His parents were heartbroken when they were made aware of his condition but they didn’t love him any less. He was fitted with glass eyes and learned to move around in a wheelchair. As a baby, one day his father, a musician, realized that he was drawn to music and as he grew older, his father introduced him to the piano where he learned to play from memory. He learned to move around on his own in his wheelchair and was determined to do as much as he could for himself. He was independent and had been taught by his parents to focus on his abilities instead of on his inabilities. He became a gifted musician, went to regular high school and university and graduated magna cum laude. He was even a member of a marching band. His father would push his wheelchair keeping in step with the other marchers as they did their formations while Patrick would play his trumpet. He did not allow his handicap to stop him from doing and accomplishing great things. But what caught my attention was his determination and his choice to focus on what he could do. Once when he suffered an accident that left his leg in a cast for eight weeks. He had to face the reality that it made it difficult for him to reach the piano. Yet instead of giving in to discouragement he simply decided to switch to another instrument, the trumpet. As he reminded his parents, they had taught him not to focus on his disabilities but on his abilities. If nothing else caught my attention in this movie, that statement did. When life hits us and sometimes hits us hard, it can be so easy to focus on the negative; what we can’t or shouldn’t do because it’s too hard, too impossible. We may even tell ourselves that we don’t have it in us. But what if we do have it in us? When Patrick’s accident put him in the position to not be able to play piano for a while, his immediate response was “What am I going to do now?” He felt stumped, stuck, as if the wind had been knocked out of him and he couldn’t move. But the interesting thing is that that accident and its outcome was exactly what God used to remind him to put into practice what he knew. He was faced with another “disability,” but he had been taught to focus on his “abilities.” And what was his ability? To play a musical instrument. So, if he couldn’t play one instrument, he would simply switch to another, and he did. We have a lot more in us than we realize. I think that God has equipped us with so much more than we are able to see sometimes. We get so stuck on the one thing we think we are good at, that sometimes God just has to get us to tap into the other things that may be there, even if He has to allow a negative situation to occur to help us realize it. I think once again of David. He was a shepherd tending his father’s sheep. That seemed to be all he was capable of doing. No one took notice of him, he seemed insignificant. Yet, he was God’s chosen king for Israel. After being anointed as the new king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13), the Philistine, Goliath, challenged the army of Israel. Israel was facing certain defeat. Yet, this negative situation was exactly what God used to bring David to the forefront, to show that he was more than just an insignificant shepherd (1 Samuel 17). He was also a warrior who, when he became king, successfully led his people Israel in many battles against their enemies. But it took a Goliath to help David and Israel see David’s ability, that God had deposited much more in him than any of them realised! Patrick didn’t just learn to play the trumpet. Thanks to him tapping into his abilities, he qualified to join a high school marching band! God had something bigger for him than just playing a trumpet. Our view of ourselves can be so limited that we can miss the bigger things God wants to do in and through us. I look back at my own life and I remember when I felt as if doors of opportunity to minister God’s Word were being closed on me. It so turned out that those doors needed to be closed because that was how this blog and other opportunities for ministry were born. At the time, it felt discouraging, but I didn’t know that God was trying to point me to other platforms from which I could share the Gospel. I truly thank God for those shut doors because they gave way to other open doors that I needed to step through. What seemed like a disappointment turned out to be a great appointment by God! Whatever challenge or disappointment you may be facing today, remember that it just may be a set up by God. As His child, no challenge that comes your way will ever be able to defeat you but appoint you to something greater. So, as Patrick learned, don’t focus on your disabilities but on your abilities and keep your eyes open for the opportunities that God may be sending your way! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Saviour, I advise you to do so now. Allow God to take charge of your life and to do great things in and through you no matter what comes your way.
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![]() Admittedly, I can’t leave the story of Joseph just yet. Different ideas are coming out of his story for me and I can’t help but share them with you. We have already established that Joseph had a tough life. He underwent unfair treatment that he didn’t deserve yet God’s favour did not cease to be upon him no matter what trial he faced. I am sure that while he was going through, he didn’t feel very favoured many times but he was. We too, face the same challenge. We go through so many things at times that we can’t see or feel God’s favour on us. It seems as if we are facing one bad break after the next to the point where we wonder if God is even there. But recently, God helped me to truly understand that He is very much there. We may feel as if He is only there when things are going good, but guess what, He is most certainly there when things are not. Think about it. The absence of negative in our lives doesn’t mean we are more favoured or that He is present only at those times. In fact, God helped me to realize that He is very much there even in the presence of negative circumstances, and that they don’t scare Him away, they can’t push Him away. In fact, even though we can’t feel Him, His presence gives us the strength to go through what we are going through. It gives us the supernatural ability to make it through the fire – even if we get burned! But back to Joseph. I thought of the reality that he had been sent to prison because Potiphar’s wife had falsely accused him of rape. After experiencing a season of favour it seemed that the favour had come to an end ... or had it? In jail, the favour of God manifested again when the keeper of the prison put him in charge of all the men in the prison (Genesis 39:21-22). God’s favour had not disappeared just because he had a bad break. In fact, his position had changed from one of honor to dishonor, yet God’s favour was still upon him. Think about it. No matter where Joseph went and what he faced God’s favour upon his life remained and caused him to always find favour even in negative, humiliating situations. Sometimes our challenges may seem to suggest that God’s favour has departed from us. Others may look at us and believe, like Job’s friends, that something must be wrong with us. Sometimes that may be the case because of sin, but that it isn’t always the case. As children of God, just because we face discouraging situations doesn’t necessarily mean that God has abandoned us even if at times it feels like that. God’s favour is still there and we know it because what we are going through doesn’t and cannot actually destroy us, God won’t allow it. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says that “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.” We may not be able to stop trouble from coming our way, but we can trust that God and His favour will be right there sustaining and keeping us through every challenge. Something else about Joseph’s story caught my attention that I had never noticed before. Joseph had been sent to jail because of a rape accusation. When he left prison his name had not been cleared! Joseph wasn’t released from prison because he had served the time for his crime. He wasn’t released because they discovered that he was in fact innocent and should be released. Joseph was released because he was able to interpret a dream. I prefer, however, to phrase it like this: Joseph was released from prison because it was time to step into his purpose, God’s purpose for his life! It therefore didn’t matter whether he had a prison record, whether or not his name had been cleared, it was God’s time for him to step into his purpose and nothing, not even a bad name, or a prison record could stop God’s purpose from being fulfilled in his life at that time. God’s favour had not left him! I don’t know what you may be facing. It may seem so hopeless, you may have even lost sight of your dreams, your hopes, your vision for your life. Maybe what God has spoken to you has become a distant memory in the face of all that you have been dealing with and it no longer seems as if it will ever happen. If Joseph could be released from prison with a bad name and reputation to become Pharaoh’s right-hand man because the timing was right, it means that when it is God’s time for you, no matter the chains or negative stigma, or impossible situation you might be in, God’s purpose for your life will be fulfilled! Joseph’s prison record could not stop him from fulfilling God’s purpose for him, neither will your impossible challenge stop God from fulfilling His purpose for you!!! You are favoured by God! If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior, I encourage you to do so now. God wants to be a part of your life to favour you and sustain you in good and bad situations; when you do right and especially when you mess up; when it’s your fault and when it isn’t. As His child, His thoughts towards you will always be for good not evil; His plans will always be to prosper not harm you (Jeremiah 29:11). God keeps His end of the bargain even when we don’t and does what He can to draw us back to Him when we fail. I am so glad to have a God like that in my life. Wouldn’t you want the same for your life? ![]() I feel led to continue with the story of Joseph. Last week I looked at the reality that God was even more interested in what He wanted to develop in Joseph’s character than in actually fulfilling his dream. His process may have been long and difficult but the final result was worth it in the end. I want to look at this story however, from another angle. God had a place prepared for His people, Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. Interestingly, Jacob and his family had actually arrived at Canaan and had already settled there. Then, rivalry and jealousy among his children caused one of his youngest sons, Joseph, to be sold into slavery in Egypt, taking him out of the Promised Land. When God reunited them several years later, Joseph, after several years of slavery, had miraculously risen to the position of Pharaoh’s right-hand man. But why? God wasn’t just interested in taking Joseph out of his pit-like situation to the proverbial “palace” so that the dream he had many years before would become a reality. In fact, Joseph himself revealed God’s true purpose for all he had suffered: “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life...to preserve a posterity for you in the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:5, 7). God had an even bigger picture than the one He had given Joseph! It wasn’t about making him great but about using him to deliver his family during a worldwide famine. God’s ways are truly higher than ours and are therefore, not easy to figure out. No one but God knew that that famine was coming, but God did. And He orchestrated everything to make a way of escape and safety for His people to ensure they did not die out because of the famine. The thought comes to my mind that we truly need to trust God. We have heard many times that when we can’t trace God we should simply trust Him. That is so true. There was no way for Joseph or his family to know that all the evil that had befallen him would actually work out not just for his good but for the good of the entire family. But it did. And think about it. God provided a safe place for the children of Israel among a people who considered shepherds an abomination (Genesis 46:33-34). Yet, God protected and preserved them there for many years. And a few hundred years later when it was time for Him to return them to Canaan, the land He had promised would be theirs, He knew it would be difficult for them to leave their comfort zone, so, what did He do? He made it uncomfortable for them by causing the Egyptians to treat them so harshly that when Moses came on the scene in the book of Exodus they were willing to leave to return to the same land He had taken them out of. It’s pretty much a waste of time trying to figure God out. It really is about making the choice to trust Him especially when you can’t trace Him, when what He is doing in your life doesn’t make sense. He gives you a dream but then the journey to the dream is fraught with mishaps, challenges, detours, derailment and at times uncertainty. I think God just wants us to learn to trust Him every step of the way. I saw a saying recently from an unknown author, which reads, “Focus on the step in front of you, not the whole staircase.” We are so accustomed to looking at the entire staircase and may become discouraged with how long or how difficult it may seem. But many times God just wants us to focus on one step at a time. You see, each step gives us the opportunity to work on some area in our lives that needs it. In this way, by the time we have completed the staircase, we are ready and mature enough to embrace the good God has in store for us at the end of it. Even as I write this, I am realizing that about my own life. I would love to be able to move from point A to point B without a problem but then I would not acquire the valuable nuggets needed to develop my character. Last week I said that God is more interested in developing our character than He is in giving us the dream He promised. Jesus rightly said it is better to put new wine into new bottles than into old ones because the old bottles would not be able to handle it and they would burst (Mark 2:22). God wants us to be ready and able to receive and to enjoy all He has for us. He is not just leading us to our final destination to embrace a dream but He is using the process to create a vessel of worth, a vessel of honor, fit for its Master’s use. If you have not asked Jesus Christ to come into your life I invite you to do so now. Life is already so filled with challenges and uncertainty. Wouldn't it be nice to have a Master Guide who will lead you safely and securely through every challenge and difficulty and at the end of the journey ensure that you are equipped and ready to embrace all the good He has for you? Don't wait, make that step now! ![]() We love to say that God moves in mysterious ways and that is so true! As I think on the story of Joseph, it wasn’t just a story of a man going from the pit to the palace, as we like to put it but a story of God making a way for His people’s salvation. Imagine, God sent Joseph to enemy territory, Egypt, where he prepared him for promotion. Nothing about Joseph’s rise to promotion made sense. In fact, everything about what he went through seemed to point to failure, defeat, dashed dreams and hopes and plain hopelessness and despair. I think that sounds pretty much like many of our own stories sometimes, and we can’t seem to see an end to the drama in sight. Picture it. God gives Joseph a dream and he feels happy I’m sure – like many of us would – as he anticipates a life of greatness. What he doesn’t know and can’t, is that the journey to the realization of that dream will be a difficult, painful one. Maybe, if he knew what he would have to go through, he might not have embraced his dream so wholeheartedly. Yet, his story is simply a reflection of many of our stories, in that, God gives us a dream, we feel elated that God would want to do something so wonderful in our lives, we can see it, we can feel it ... until the journey begins and all the horrors and disappointments hit us and we find ourselves losing sight of the dream. I’m sure Joseph lost sight of his dream. After all, how could his family bow down to him as he saw in his dream if he had been ripped away from them and found himself in a foreign land where they would not even be able to find him? It’s at these times that God seems to make no sense. His ways seem impossible to trace and you wonder if you had heard or seen right in the first place. Yet, during his journey, God was right there all along. Even when Joseph could not see it, God was there orchestrating every success, every downfall, because he was preparing him for his dream. He didn’t like the journey, he didn’t trust the process because nothing about what he was going through seemed to be leading him towards his dream. Yet, God in His sovereignty, didn’t show him the journey to the dream, just the end of the journey. Sometimes, I think, we have to keep our eyes on what we know God has promised us even when nothing around us seems to be leading us to where we think we should be. We have heard that we need to trust the process and that is so true. I think that God was preparing Joseph to be the kind of leader HE wanted him to be. He wasn’t interested in just making his family bow down to him, he was interested in making him a compassionate, wise, humble, excellent leader and he wants to do the same with us. Maybe He just gives us a glimpse of the ending to motivate us and to keep us focused, especially when the journey gets tough and even painful and we feel like giving up. Maybe the dream in itself isn’t the important thing but what He wants to develop in us along the way. Joseph’s dream finally came to pass but by that time he was humble, forgiving, wise and fully equipped to handle the task that Pharaoh had entrusted to him. Had his dream come to pass sooner, he may have been full of pride, arrogant, foolish and not ready to handle such an awesome responsibility. When you hear me say over and over again that I thank God for the negative situations in my life, it is because, in retrospect, I have seen the hand of God in those difficult times as He has used them to mould and shape me into the person He wants me to be. It is never a pleasant experience, but the fruit of the Spirit that is being developed in us will always be worth it in the end. In fact, I think we are able to appreciate the dream more and appreciate even more the One who gave us the dream in the first place because He is more interested in developing beauty in us so that our journey becomes a testimony that points many others to Him. The realization of the dream can be a great testimony, but at the end of the day, the journey to that dream may turn out to be a greater page-turner, an even greater testimony and motivation to someone who is going to read your story. So, trust the process, because it may turn out to be even more powerful than the dream at the end of your story. If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior please make the time to do so now. Whatever God’s plans for your life, whatever dream He has for you, the journey, the process can be even more rewarding simply because God is in it with you. |
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February 2025
AuthorThis blog provides inspirational nuggets inspired by the Word of God and serves to encourage and motivate Christians in their Christian walk. |