God Walked Into My Bathroom Today

He put His arm around me and we stared at each other in the medicine cabinet mirror a minute. With a toothpaste ring around my mouth and a pink toothbrush sticking outta my face I mumbled "Can't you knock? I'm brushing my teeth ova here!"

Did that really happen to me? Of course not. I'd have to be bat crazy to believe it did. I wouldn't believe anyone who said it did. In fact, I'd probably laugh and snort a few times before asking when the last time was they had a CAT scan. Kenneth Copeland said something similar once except he was shaving at the time. Not disturbed at all by the divine intrusion, he kept right on shaving while he claims Jesus put His arm around him and proceeded to tell him all about how He'd been born again in Hell.

 CBS News

First you gotta wonder...did he even think about what he was going to say before saying it? Even if that was true some things are just better left unsaid. Is this type of thing even possible? In trying to be objective God can do anything He wants. He's God. If He decides to burst into the bathroom on you one day He can do it. Sure it's not something God's ever done to a person and you'd be dead if He did but...

Now let's look at Kenneth Copeland's take on things objectively. Maybe he imagined it and he's the one that's bat crazy. That's very possible. It's also possible he made the entire thing up to deceive people into following him thus sending him their money for that nifty jet he owns. Either God's a liar or Kenneth's a liar. I'm willing to bet it's the latter. But before I throw my kazoos, loose change and favorite pink fuzzy socks in the pot, I want to make sure my "bet" is valid by testing what he said.

Since our standard for judging "revelations/visions/prophecies" is the Bible then that's where I'll go and compare the few who have had intimate meetings with God Himself to Copeland's shaving incident.

Isaiah the Prophet saw God...

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:    'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.'” Isaiah 6:1-5

Isaiah's reaction wasn't one of indifference to where he continued doing what he was doing. His first reaction was utter terror, absolute awe, reverence and pronounced a curse...on himself!

The Apostle John saw Jesus and fell on his face as though dead...

 "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." Revelation 1:17-18

the Prophet Ezekiel saw God...

"This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell face down, and I heard the voice of one speaking" Ezekiel 1:28

The Prophet Daniel saw God... 

 “As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." Daniel 7:9

Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and fell of his horse blinded (Acts 9). Moses saw God, over 1 million Jews saw and heard God, etc. They never saw His face or even saw Him in true form because no one can see God and live. We'd be disintegrated where we stood. But what they were allowed to see and hear was so mind blowing and awesome their response was to fall over as if dead. Who could stand to their feet confronted with the living God?

There are those in the Bible who saw angels and their typical response was to fall down on their faces because the sight was so awesome and terrifying even of just the angels. When Daniel saw an angel he fell over and the angel had to tell him to get to his feet (Daniel 10:6-11)

When John saw an angel he did the same thing and was rebuked by the angel... 

"Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!" Revelation 22:9

Now look at Copeland's experience.  The God of the universe, Jesus Christ walks into his bathroom while he's shaving and there's absolutely no response from Copeland other than to keep shaving. Kenneth Copeland's a liar, deceiver and false prophet as are all the others to claim to have had similar experiences with God. I didn't even address the heresy about Jesus being "born again in hell". I'll have to save that for another time.

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane....

Not exactly. More like a bright red Jeep Wrangler. We're leaving tomorrow morning for a long weekend near Charlevoix. My husband got us a cabin in the woods for some "alone time" from a friend of my father-in-law mostly used for hunting. Sweet, sweet. Since the weekend we got married we haven't had a whole lot with school and work. I'm so excited and even looking forward to the long drive with my honey. The farther north you go the prettier it gets. Lake Michigan is close, there should be wildlife (deer, bear, coyotes, maybe a cougar or two). I'm from the city...a chipmunk is a wildlife attraction for me. I was feeding baby raccoons one summer and thought I was a mountain man.

It's sure to be a lot colder up there than down here but hey...it's got a big claw foot bath tub, real fire place and in the woods. I've already set aside a bunch of blankets to take for a "poofy spot" in front of the fire place. There's a bed of course but unless I can drag it to the fire it'll be poofy spot all the way. Poofy spots are romantic too.

Have a great Spring weekend everyone! I know I will.

Preaching the Gospel Doesn't Constitute Regeneration

I read something recently where someone was defending a heretic because they've preached the Gospel before. In this man's estimation, if a person preaches the Gospel then the suspected heretic must be regenerated. This person's entire premise for their reasoning was based on Jesus' teaching on what comes out of a person makes them unclean...

"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" Matthew 15:11

"Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them."Matthew 15:16-20

Because they were teaching the Gospel, which is good, then the messenger must also be good. First, we have to look at what Jesus was talking about by putting it into context to see if that logic stands up. The reason Jesus said these statements was because Pharisees and teachers of the Law noticed His disciples were eating without having washed their hands first. They were challenging Jesus and His obedience to the Law. Eating with unwashed hands was ceremonially unclean and breaking the Law. Ritual washing of the body preceded many religious functions for Jews. Even today, many (Muslims also) adhere to the ritual cleansing practices before prayer, for fasting, for celebrating certain religious functions, etc.

These men were accusing Jesus of not adhering to the Law that He claimed to uphold, by demanding His disciples adhere to the Law thus trying to discredit Christ with the people. "He claims to be a Jew. He claims to be a Rabbi. He claims to be Messiah and God in the flesh, but He's allowing His own disciples to break the Law."

Jesus turned it around on them by showing them there was nothing that could enter the body that would make them unclean. Man is unclean, unholy and depraved at conception. The body is temporary. It's always in a state of decay from birth and it would return to dust. There was absolutely nothing they could do for themselves to make themselves clean. What they should be afraid of was that which was inside. What's in the heart makes them and all mankind unclean because the heart is deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). No amount of ritual cleansing was going to cleanse that. You can take a leper and wrap them in the finest silk, but it's still just a rotting leper under a pretty cloth whose decomposing flesh will quickly ruin that silk. By adhering to strict Laws they were missing not just the whole point of the Law, but the real issue: what's inside man is filthy and vile and there was nothing that could cleanse that. They could have washed themselves until their skin came off, but inside they were still rotting, defiled corpses in clean whitewashed tombs.

Jesus said...

 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:25-28

With understanding the above a little better does that mean if someone preaches the Gospel they must be one of God's? Absolutely not. Just as Jesus pointed out that not everyone who calls Him "Lord" will enter the kingdom. Saying all the right things is not an indicator. Jesus gave the stipulation...action backing up the mouth. Talk is cheap.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21

Paul also mentioned the type of people who preach the Gospel for reasons and motivations other than seeing man reconciled to God...

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.  The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains" Philippians 1:15-17
"For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:13
 "and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain." 1 Timothy 6:5

Many have the appearance of being godly to all those on the outside, but deny it by how they live. There's many reasons people preach the Gospel, but not always for pure reasons or because they're truly Believers. Just because you're hearing the Gospel means nothing about the person delivering it. God saves in spite of man, not because of man.

There are many people who have good doctrine, who know the truth, but still are not regenerated.

"ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7

They learn, they can follow along with it, they can teach it, but are never able to come to that saving knowledge themselves. Talk is cheap. Jesus said by their fruit we'll know them (Matthew 7:16) not by if they preach the Gospel or not. Anyone can act righteous and say all the right things for a few hours a day or when a camera is turned on them. It's taking what they teach, comparing it to the standard we're to use for testing (Scripture) and  looking for the bearing of fruit in a person. If the teaching is wrong we're to have nothing to do with them. If the fruit is missing we're to have nothing to do with them despite the Gospel they preach.

Mickey Mouse God

Jeff Noblit on the feel good, self esteem, genie in a bottle, hippie, Mickey Mouse idea of God that's rampant in America coming from teachers like Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Priscilla Shrier, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and on and on and on. That's not the God of the Bible. If more than 10% of professing "Christians" in this country read their Bibles regularly they'd know heresy when they heard it, but...

(If you don't know who Jeff Noblit is...he's Paul Washer's Pastor)

Choosing A Mate On Selfishness

Have you chosen a mate because he/she meets your specific criteria? Are you looking for someone who meets all your needs? Are you choosing someone who has a lot in common with you, makes you feel good, is easy to talk to, you have fun with, is beautiful, your family approves of? Those are selfish, self centered reasons. God chooses differently based on completely different reasons...



The purpose of marriage...

Is Kay Arthur More Biblically Sound?

With the truth about Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer's problematic and incorrect handling of Scripture, associations with new agers and mysticists, in a sense, going viral, women are now wondering about Kay Arthur. I did the "Deeper Still" study that was taught by Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer and Kay Arthur, but until that study I hadn't heard of Kay Arthur. To be honest, I haven't done anymore of her studies or even looked closely at her....yet.

Recently I was asked my opinion about Kay Arthur by someone that said of the three women, Kay Arthur is the most sound. The person who asked me was also a fan of Beth Moore up until recently. Then she began hearing the rumblings and started looking into it much more closely. She and many others have now left the studies they attended altogether. I understand her concern because I felt it too when the truth began coming out. Women teachers are invaluable to us females...if we had some that taught the truth. I'm sure there are some out there, but because they're not stroking our egos, advocating self esteem and other worldly philosophies or telling us what our itching ears want to hear, they're virtually unknown.

But I can give a correct estimation based on one thing about Kay Arthur even though I haven't looked deeper into her. It doesn't matter how "sound" she is in her teachings. If she's sharing the stage with teachers like Beth Moore, Priscilla Shier and others whose teachings are false then she's in agreement with them. Since Kay Arthur was also involved in the "Be Still" DVD then she must agree with it.

"Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?" Amos 3:3

I was speaking with a Pastor recently who admitted he wasn't thrilled with Rick Warren though his church sometimes used Warren's material, but explained that if he could only choose between someone like Rick Warren and Benny Hinn, he'd definitely go with Rick Warren. My response was "If I have to choose between those two to get the Word I'll take neither."

It's essentially choosing the lesser of two evils and we're never to settle. We live in great apostasy and no matter how much we may like a certain individual, if they're not following Scripture  in doctrine or lifestyle we're to have nothing to do with them. Kay Arthur, if she truly is sound, has thrown her support behind known problematic teachers and practices the Bible calls "evil" thus giving them legitimacy. It's as dangerous and damaging as teaching false doctrine itself.

Unless Kay Arthur comes out, repents and separates herself from all such teachings and teachers she must be avoided as well. That's not my opinion, that's Biblical.

Revival Before the End Or Apostasy?

We hear a lot about a revival coming or that it's currently underway these days. God is always working of course, but should we be expecting a revival?

Often times Joel 2:28 is cited along with Acts 2:17. The problem is these scriptures aren't addressing a specific point in time of the end days. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit is something that started on the day of Pentecost and continues. Up until Christ came the Holy Spirit never indwelt anyone as He does now. We also have to remember that "last days" refers to the time of the Messiah and continues until His return.

The Bible never predicted a great revival in the last days. In fact, it says there would be the exact opposite...a great apostasy/ falling away/rebellion right before the Anti-Christ is revealed.

"Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction," 2 Thessalonians 2:3


The Bible actually predicts a pretty treacherous and dark time before Christ's return that would come to a head during Great Tribulation. Setting the stage for world wide deception doesn't happen over night. Satan's been working at this a long time especially among the religious.


"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

So many insist on following lies in their wickedness because they love their sin so much, therefore, God fully hands them over to a depraved mind and sends them a powerful delusion so they're trapped. This doesn't mean God lies to them for God can't lie. It simply means "you want it, you got it!" They can't even comprehend anymore the right way from the wrong. This is not talking about the world that has continued in a fallen, treacherous state since the fall and progressively grows worse. This is addressing the conditions inside the church.  We can even look to the first 4 chapters of revelation to get an idea of what's happening in the churches in the last days.

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2 timothy 4:3-4

People can't put up with sound biblical teaching anymore. They simply can't handle it and hate those who preach it, stand up for it, teach it and rebuke with it. The people are not victims. They've gathered all these fake teachers themselves.They've actively sought them out. They themselves have turned away from the truth to follow lies and myths that suit their own desires...that tell them exactly what they want to hear. This is rampant now. It's extremely difficult to find a church or preacher that is teaching sound Biblical doctrine and you'll notice when you find them they oversee very small flocks. Most don't want to hear the truth anymore.

These professing "Christians" love unrighteousness so much, they love the world so much that they twist Scripture, change it or completely throw it out to suit their unrighteousness. They claim the Bible must be relevant for our times. They claim what God clearly called sin and abominations before are no longer relevant to us. They want us to believe Jesus just goes with the flow. Christendom is now in a state of apostasy which will not be undone. It's in accordance with how Satan works. Satan has been setting this up and we're seeing it in almost a full blown manifestation now and will be complete when Anti-Christ steps onto the stage.

Historically going back to Christ's own teachings and spread through the early church, it has been taught clearly that the final days of Christendom would be a time of apostasy not revival. The Church would decline until there were very few real believers left and those true believers would be surrounded and outnumbered by a vast number of professing apostate Christians.

Jesus Himself warned that the last days would be a time of great deceit and false prophets. (Matthew 7:15, Matthew 24:11, Matthew 24:24).

Paul even warned that once he was gone savage wolves would enter and not spare the flock (Acts 20:29). 

Peter also gave a warning ( 2 Peter 2:1) As did Jude (Jude 1:4) and Paul (Galatians 2:4, 2 Corinthians 11:13, 1 Timothy 4:1 to name a few). We can even go back to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 6:13, 8:10, 22:17) Isaiah (Isaiah 56:11)

"However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8


If there was going to be a great revival why would Christ ask this? That when He returns will He even find faith? Will there be anyone that's a real believer? That's not to say there won't be, but He is expressing real believers will be far and few between. In fact Paul...when speaking of the end times never mentions any revival. He warned for 3 years things would go from bad to worse...

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people." 2 Timothy 3:1-5 


Does the world in general have a form of godliness? Absolutely not. In fact it wants nothing to do with godliness. Paul is warning about Christendom in the end times. Professing Christians will appear to have godly lives, they will fake it, they will act religious, but it's only outward. He even goes on to explain...

"They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone." 2 Timothy 3:6-9


We also have to remember that God has never had a large remnant of people. In every instance His remnants have always been small. Many are called, but few are chosen - Matthew 22:14. Should we be looking for a revival? No. That doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to pray for others. God is still working in many parts of the world, but in the meantime we're in the time of apostasy. If you have found yourself among professing Christians who follow the deceit of their own hearts and don't follow Scripture then the command is to come out form among them and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17)

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8

 If we know we are in those times what should we be doing? Don't just believe what someone says simply because they profess to be Christian or because they have a large following. If they have a large following that's a red flag that sound Biblical doctrine is not being taught. Instead...

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1

How do we test them? Know the Bible, study it, meditate on it. Compare what you're being told and taught to Scripture. The Bible is the final authority and the Bible is the standard we are to live by and obey. How then ought we to live? Holy. Be holy....


To read about similar subjects... I Never Knew You and Ask For The Ancient Paths

Spring, Houses And Throwing Up

It's been a long winter this year and we've been hit with so many snow storms. Just when we think it's over and we dig ourselves out we get slammed again. It was sunny in the high 60s today and will be again tomorrow. Then again we had nice weather in February only to get another snow storm. I love snow but being buried for 2 months is no fun either. I'm hoping it will hold out for the weekend because...

It's house hunting weekend! I'm so excited even though I don't know what I want. Now is a good time to buy and we've been checking out what's around. A friend of my husband's just bought a house in Orion...87,000 and it's a a 2 year old 240,000 house! If things go that well for us I'll be a happy little camper. We hope to have something by at least early to mid May. We were actually aiming for a mid to late summer move and planned on going on a belated honeymoon this Spring but now that we have the "moosh mooshie" coming (as my husband calls it)..I don't wanna be too pregnant when we move.

Speaking of which I'm sick every day which makes getting up and trying to function not so fun. Having early classes means I'm a disaster in the mornings. Certain smells make me sick too like, garlic, cloves and cardamom. I can't keep them and a few others in the house or be around them whereas before they never bothered me. My husband is a good cook and I love his Persian food but if he starts cooking or we go to his family's homes and I smell it...bad things happen lol. Even leather bothers me! I'm hoping it's temporary. Some say it is, others say it may not be. I can't imagine being like this for the next 7 months. I'm having a really hard time sleeping too when I do fall asleep I get nightmares half the time. I yi yi! I told my husband today "It must be a boy" ha!

Koran Accuracy -Ravi Zacharias Explains

Ravi Zacharias is highly respected among Muslim scholars. He's one of the most sought after speakers not only in the West but even among Muslims in the Middle East.

Joseph - When We Suffer Unfairly

If you're like most of humanity you've probably wondered at some point why your life is the way it is. Why you've suffered for things that really were no fault of your own. Why terrible things have happened to you and were inflicted on you that you had no choice in, no control over, couldn't stop and weren't consequences for bad choices you made. We can't pick our families, we can't choose where we're born or what kind of environment we grow up in.

Usually it's pretty baffling to us. Sometimes we're hit from way out of left field. Sometimes we become accustomed to bad situations that we never expect anything good to happen. And still sometimes things are going great and we make all kinds of plans, looking forward to a bright future when suddenly everything goes right down the tubes for no apparent reason.

The Bible says "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Romans 15:4

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;" 2 Timothy 3:16

Those Scriptures are directing us to look at the people of the past and learn from them. No matter how "great" we see people such as Moses, David, Joshua, Abraham etc, they were really just imperfect people like us. There was nothing special about them that made God choose them. They had many of the same problems we have and suffered in many of the same ways we do. There's reasons why God wanted to show us people like the above with warts and all.

1.To show us that there is no such thing as great people of God, only a great God.
2.To reveal how gracious and merciful He is.
3.To show us He can use anyone.
4.To give us examples for us to learn from. Examples we can relate to.

With that in mind let's take a look at one person who takes center stage from Genesis chapters 37-50. Joseph was the 11th son born to Jacob and Zilpah. He was 17 years old when his 10 brothers tried to kill him, but then opted to sell him into slavery instead. Joseph was a favorite of Jacob because he was born to him in his old age (Genesis 37:2) so there were a lot of years between him and the rest of his brothers except for the youngest, Benjamin.

Joseph was Jacob's informer. While out tending sheep with his brothers, he would bring reports to Jacob about what they were up to. His brothers were already aware that Jacob loved Joseph more so there was a big jealousy issue. Jacob had even made Joseph an ornate robe to wear which fueled the jealousy. Genesis 37: 4 says they hated Joseph and couldn't even say anything nice to him.There was nothing but hostility toward their brother, so much so, they couldn't even pretend to be cordial.

Outside of being a tattle tale, which would just be annoying, there was no reason for his 10 brothers to hate him and want him dead. They were much older than Joseph with families of their own. Compared to them he was a kid, but they took the jealousy, fueled it among themselves into hate and put it in Joseph's lap.

When Joseph went to see his brothers, who were grazing Jacob's flocks in Dothan, they saw him coming in the distance and instantly began plotting to kill him. Except for Reuben the oldest. He was all for throwing him in a cistern, giving him a scare and maybe roughing him up a little (Genesis 37:21). He didn't like Joseph anymore than they did, but he had a little bit more sense about murdering someone.

When Joseph reached them, they stripped him of the special coat Jacob made, roughed him up and threw him in an empty water cistern. Later they sold him to traveling Midianite merchants who later sold Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt as a slave. They then took his ripped ornate robe, slaughtered a goat, put blood on it then took it back to Jacob so he'd think his favorite son had been killed by a wild animal. Problem solved! And they didn't have to kill anyone to accomplish it.

That was pretty bad, but that's not the worst of what Joseph endured. He spent many years as Potiphar's slave in Egypt through no fault of his own and when things were going good for him (about as good as it could get for a slave) he was then thrown into prison when Potiphar's wife accused him of trying to rape her. What possibly saved him from death was Potiphar knew Joseph's integrity and liked him, but he had to do something. Joseph was still just a slave and prison was the only option. He was beaten severely in prison and lived there in conditions we wouldn't even let a dog live in. All this because his brothers were jealous of Jacob's attention on Joseph.

But, by God's grace, help and design, Joseph proved to be intelligent, responsible, full of integrity and trustworthy. Things slowly began to turn around for Joseph and he caught the attention of Pharaoh while in prison. He was given the meaning of Pharaoh's disturbing dreams by God and he interpreted them correctly about a coming famine that God was sending. So Joseph advised Pharaoh to appoint discerning and wise men as commissioners over Egypt to plan and oversee the storing of extra grain from the crops for 7 years because in the 8th year a severe famine would strike. And it happened just as Joseph said. They not only had plenty of food to survive on, but they were also able to sell grain to starving outsiders.

So impressed was Pharaoh, who fully recognized God was with Joseph, he gave that job to Joseph himself. The way Pharaoh saw it was, if God was willing to make things like this known to Joseph then obviously He could further lead the slave with wisdom to handle the preparations to save Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he was put over the land. He became the 2nd most powerful man there in Egypt under Pharaoh. That fast it all changed for him because of God.

In the end Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to buy grain to keep from starving and he was reunited with them. He forgave them for what they had done to him because Joseph recognized that though their actions were absolutely horrific, he told them "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20 

 Joseph didn't deserve what had happened to him. He had no control over the abuse he suffered. He did nothing to cause it. It was totally thrust on him, but God used the evil actions and sin of his brothers and others to save many lives through the victim. That doesn't mean everyone who suffers will one day end up like Joseph, but it does mean God can and will turn it all around and use it for the good of not just us, but our families, friends and others. Nothing is ever in vain. Nothing is meaningless and "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Things may have been bad for you or may still be. Like Joseph you may have many scars from a rough life, but it's not over. If you belong to God...it's just not over. The same God that was "with Joseph" (Genesis 39:2) is also with you. Before any harvest to come later the ground must first be broken. Suffering is a refiner. Suffering is a fire that burns away dross. No one can ascend without the climb. We are to be patient, endure with God's help, remain faithful to God in spite of all things thrown at us and fear God above all situations and people. But not of our own, on our own. He's gives us the ability and strength to do it. It's not over...