Elevation with Steven Furtick - With God There’s Always A Meanwhile (Lysa TerKeurst)

Episode Date: February 2, 2025

When life feels discouraging, it’s easy to wonder how God is at work. But even in the midst of pain and rejection, God is preparing you for something greater. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: ele.vc/tIepfr Scripture References:Genesis 50, verse 20Genesis 37, verses 2-4, 18-20Genesis 39, verses 2-4, 6-7Genesis 40, verses 14-15Genesis 41, verses 1, 14-16, 39-40, 50-52See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Our key passage today is going to be Genesis 50-20. Genesis 50-20 says this, you intended to harm me. but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done the saving of many lives. Thank you, Lord, for this word. Thank you that it can get down inside of us, rearrange some thoughts that we have, motivate us to trust you more.

God, you are faithful, you are good. In your holy name we pray. And everyone said, amen. When I read this verse, I am absolutely struck by this reality. This person, this group, this entity, you intended to harm me. At the same time, God also has an intention.

And God's intention is to take whatever has happened and to use it for good for the saving of many lives. You see, with God, there's, always two things happening at the same time. There is the physical reality of what we see, and there is the certainty of the good that God is eventually going to do no matter what we walk through. Amen. Amen. You guys can have a seat. I thought I would start off today by showing you some pictures of my family. My family has changed quite a bit, grown quite a bit, and so since you guys are such an important part. I wanted to go ahead and throw up some pictures here. Okay, so this picture is my

whole family, and many of you know my story. I walked through a really, really devastating divorce many years ago, and in God's goodness, and to my amazement, I learned to trust again, and that was really hard. But God brought an incredible man into my life. And so in January of last year, we got married. And so there's my family. I know. Now, I want to tell you something really fun. So this is my husband Chas. He's right here on the front row. Hey, babe. So when Chas and I were getting together and learning about one another, I quickly learned he has two children. I have five children. Okay, so I just want you to help me do the math here.

No, I have five children. His two children are younger than mine, and so at this point, it's just two children. I have five children who are a little bit older. Four of my five kids are married. One has a significant girlfriend. So when you add all of that up, now I'm bringing 10 people to the table, right?

I also had three grandkids at the time, so now I'm bringing how many? 13 people to the table. Okay. And then in 2024, after we were married, but very shortly, something miraculous and beautiful started happening, I had five grandchildren born last year alone. Okay. So now I'm bringing how many people to the table? 18. And he rings two. So between the two of us, we have 20 people. Okay, great. All right, I want to show you a couple other pictures really quickly. Okay. So,

These are my three grandchildren that I started off with at our wedding. And that's Susie, Selena, and Riser, precious, amazing gifts from God. And then my son had twins born in February. That's Legend and London. And today is their birthday. First birthday, happy birthday, legend in London. Okay. And then my daughter had sweet little Windsor L, who is in the middle.

We call her Winnie. and then my youngest or my oldest daughter and my middle daughter had little boys in November, and their names are River and Percy. So that's my clan, right? So it's very, very easy, though, to look at those pictures of us all smiling and just go, wow, what a neat family, right? and I am so blessed. I think I do have a really neat family,

but make no mistake. My family's been through a lot, a lot. I don't have to tell you that because I would imagine, in your own way, and different circumstances that have happened, your family has been through a lot too. Because there's really no one that gets through this life unscathed, right?

And part of a big part of my story was that I'd had my trust so broken, so shattered, that I started transferring the trust issues I had with another person and even other people. I started transferring those trust issues into my relationship with God. Trust is the oxygen of all human relationships. You starve a relationship of trust and you starve at a vibrancy, you possibly even starve it to death. And what can so easily happen, when we are struggling in trust with another human, is it can start to feel like,

God, if you are really good, why aren't you fixing that situation? Why aren't you showing that person that they shouldn't be doing this? Why aren't you taking care of things that you could prevent, and I don't understand why you didn't prevent it? And it can really start to mess you up. You see, our brain is wired for the confidence of knowing.

Our brain is always scanning what we see. And we are depending on our brain to say, you're safe or you're not safe, right? And so as my brain sometimes scans what I'm seeing, if I don't remember that what I'm seeing is not the full story, then I can start to judge whether or not God is faithful based on the circumstances that are right in front of me. So we've got to find a different way.

to look at what we're facing. I want to know what's going to happen. I want to know how it's going to turn out, and I want to know that it will eventually be really good. God just wants me to know him. God wants me to know him and his faithfulness and his goodness. Part of my morning prayer that I pray every morning, you've probably heard me say this before.

I intentionally verbalize out loud, God, you are good. God, you are good to me. And God, you are good at being God. Even if people aren't good, circumstances aren't good, finances aren't good, situations aren't good. But God, I've got to approach every day. And I've got to make the lens through which I look at my day and all that I'll face today.

God, you are good. You are good to me. And you are good at being God. but sometimes, right? That's all true. We can celebrate that, yes, absolutely. But sometimes it's really, really hard to trust that God really does have it all under control when suddenly situations go from hard to more hard to even harder to more hard to more hard to more hard.

And I don't know if any of you guys have been. that place or if you're in that place today. But I pray that this is a word for you. You see, this verse, Genesis 50, 20, it's not where Joseph's life starts. Joseph is saying these words to his brother, but this is toward the very end of his story or to a place of this story where things were more resolved than they are when we begin. And so Joseph has gone through a lot. And going through a lot has built a resilience in Joseph that has enabled him to say these words with absolute confidence. You intended to harm me, brothers, but God intends it for good, for the saving of many lives, to accomplish a purpose

that is now being done. So let's turn back to earlier in Joseph's. story because I think when we turned back earlier in Joseph's story, we're going to get a better understanding of all that Joseph had to go through before he said those amazing words. We go back to Genesis 37. And in Genesis 37 verse 2, it says this. This is the account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending his flocks with his brothers, the sons of Hardward and the sons of another hard word. His father. wives. And he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel, this is the father, Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he'd been born to him in his old age

and he made an ornate robe for him. And when his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word. to him. Now let me explain something here about this robe. This was not just a lavish gift. It was also an outward sign that Joseph was not going to have to work hard or as hard like his other brothers. Because you don't put on an ornate robe and go out into the fields and do the kind of work that all of his brothers were doing. So when Joseph would put on this fancy robe, How do you think the brothers felt day after day after day? It wasn't just that they hated him the day that he got the gift.

It's that they hated him every other day that they had to go out into the fields. And Joe, Joseph, is sitting at home just chilling in he fancy rope, right? Now, the other dynamic that's happening here is that the father, when he would send his sons out to work, Sometimes he would send Joseph out to go and spy on the brothers. And so what's happened here is that he is going out and he is spying on their brothers, and he brings the father back a bad report. And so they hated him and literally could not speak a kind word to him. Now the next thing we see here is that Joseph starts to have a dream.

and basically he has two dreams, and these dreams that he has basically is kind of showing the brothers that Joseph believes the interpretation of this dream is that one day he's going to rise up and be their leader, and they're all going to bow down to him. Now, he's saying this to brothers who already hate him. So how do you think the brothers feel when Joseph says, eventually I'm about to be the boss of all you people, right? They hate him even more. there comes a day that the father sends the brothers out to go and work. And again, says to Joseph, go out and check on your brothers. So I just want you to remember this is a human dynamic happening in a very divine story. Okay. These people have real feelings. They have real angst. They have real

stuff that's happening all around them. So the brothers go out and they're out in the field working. And from a distance, they see Joseph coming. Where in he fancy robe? I don't know what he'd been doing at home. Maybe he was playing Nintendo, eating Cheetos, looking his cheesy fingers. I don't know. But what I do know is the brothers were not doing that.

The brothers were out there working. And from a distance, Genesis 3718, the brothers see Joseph. It says, but they saw him in the distance. And before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. there's never just a little bit of anger. There's never just a little bit of hatred. There's never just a little bit of bitterness. You see, bitterness gets down inside of us and it doesn't want to just be a feeling.

It wants to be our consuming feeling. Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other. Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams. And then one of the other brothers speaks up and says, actually what will it profit us if we kill him? Why don't we sell him and at least we'll get money? And so their plan was to throw Joseph in the cister, in which that absolutely happens. And then wait for the merchants to come by and then they pull him out of the cister and they sell him to merchants headed toward Egypt. And they go home and they tell their father that a ferocious animal has killed Joseph. They take that fancy robe.

They stripped off of Joseph before they sold him. They tear it into shreds, dip it in animals' blood, give it to the father. So the father has no clue that Joseph is still alive. So I want you to, for just a minute, put yourself in Joseph's shoes when his brothers betray him in such a horrific way. This isn't just an event in his life. This is the event of his life that will change everything for Joseph. So here's Joseph.

He's been sold, and I don't know the condition of these merchants, what the condition they put Joseph in. I don't know if his hands are bound. I don't know if there's a bag of his head. I don't know. But what I do know is that Joseph had to be terrified. Joseph had to be terrified. And also, Joseph had to be thinking about those dreams that he had that he truly felt like revisions from God that one day he was going to rise up and be a leader. But now, now, he's a slave. And he's headed to a foreign land with foreign people, things that he doesn't know. And if I were Joseph, I would surely be thinking, God, this sure doesn't look like that vision that you gave me.

for my life. How could a good God let this happen? Like if I were Joseph, I would assume I would be sent to some leadership academy, some big training. I would have had no idea that this awful circumstance would eventually prove to be the perfect training. But it doesn't start out looking that way at all. So there's two things happening simultaneously right here. God has destined Joseph to be a leader. But in the circumstances that he was in with his brother and the hatred that his brothers had for him, do you think that anytime soon in that dynamic that Joseph could really rise up and be a leader? Absolutely not. So God is going to take the rejection of those brothers and actually use it. God didn't cause it, but God is going to take it. He's going to take the

rejection of the brothers and actually use it as a protection of the calling that he is absolutely placed on Joseph's life. But Joseph doesn't see that at all. All Joseph sees is what's awful around him. And of course, that's all he sees. So then Joseph gets to Egypt and he's sold into Potipher's house, captain of the guard. And when he sold into Potipers' house, things are not great because Joseph's life doesn't look anything like he thought it was going to look, but things aren't horrible either. If we look at Genesis 39, I'll go ahead and read you starting in verse two. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master, Potiphar. And when his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found

favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Is Joseph in the ideal situation that he assumed that he would be in when God given the vision that he would be a leader? Oh no, absolutely not. And I would imagine many of us are in this in-between place right now too. It's like we had a hope, we had a dream. We have really trusted God. But then we're sitting there thinking, me trusting God has gotten me to this place and I don't understand this place. But at the same time, we can see in Joseph's story that God is with him, that God is prospering him, that God is helping Potiphar to get a vision for Joseph that Joseph doesn't even have for himself.

And so Joseph rises up and now he is a leader, not leading the way he assumed he would be leading, but he is a leader in this small dynamic of Potipher's house. Now, there is this one complication that's sort of going to mess everything up for him in Potipher's house. And you're not going to believe me when I say it. That's why I have my scripture prepared. Then I'm going to back it up, okay? So are you ready for this?

The complication was that Joseph was hot. I know. I know. I told you. You were not going to believe me. But I'm going to read it straight from God's word. Genesis 39 halfway through verse 6, and it says, Now Joseph was well-built and handsome.

I do not have to take it back to the Hebrew to understand that that means Joseph was in fact, thank you. Okay. I'm just reading the Bible. Okay. So Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while, his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, come to bed with me. I'm sorry, but what?

Like, if I ever had five words in the Bible, which I won't because God's word is complete. But if I ever did have five words in the Bible, I just probably don't ever want it to be those five words, right? So she starts making advances toward Joseph. Now, this is Joseph's boss's wife, right? And she won't stop. Joseph says no, and she doesn't take kindly to being told no. And so she keeps trying and keeps trying. And one day she literally throws himself onto Joseph.

Joseph turns to flee away from her. She grabs his cloak, takes it to Potipher, and says Joseph has been making advances toward me. And who is Potiphar going to believe? His wife. That's right. So now Joseph is about to get a promotion, but it is not going to look like any kind of promotion Joseph ever thought that he would ever have. He's about to get promoted to prison. That's right. Now, I want you notice what's happening here. With God, there's always a meanwhile. With God, there is always a meanwhile. There is the physical reality of what we see and what we're experiencing. And at the same time, there is the reality of what God is doing and God is arranging and God is really taking care of what we cannot see. So it started out the rejection of Joseph's brother.

actually proved to be a protection of his calling. He gets into Potipher's house, and Potipher promotes him to be a leader. Now he's leading, he's learning leadership strategies and all of that. Not at all the way he thought it would, but still, it was a protection of his calling. Now Joseph's about to get a promotion to prison, but that is not what Joseph is seeing at all. Joseph is seeing an unfair accusation, and God is going to use that unfair accusation to give him a promotion to prison. You see, once he gets to prison, the prison guard takes notice of Joseph. And the Lord's favor was on Joseph.

So now Joseph is in prison. And he's in charge of leading a much larger group of people. He's learning leadership skills in a much larger way. And he's having developed systems and strategies and all things that leaders need to know. But at the same time, he's still going to bed in a dungeon. every night. So what is Joseph seeing? Joseph is seeing those present circumstances, the hardship, and how unfair it is that he is there. But God is seeing a development, a preparation, a vision that he's going to carry out, and it's not just going to be for Joseph's good. It's going to be for the good

of so many other people. So now Joseph is in prison. And while he's in prison, he meets two other prisoners, the cup bear and the baker. Now, the cut bear and the baker, they're in prison. They used to work for Pharaoh, but something happened, and now they're in prison. And these two, the cup bear and the baker, they have a dream. And who can interpret dreams? Joseph, that's right. And so Joseph is able to interpret their dreams.

Now, things don't go so well for the baker. it's actually kind of gross what happens and terrible, but I'll let you read that on your own in your leisure time. But I am going to tell you what happens with the cup bear. The cup bear has a dream, and Joseph interprets the dream and says in three days, you're going to get out. And I want you to listen to the words that Joseph says to the cup bear

so that you can have a deep insight of exactly what Joseph was thinking at this time. Genesis 40, verse 14. Joseph says to the cupbearer, when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness, mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here, I've done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. This is such a good snapshot where we can see. Is Joseph happy with his current circumstances? No. Is Joseph thinking that his current circumstances are going to work an eventual good? Probably not, right?

Is Joseph, does he have any clue of how God is going to use this circumstance to do something really good in the future? Probably not, right? Because his circumstances were so hard, he was calling them a dungeon. Get me out of this dungeon. Joseph wants relief. Joseph wants relief. How many of you in here? You don't have to raise your hand, but are you in a season?

or you just need some relief. When I'm in that place, I love to think of this story. And I literally will say to myself, I don't know the whole story of my life. That's why it builds my fate to get into God's word and read someone else's story who I can read from beginning to end. And I'm telling you sometimes when I go through a hard time,

can I just be absolutely human with you? for a minute. Sometimes when I'm going through a hard time, the last thing I feel like doing is picking up the Bible. The last thing I feel like doing is going to church. I don't know why, but I just get so physically exhausted that it becomes spiritually discouraged. And if I don't catch it, I'll become spiritually disillusioned. when we want to read the Bible the least is often when we absolutely need to read it the most, right? Amen. So here's what Joseph does. He asks the cup bear to please mention to him. When you get out of this prison, cup bear, and you're going to get out soon. When you get out, please go mention me to Pharaoh and get me out. And get me out.

of this prison. I should not be here. Give Pharaoh a good word. Now again, I don't know for sure because I'm not Joseph, but I'm just going to tell you something based on my own human experience of what can happen to me when I start assuming that I know what a good God should do. I start attaching my hope on what I assume a good God should do. But then if God does not follow my plan, I start to get super agitated, super frustrated, and even sometimes doubtful. Why isn't God doing what I assume a good God should do? I have a plan, and then I'm trying to hold God accountable to the plan of my own making. When I get this situation, it's just like what Joseph is facing.

When you get out of prison, cut bear, mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of prison. So if I'm Joseph, I have developed my plan, and I just want to hold God accountable. Like, this is the plan, this is what the plan should be, don't you see, it'll make you look good, God, the whole nine yards, right? Because what we don't trust, we will try to control. What we don't trust, we will try to control. Surely, God, this is the plan. So imagine being Joseph. Now Joseph is in prison, and the cup bear gets out.

And if I'm Joseph, I'm like, yes, ma'am. Sam, I am. He is going to get me out of this prison. And so the cup bear gets released and day one shows us like, yes, anytime now. Day two, day three, day four, maybe the paperwork's taken a little while. Day five, day six, day seven, day 100, 200, 300, 300, 300, 600, 600, 600, what do you think is happening inside of a human heart that is attached their outcome to something that they suggested to God rather than trusting God. What do you think is happening in Joseph's heart? If it was me, if it was me, this is where that discouragement and disillusionment starts to happen right here. The scriptures say, when two full years had passed, Genesis 41, two full years, y'all, two full years, y'all two years.

is a really long time. It's a really long time when you're looking at your circumstances and your circumstances don't at all feel fair. Your circumstances at all don't look good. Your circumstances at all don't look like how could anything positive ever come out of so much negative? When two full years had passed, Pharaoh has a dream. And suddenly, the cup bear is like, should have had a V8. I know you young people don't understand. understand that, but I'm just telling you, if you know, you know, right? Okay, so the cup bearer is like, oh man, I totally forgot. I totally forgot. There's this Hebrew man in prison that can interpret dreams. Nobody else was able to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, and so they go and Pharaoh calls for

Joseph. Look at what it says in Genesis 41.14. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought up from that dungeon. Because when it is God's time, it's the right time, it becomes quick time. Okay? So, Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon, and when he shaved and changed his clothes, and hopefully put on some deodorant, he came before Pharaoh. And so here he is, right here, and this is his big moment. This is his big moment. This is the opportunity that Joseph has been waiting for, All he has to say is, yes, Fah, I can interpret your dreams. And then surely, Fairo will let him go. But this is how I know that all throughout Joseph's story, God has been developing his character to match his calling.

When we first read about Joseph and God gives him a vision, he couldn't wait to brag to his brothers. But now I want you to see the humility that Joseph puts on display Pharaoh says to Joseph Verse 15, I had a dream and no one can interpret it, but I've heard it said of you that you can interpret it.

And Joseph says, I cannot do it. I cannot do it. Joseph replied to Pharaoh. But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. I cannot interpret the dream, but my God surely can.

Do you see the difference of how Joseph's character had been developed to match his calling, and I'm telling you, God has had to do a lot of development in my character in order for me to be prepared and not be crushed by my calling. So then Joseph interprets the dream, and basically what he says to Pharaoh is there's going to be seven years of plenty, and during those seven years of plenty, you need to store up

because behind those seven years is going to be seven years of famine. and if you don't want your people to starve, you've got to get some systems in place to save up the food. Pharaoh replies back to Joseph, verse 39. Pharaoh says to Joseph, since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. Where did Joseph get that wisdom from?

God, but also how did he develop the discernment to tap into the wisdom of God? it was when he had to go through the rejection of his brothers. And when he was in Potipher's house and had the accusation of what Potipar's wife accused him of. And when he got his promotion to prison, you see, with God, there's always a meanwhile. Joseph just sees hard stuff. God is seeing a preparation in play. And Pharaoh sees it and calls it out, since God has made all this known to you.

There is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. In an instant, Joseph goes from being a forgotten prisoner, going to sleep every night in a dungeon, to suddenly becoming the second most powerful man in Egypt, possibly all the world. But God. with God, there is always a meanwhile. There's always a meanwhile. There's a meanwhile in my life. There's the physical reality of what I see. And then simultaneously, there is what God is doing in your life.

There is the physical reality of what you see simultaneously. There's also what God is doing. Now look what happens. Exactly as Joseph had interpreted, the famine eventually comes. There is seven years of plenty. There is seven years of famine. And eventually that famine reaches all the way to where the brothers are in their homeland with their father. And the father says, hey, I hear Egypt has some food. So you need to go. So he sends some of the brothers to Egypt to get food. And who is in charge of the food storage. Joseph. Now the brothers don't recognize Joseph, how could they, how could they? They could have never fathomed where Joseph was today. And at first, Joseph doesn't recognize them, but eventually Joseph does. And then Joseph has to make the

excruciating choice to forgive or to not forgive. And the story takes twists and turns, but it eventually lands at Genesis 50-20, where Joseph says to his brothers, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Now, let me ask you this question.

If Joseph had gotten out of prison when he begged God for relief, because that's what Joseph wanted. Remember it? The cup barrier and all the stuff, right? If God had listened to Joseph's plan and let him out of prison, he would have never had an audience with Pharaoh. But in God's timing, in God's way, eventually Joseph has an audience with Pharaoh, and it was crucial for Joseph to have an audience with Pharaoh. Otherwise, he would have been let out of prison, and that would have been the end of the story. And think of the number of people who would have perished. I don't understand the dynamics of exactly how this is going to apply to your life, exactly how it applies to my life, but I'm telling you, I have seen this at play. I think some of you probably know that in 2017,

that was the first time that I really thought there's no way that my marriage at the time was going to make it. And we had been in counseling for 18 months, and things were seemingly getting better, and I was finally starting to have hope that my family was going to be put back together. And then after 18 months of all that work, the rug got ripped right out from underneath me,

and I realized things were not at all like I thought they were. I was devastated. I was devastated. beyond what I could probably even describe for you. And I just remember thinking, God, I don't understand. I really don't understand how we could be at this place. I thought I was at the finish line.

I haven't even crossed the starting line. So during that summer that I took off in 2017, I couldn't work, I couldn't do ministry. I was just having a hard time doing anything. but I decided to go and make all the appointments that I needed to make that normally I put off because I'm so busy all the time. And so, you know, I did the teeth cleaning thing, you know, all those. But I also, though it was not time yet, I also went ahead and went and had a mammogram done. It's not time. And when I went and they ran that test and then some more tests, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

And my first thought was, how could a good God let this happen to? I was at a low place, you know. But then, as the diagnosis unfolded, the doctor told me something that arrested my thought spiral. God said, or the doctor said, it is it's a miracle that you came in to have this mammogram early because we've caught it early enough to where you can have a dumbusectomy and you're going to be okay so let me ask you a question was my marriage falling apart again the absolute worst thing that could have happened or was it

the worst thing but also something god was using to create the best thing of saving my life, right? With God, there is always a meanwhile. Now, let me say this loud and clear, especially after the tragedies that we have witnessed this week. I cannot wrap my brain around some of that. There are going to be some things that never, ever make sense to us. And that's where we just have to leave room for the mystery of God.

But there are other things. that if we will trust God with the hardship we see and feel right now, over time, we will eventually, with some things in our life, be able to look back and say, my God, my God, look at what you did. I couldn't see it in the moment. But that's why God makes a big deal in the Bible about the practice of remembrance. Go back. When you're in a situation right now and you're, You cannot possibly see how God is going to work this out. Go back and start tracing the hand of God's faithfulness in those times that you can look back now and you can see. I didn't see it at the time, but I see it now.

I didn't see it at the time, but I see it now. I didn't see it at the time. I see it now. I didn't see it at this time, but I see it now. With God, there is always a meanwhile. There is always a mean. I want to show you one more thing in Scripture because, wow, this really caught my attention.

When God had arranged all of this for Joseph, and Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh, before the years of famine came, scripture say in Genesis 41, verse 50, before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by again, Hard Word, another hard word, the priest of hard word, okay, all that stuff, okay? So basically, two sons were born to Joseph. Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh, which means, and he said, it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and my father's household.

The second son, he named Ephraim, and he said, and he said, he said, it's because God made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. Now, when I was first reading this at first glance, I said, have mercy. Joseph named his two sons, forgetful and fruitful. I mean, how'd that work out when they went to school? Like, hi, I'm forgetful. It's my brother fruitful, you know? I don't know. This is what happens to me when I read the Bible sometimes, y'all. I just can't help myself. But as I took a step back, I started to realize, Joseph wasn't just naming his sons. Joseph was making a declaration. A declaration. You see that first, it says, it's because God has made me forget my trouble and all my father's household. The word forget

here is nashah in the original language. That doesn't mean it didn't come to his memory, like forget in that way. Nasha means to make an intentional choice to leave some things behind. That's what he named his first son. And then his second son, he named Ephraim, because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. Right here, right now, before I understand everything, I'm going to choose to plant my roots, trust my God, and produce fruit right here, right? With God, there's truly always, meanwhile. If you're physically able, I'm going to ask you to please stand. I want to read something over to you. You know, when I was going through those years of having no clue how my future was going to work out, and honestly, there's still some things.

Like, some things about my life are really awesome. And even just this week, I got some more hard news that, man, I just thought, am I really going to be able to get up and preach that message? Like, how much do you believe this message? least. How much do you believe it? Right? And I wrestled. And I truly thought about calling chunks back and just saying, like, I don't know if I can do this. But Genesis 50-20 says, you intended to harm me. God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. And if this message was for you today, God has already. God has already

doing that. He's already taken what has been so confusing and hard for me to process. And he's using it for good right here, right now. If only, I will choose to leave some things behind. I will choose to plant roots in the land of my suffering and produce fruit and come and preach this message to you today. God is going to use it for good in the saving some lives, right? Amen. One time I was wrestling and sometimes when I wrestle with my thoughts, it's usually at the 2 a.m. hour. Such a complicated time of night, right? 2 a.m. is too late to call your late friends, too early to call your early friends. So what's you supposed to do, you know? And the Lord has certainly taught me to turn my thoughts to him. But I process life also through writing

stuff out. So one night I was in my bed at 2 a.m. confused and hurting. And I picked up my journal and I put my pen to those pages and I wrote this. I wrote it as a declaration over myself at the time, but I pray it's a sweet encouragement for you. Being brave is not always something you feel. It's something you do. You do it in the same. the face of fear and unknown outcomes and risk you really don't want to take. You do it when your enemy is staring you down with taunting statements of defeat. You do it not to prove there's something great inside of you. You do it because if you don't, something will die inside of you. You do brave, even when you definitely don't feel brave. You do brave things because it's time to rise

up and speak up and let truth find its freedom with your voice. What happened was wrong. Acknowledge it, speak it, cry over it. Don't die over it. You've been hurt, but you don't have to live hurt. You do brave things because you were made to connect, not with all people, but with the right people. Take the right risk. Take it slow, but don't stop. Don't withdraw. Don't disappear. You do brave things, Lisa, because you are a woman who can kneel humbly and rise intentionally. You will find good people and good people will find you. And you'll do brave things until you become brave. You'll know laughter again and you'll know deep in your bones that you will not waste all that you've learned. Those spilled tears, every one of them

helped you let go of the pain to make room for possibility. Your life is not a tragedy. It's a testimony that God is your rock and your redeemer. And if your hands are shaking, let it be only because you're pointing at the devil who picked the wrong girl to mess with this time. Don't wait. Don't wait until you feel brave. Go be brave because if God is with you, nothing, nothing, nothing can stand against you. Thank you for joining us.

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