Think

I took an unexpected trip over the weekend. We drove 2,000 miles in less than 72 hours. I’ll post about that soon and I have pictures! But anyway…I’m reading a book. I know I say that a lot in my posts, but I read a lot…

I was reading about Joseph, you know, the one in the Bible, with the coat of many colors. His brothers were ticked…they were tired of the favorite son lording everything over their heads. So they did the only thing any jealous sibling would do…they threw him in a pit and left him to die.

The author of this book that I am reading, Beth Moore wrote this: “Had the incident not possessed glorious purpose, God would have disarmed it.” Seriously?

As I read that, I must admit, I questioned it. Is that statement  just about Joseph and his situation, or does it apply to us all? Does it apply to me and the events of my life?

Joseph had something to say about that incident years later, when his brothers, the very ones who left him to die, showed up because they needed help that only he could give: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” This can be found in Genesis 50:20.

Beth Moore shares that the word intended in this verse is the same Hebrew word translated think, as in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Beth states that God thinks of His children continually. His intentions can only be pure. Right. Full of hope. Promoting peace. This gives me much to think on.

All yesterday I was going over all the events and choices of my life. I’ve sort of been here for about a week now, thinking about my many mistakes, taking responsibility for where I am, owning it all…mistakes I made as a teen/young adult, as a wife, as a mother, as a steward of things placed into my keeping. Pretty much feeling like a screw-up, yet knowing that God can take my screw-ups and redeem them…if I let them go. 

So I pick up the book I have been reading but because of my 2,000 mile trek haven’t read it in a few days, and here is what I read, “You keep thinking about how things might have been had that not happened…You have the capacity to be a ten times neater person healed than you would have been just plain well. Your wealth of experience makes you rich. Spend it on hurt people”.

It struck me as interesting, that’s all, that I would read those words on the day of pondering again. Of wondering what I would do differently if given the chance. Not going to happen, I know. Perhaps today I will dwell on these things with a different purpose in mind, to ultimately let God take my screw-ups and use them for a purpose.