“The Process”, part 2: Joseph

This has been in the making for a while long time and I have to apologize for the delay in continuing from part 1. SO sorry to leave you hangin’ like that; I actually have a personal disdain for unnecessary suspense!  But since I want to be sure that I do justice to each example, I’m going to dedicate a post to each one; so this has morphed into a kinda-sorta series in its own respect.

Soooo, enough with the small talk—let’s get into ‘The Process’ in action!

Joseph:

Yup, that dude—with the coat of many colors, who could interpret dreams, who became the ‘savior’ of Egypt and surrounding lands­—went through ‘the process’. His life story is an inspiration to many as we see his transformation from boy shepherd, to lowly slave, to inmate in a foreign prison, to governor of the most powerful country of the world at that time; or as the catchphrase goes ‘from the pit to the palace’.

Without re-hashing his whole life story, let’s zero-in on his gift/blessing/anointing and how God used that to set him up. Joseph’s first two prophetic dreams, when shared with his family, ultimately led his brothers to almost take him out. That’s kinda harsh considering that he didn’t ask for the dreams, but God determined that Joseph’s ability to have—and later to interpret—dreams would be necessary to save the world as they knew it. This could only come to fruition once Joseph was processed accordingly.

The specific purpose that God had in mind for Joseph required him to be a good steward shrewd manager, so his process involved two specific situations to build that particular skill set. First, as a slave in Potiphar’s house, he rose up through the ranks to become the estate manager. Second, Joseph entered the king’s prison as a regular inmate but in a matter of time, he was runnin’ the joint—literally! Of course, these were harrowing ordeals in and of themselves but there was plenty of other drama along the way: the wife of Joseph’s boss accusing him of rape, being forgotten after interpreting the dreams of two ‘distinguished’ inmates, and I’m sure all kinds of other stuff went down that didn’t make it into the final draft of the Bible. Yet, while his ‘training’ was gained under extreme duress, the Bible lets us know that God always had Joseph's back.

Fast-forward two full years to when Joseph is standing before Pharaoh as the newly-appointed governor of Egypt. He was able to interpret both of the king's dreams and ultimately save the land from starvation (including his brothers who wanted him dead)...

• because the winebearer remembered that Joseph interpreted his dream in prison;
• because he was the prison warden's assistant;
• because he was imprisoned for a false accusation of rape by his master's wife;
• because his work ethic as a slave was so outstanding that his master named him estate manager;
• because he was sold into slavery by his brothers;
• because God anointed him with two prophetic dreams as a teen.

This series of [un?]fortunate events represented the process of transforming Joseph into the person that God destined for him to be. While seemingly cruel and unusual in the natural world, the supernatural agenda of his life was structured in such a way that he would be taken to the far edge of his sanity and back--more than once. But each excruciating situation represented a hurdle that, once passed, added exponential value to Joseph's knowledge, strength, faith, wisdom and leadership ability.

The 'funny' thing about the process, though, is that when you're in the middle of it, you are absolutely clueless about what's going on. I'm willing to bet that young Joseph was scared to death and often questioned the God he clung to for dear life. But on the other side of all his blood, sweat and tears, I could definitely imagine him saying to his brothers (or at least thinking), 

"How ya like me now?!" 

#winning

 OK, OK, that was me, but this is what he really said:

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵ And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. ⁶ For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

 ⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.  [Genesis 45:4-8 New International Version (NIV); emphasis added by me]

Be blessed (especially if you're in the midst of your process)!
pVI

P.S. Stay tuned for part 3!

The Process, part 1

* originally inspired on 3/27/11 *

I was at the beach on President’s Day this year, after not having been there for what seemed like forever.  Anyone who has grown up or spent considerable time living in the Caribbean—or near any body of water—understands that being in and around the water becomes a natural part of your life.  So try to keep this in mind as I describe the following scenario.

The beach was crowded with families that day since it was a holiday, and lots of children were frolicking around.  Amidst the background noise, there was one particular sound that caught my ear: a screaming baby.  Turning in the direction of the cries, I saw a woman in the water near the shore with a toddler—not yet two years old—sitting in a floatation device like a life ring, but with a seat for the baby that had holes for its legs to go through.  Unfortunately for the child, this toy was anything but amusing. Tears streamed down his face as he was crying for dear life and trying crawl out of the floater seat and into the security of his mother’s arms. However, she was calm and firmly held the shrieking baby in the device as he thrashed about.

I’m sure some of you are reading this in absolute horror, but I smiled as I saw the scene unfolding.  In fact, on a beach full of people, NO ONE showed alarm or concern.  This is simply because we all surmised that at a similar point in our lives, we had endured the same ordeal; some probably became great swimmers because of it.

This illustration brought me to a revelation that the Holy Spirit shared with me that day: it’s all about THE PROCESS!  Every single believer goes through [at the very least] one harrowing ordeal that God oversees in order for us to develop a particular skill or learn a specific lesson.  We can envision the Lord as that mother on the beach: hating to see their child struggling through a terrified state of fear and panic, but knowing that this experience was a ‘necessary evil’ in that child’s best interest.  After all, it would be an injustice to that child to have them grow up on an island being afraid of the ocean! In the same way, God would be doing us a disservice to leave us exposed to the supernatural forces that exist without preparing us on a spiritual level.

More meat was added to this spiritual meal at a Bible study I attended this week. The pastor’s topic was on the importance of building a relationship with God beyond the initial connection we receive once we become born-again. He likened it to a relationship that a man has with a child that is biologically his, but with whom there is no emotional father/son bond. They [may] know each other’s names and of each other’s existence, but nothing else is there to substantiate a connection of love and trust.  Once we decide to pursue a relationship with our heavenly Father, it also means that we [should] allow Him to lead us in the direction of His choice—because we understand that He, like any other loving parent, has our best interest at heart.

If you aren’t a parent, let’s assume that you’ve had some of your own. How many times have you heard [said or thought] something like, “You may not understand it now, but this is for your own good”.  And you’re thinking, “That’s a load of crap! It’s parentspeak for ‘You're doing this just because I’m your child and there’s nothing I can do about it!’” Truth is, you really didn’t understand what in the world was going on at the time, but you knew that you felt confused, maybe hurt or even angry.  Going back to my illustration of the baby at the beach, if I could narrate the internal monologue Look Who’s Talking-style, it would sound like: MAMAAAA, why are you doing this to meeeee?!?! I’m scared as all get-out of this stuff and you’re keeping me in it on purpose?!?!! I thought you loved me mom??!! 

But since I’m not one to rely on [just] my own interpretation of what the Holy Spirit shares with me, let’s flow into some examples from the Bible, shall we? 


*To be continued in "The Process, part 2*

"prayer" IS the prayer of my heart

Lately, my prayer life has been, how should I put it? Ummm... a mess.  To be honest with myself, and you, AND God, I would have to say that my conscious desire to pray was gone. Yes, I can hear you gasping but the fact of the matter is that I've been going through a "valley" experience--known to most as "the Process" (more to come on that soon)--for a while now, and this realization basically took me to the lowest point of it. The scary part is that I was more bothered by the fact that I was supposed to miss talking to God than actually missing it. Basically, my mind was saying "Girl, aren't you a child of God? Isn't Jesus your Savior, anymore? Well, why aren't you acting like it?! You KNOW you're supposed to pray without ceasing!" [1 Thes. 5:17]; but my flesh was saying "Why bother? You're not hearing from God, anyway... Just 'go through the motions' but don't expect any miracles."

My friends, THAT is a scary place to be--mentally AND spiritually--especially for one who professes faith in Christ. I was feeling the general descent impacting other areas of my life over several months, but having that internal conversation really shook me up. Over this period of time, I did ask God to give me [back] the desire to pray but the gravity of the situation didn't take effect until the beginning of this week.  I stayed home from church with the intention of spending time alone with God because there are some times when I just can't be around people. I didn't want any noise or distractions--just me and my Creator.

That's when my eyes landed on a book that sat dusty and unused among all the others: Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer by Dr. Myles Munroe.  When I cracked the cover, I saw my mom's handwriting showing the year 2004--that's when we were supposed to go through it together but I never finished. But I started it again that Sunday morning with renewed fervor.  I am now on a "suicide mission" to reach my God-given prayer potential--I'm gonna get it this time around, even if it kills me [figuratively speaking, of course... too much prayer ain't neva killed nobody!]

Photo credit to http://www.blackchristianbookcompany.com

I'm still on chapter 1 but I'm progressing slowly, yet surely. It's a great feeling to be back on track towards that intimate communion we have been offered by God, Himself! I'm asking for your prayers as I continue on this journey towards salvation--and take you along for the ride through this blog! 

In the meantime, I stumbled on a song in Pandora that captured me the first time I heard it--More Than Anything by Joann Rosario Condrey. What enticed me first was the music, then Joann's vocal flow on top of it. But it wasn't until today when I had it on steady repeat for about 30 minutes, that I realized this was actually a psalm; by MY definition - a prayer set to music. And this morning, I made this psalm my heart's prayer as I resolve to rebuild intimacy with Jesus.  

Selah.
pVI

 

Belated birthday thankfulness

My birthday is this month. As a gift to myself, I told myself that I would start a 'journal of thanks'. It would be a running chronicle of every blessing that I am thankful for; most likely there would be some back-dated entries to cover past major blessings. It's been almost a week and I have yet to crack the cover of the journal to write a word... but today I started a blog instead. Go figure.

My birthday was fairly quiet. No big bash or anything like that. But my mother did surprise me--she got me real good! She and I were supposed to go out for breakfast because I took the day off, but she somehow got a few others take time from work to make it.  I was sincerely shocked--and thankful--by the gesture.


So had I actually created my journal of thanks as I originally planned to, this would definitely have been the first entry. It's not the first time my mom has done a birthday surprise for me, but I asked her to make it the last. Not because I didn't appreciate her efforts--Lord knows I did--but because I truly intended to have a 'mellow' birthday.

Two years prior, I had a birthday dinner with 4 of my 6 closest friends and we had a blast. But things have now come to the point where I have been separated, geographically or emotionally, from almost everyone in that circle. It sucks, really, but I'm thinking that's all part of "the process" that God has for me. Why? Does God want His children to be anti-social? I don't think so. But as I've been pondering how others in the Bible have been "processed", a pattern definitely emerges in the form of a season of isolation.


Wow... I really didn't plan to delve into "the process" just yet as I'm still finishing that write-up in the cut. But I guess that's the magic of blogging. Have no fear--I hate suspense so I won't keep you in it either. My post on the process will be next up.


Stay blessed!
pVI