TRUST THE PROCESS

GENESIS 37 (TPT)

The Story of Joseph

1-2This is the story of the family of Jacob, who had settled in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived as an immigrant. 

Jacob’s son Joseph was seventeen, and he served his older half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah, helping them watch over the flocks. One day Joseph went to his father with a bad report about their behavior. 

3Now Israel’s love for Joseph surpassed that for his other sons because he was born to him in his old age.

Familiar story, I assume. Hello my precious faves, how are you doing? It's really been a while, and a lot has happened, but you never left my thoughts and prayers. This year is still a great year, no matter what. The joy of the Lord will always be our strength.

Today, we are discussing the process of making. For those of you familiar with my other blog, "LEEZIE'S SNUG ROOM", we discussed the challenges of puberty and adolescence. One of those challenges is finding purpose. A lot of questions flood every teenager's heart at every step; Who am I? What am I here for? What am I supposed to be doing now? Asking these questions and being confused at this stage are normal, because adolescence is the rehearsal for adulthood. 

Joseph was a seventeen year old, in a very large household. He lived with his mother,  stepmother, eleven brothers, one sister, two house helps who were also baby-mamas. Very complicated background, if you ask me. He was the second to the last son, and I'm sure, on some levels, his achievements could have been insignificant at that stage. But it is very significant to us today. 

As a teenager, he might not have figured out God's divine assignment for him, but Joseph learned to do what was expected of him as a child in a Jewish household, and also as a child of God. He knew quite early, that even though he didn't have a picture of what the rest of his life would look like, a life of service and integrity were non-negotiable. He served his parents consistently, and was upright in all his dealings. The Bible records that he used to report the wrongdoings of his brothers to his father. A clear conscience was his priority.

This brings us to the conversation on purpose. There are two levels of purpose; the general and specific. General purpose is the realm that links all believers into one big family. Here, we have same purpose and passion, same foundation, and same direction. This can be found in Ecclesiastes 12 vs 13(GNB), "After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for."  This means we are all called to a life of reverence and obedience, total service and dependence on God. This is what helps us maintain a unified identity as God's children. At this stage, whatever you end up doing with the rest of your life, you still have a foundation rooted in reverence and obedience to God. This was the code Joseph cracked that charted the course for the rest of his life.

So, while you ask your valid questions about the now and the future, make sure you have your general purpose locked in. It was from the realm of general purpose that Joseph soared. As we read on, we discover that the rest of Joseph's life still depended on his decisions as a teenager, to be a person of integrity and service. This brings me to the question; the choices and principles you live by, can they sustain your specific purpose? I need you to understand that, the person you are, is the same person you will bring to the office, family, ministry, business and politics. I ask again; can your choices and principles sustain your specific purpose? That's a question ever teenager will have to answer.

So while you wait on God to give you the full picture of where He is taking you to, live each day in total submission and dependence on Him. He knows exactly what He is doing, and His plan is always better and bigger. Remember the potter working on the clay in the picture above? All the clay ever needs to do is to be clay; be flexible. Take the shape the potter is asking of you. The finished product will justify the whole process. Just be clay.

In our next edition, we will talk about specific purpose still with Joseph as a case study. Until then, just be clay. God's got you 🤗🤗🤗 

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