Learning From Joseph

This past summer at Eastview Church we studied the life of Joseph. I have grown up hearing this story yet I found that I was completely enthralled and wanted to read and know the story more. I found Charles Swindol's, "Joseph" in the church library to supplement my learning.
One of the things that struck me was Joseph's trust in God. Very early in his life in Egypt his life openly showed that God was with him. Whether he was a slave, a promoted slave, a prisoner, a promoted prisoner or a leader in the land, his life showed devotion to God through the way he behaved and spoke and interacted with people. People saw God was with him and named that providence in his life.

As I am navigating through this particular time in my life, Joseph's example and God's clear plan in every part of Joseph's life, the good, bad and ugly, is such an encouragement to me and an assurance I yearn for.

I remember hearing an illustration in a sermon at a young age where the preacher said, "It doesn't matter if you are shovelling manurer, do it in such a way and with such an attitude that God is honoured."

Not every season of life is going to be filled with things that the world promises; beauty, health, wealth, romance, happiness and success. In fact, even though I get side-tracked at times, that isn't even the point. Being God filled and bringing glory to Him in my life situation is the point.

So how is it that I can live out this God honouring attitude? Not just for certain times but for every time? I find such hope in being preemptive and planning with God, through use of scripture, to fight a particular area of weakness. Like using Matthew 6:25-34 to fight worry tendencies. But I want more! What if my desire is to be in the presence of God at all times? How can I be in continual prayer about the ways of God? How can I love Him in EVERYTHING and obey Him in EVERYTHING - the Colossians 3:17 way.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I mean EVERYTHING - like when your imaginations run away on you, when you are doing very mundane things, when you are responding to a rather meaningless conversation that your children are having? When you are overtired and just going through the motions? Crisis situations almost seem easier - because you know instantly that they are beyond you.

I am reminded that this desire and this discipline is one that grows over time - over a lifetime. That it does start with specific areas like worry and then grows to include other areas as God examines and points them out.

I am also reminded to pray more. To bow in reverence and in need to God's sovereignty more.

Finally but not lastly, I am directed to scripture, the one true and lasting Word from God we are given to help us know Him more.

As I am focusing on my next steps in this area. The passage that came to me is from the Joseph story in Genesis near the end of Joseph's life as he is talking with his brothers.

But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?" You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Genesis 50:19 - 20 (also see Genesis 45:5)

Joseph is humble and has given all the accolades to God in the matter of judgment and advancement of purpose. He is a willing player in the game and speaks with reassurance and kindness (Gen.50:21). These verses remind me that who God is and the ways of God are to be meditated on. Practising giving God the credit is paramount. Joseph openly lived his life for God when he was being seduced by Potipher's wife and when he was faced with forgiving his brothers as well as many other occasions. God's intentions were at the forefront of his actions and his words and therefore must have been in his imaginations.

When I was in grade school the Sutera Twins came and did a week long revival in our church. I don't remember much of the spoken content but was really captured by one thought that they shared. When making a commitment to Christ they impressed upon us the importance of practising a thankful heart. They stressed that one should be verbally thankful to God for 3 days taking time to thank God for anything and everything. I don't believe there was anything magical about the number 3 but that they were trying to help develop a habit.

What if I made it a habit to thank God for the mundane? What if I acknowledged that what I was doing at that moment was part of His plan to shape me into the creation He intended? What if the moment wasn't just something to get through but was an opportunity for growth - for knowing God more? What if every encounter I had was what God had planned for such a time as that!

That sounds both purposeful and fulfilling!

Summer Camping

Decisions about Fall scheduling seems to be making its way into our our lives these days. We have been deciding on extra-curricular activities, picking up school supplies and talking about what is in store for each of us this Fall. Dave and I learned early as parents that back to school was one of the hardest seasons for us to face as a family. It is hard because we love the lazy days of summer, we love the activities of the season, we love travelling (even if it isn't very far)and we love being together as a family. That makes transition away from all of these things very hard. Our kids have been wired in such a way that they don't want to let go of any of it. Their tendency has been to hang on for dear life and to remember every and any ugly thing they can think of or dream up of regarding school. They do this to try to convince us that they ought to stay home on a permanent basis. So a few years ago we decided to have a celebration of summer. The evening involved a slide show on a big screen, going out for a favourite meal and a sharing time of how God was good to us during this season. We also talked of how God would be with us as we went forward. This freed them up to be excited about seeing their friends, being with their teachers, learning new things, being in routine. It worked incredibly well. On our first ever trial of this we also initiated our family nights once a week so that the kids would know we were committed to them all year. Our time together would just look different.
In light of all of this coming up I have been looking over some of our camping highlights and wanted to share a few with you. (As you can see, the dog also enjoyed our holidays considerably!)

Looking Ahead...

It has been awhile since I have posted. Our family holidays in the first part of August were wonderful and I have taken a bit to get back into some sort of normalcy.

I am excited to share with you that we are going to be studying "Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted" by Priscilla Shirer for our Fall study.




It is a 7 session study with 6 weeks of homework (5 days of homework per week and approximately 30 minutes per day).

Below is a link to see a video clip with a brief overview if you are interested. (Bring your cursor to the middle of the video screen and a play button will appear.)

Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted, video clip

I am very excited to go on this journey through God's Word with you. We will let you know more details and sign up information soon.

Happy Birthday Megan!

Today was Megan's Birthday. She is eleven years old! We love celebrating Birthdays and were thrilled that her birthday landed on the holiday Monday this year. She was born on the holiday Monday. Any of you Moms out there will know there are some pretty specific memories attached to the birth date/arrival of your children. Holding Megan and looking out the hospital window, watching little children play in a park across the street on a very sunny day is one of my memories.
Megan was very reluctant in deciding to come into this world. We worked long and hard to get her to join us! I laugh a bit (a very little bit!) at that recollection when connecting her delivery to her character. She definitely plays it safe. She is reluctant. Although that is a detriment in some ways it is definitely a gift in others. She often thinks through her choices quite thoroughly.
Last night as Megan was fighting sleep, we were getting her choice of Birthday meals ready for the day (a tradition of ours I might have shared on an earlier post). The dishes smelled so spicy, so flavourful. Megan has developed a great sense of taste. My Birthday prayer for her is that she will develop that great sense of taste in many areas of her life. That she will taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8). That His Word will be sweeter than honey to her mouth (Psalm 119:103), or spicier than a pickle! Or more exciting than the flavour of a jelly belly bean! Even though life can be hard - as she has discovered over the past year - God is good and what He does is good (Psalm 119:68). His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8) and He uses situations and experiences we wouldn't dream of using for good and refines us as we trust in His goodness for EVERY situation. I pray that she would follow hard after God.
I love Megan and all that she and her siblings have brought to my life.




Yes, you are seeing correctly. Megan is "crying" in this picture. Dave's family has a tradition of singing several Birthday songs and one of them - in beautiful minor harmonies sings "pain and sorrow fill the air, people dying everywhere, happy birthday!"

In case you are wondering, Megan chose Italian soup stew (her favourite ingredients are the spicy sausage, cheese filled tortellini and pickle juice) with sour dough bread for lunch and butter chicken, oven fried rice (I know we are mixing our ethnic foods here but it's all very good together), asparagus and naan bread for supper. For dessert she settled on homemade ice cream sandwiches - brownies with Skor bar ice cream. A real hit - Alexander has already called it for his Birthday.