There are many moments in life when we will all feel as if the world is against us- losing a job, a break up, someone hurts us, we try to pursue a dream but it doesn’t seems as if we’re making any headway, we get a challenging boss, our church lets us down, family members hurt us, etc. And we all know that life isn’t fair, but often, when it looks like something is being done to us, it’s actually being done for us.

Losing that job might turn out to be the best thing that has happened, to point us in a new direction in life. That person that hurts us could be a wake up call that they shouldn’t be in our lives. And that challenging boss might be just what we need to change jobs or could be someone we can learn from.

I remember when I was in undergrad and one of my history professors was tough on my writing. One time during his office hours he really tore my writing a part and said that I couldn’t think analytically the way that my major required. I already felt low self-esteem about my writing and he made me feel worse. But, in life we really remember the challenging people and situations that cause us to grow- even if their criticisms weren’t constructive. My professor made me work hard to become a better writer, to think more analytically, and strive to improve.

We may not remember what a person said or did, but we will always remember how they made us feel. And how they makes us feel is not always being done to us, but it's being done for us to grow and strengthen us.

What Joseph’s brothers maliciously did to him, by selling him into slavery wasn’t done to him as much as it was done for him. God had a plan, but Joseph needed humbling and it took being imprisoned, enslaved, lied on, hated on by his brothers, and manipulated by a woman who couldn't get her way with him. All of that was done to him to prepare him for the awesome leadership role of being the second in command of all of Egypt. 

Looking at Nehemiah, he needed verbal, manipulative and threatening opposition from the Arabs when he was trying to rebuild Jerusalem's wall. He needed to realize for himself that he was indeed committed to God and he needed to realize that God was with Him all along.

In life's difficult moments with people, let's take a moment to reflect if what seems to be happening to us, may actually indeed be happening for us. May we seek God for clarity on what He's doing in our lives.

Happy Friday xx