Even when it doesn't feel like things are going your way, they can be

​One of my favorite story arcs is the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis in the bible.

Joseph is his father Jacob's favorite son. That doesn't sit well with his brothers. So, they do what any jealous brothers would do, they sell Joseph into slavery and tell their dad his favorite son has been killed by a wild animal.

No more favorite son.

Joseph was eventually sold to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Joseph excelled in his role working for Potiphar and became a prized member of the house. That is, until Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph of trying to seduce her.

So, Joseph goes off to prison.

In prison, Joseph gets a reputation for being able to interpret dreams. There then comes a day when Pharaoh is having troubling dreams and Joseph is summoned back to the house he was kicked out of to interpret them.

Joseph not only interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, predicting seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, but also proposed a plan to store grain during the years of plenty.

Pharaoh was so impressed with Joseph's wisdom that he makes him second in command of Egypt. In that position, Joseph eventually reunites with and forgives his brothers and provides them food that saves them from the very famine Joseph predicted.

This series of events took place over twenty years.

How many times in those twenty years, how many moments could Joseph have decided nothing is going his way?

Many.

The challenge presented to Christians is embracing the reality that when things feel like they aren't going our way, it's entirely possible they are absolutely going God's way.

Our ways are not his ways, and sometimes that sucks.

Sometimes that makes life's direction very difficult to understand, and embrace. And sometimes, that can make us feel like we are in places we can't possibly belong when we are actually sitting in the place where we most belong.

Sometimes, where we are can feel like a signal to give up when it is much more likely a signal to keep going.

We don't keep going because it feels like we're in the right place. We keep going with faith that God is using the place we're in to get us to the right place.

I am writing this because maybe you are like me. Maybe you sometimes feel like, shoot, maybe you EVERY SINGLE DAY feel like, I am in the wrong place.

Nothing is going my way.

I want to encourage you. When you get to feeling like you're in the wrong place, when you find yourself declaring that nothing is going your way, remember this story of Joseph.

Joseph spent twenty years far from the home where he had to feel like he was supposed to be. Joseph was frequently in circumstances where he surely had to believe nothing is going my way.

Still, Joseph kept pressing forward as if he was absolutely in the right place, like EVERYTHING was going his way.

We will never get where Joseph got if we wait to feel like everything is going our way. We will only get there when we trust that everything is going God's way.

When we embrace our calling to go where God is calling us to be, in those moments of that embrace, that's when we can be confident everything is going our way. Even when it doesn't feel that way.

God's ways and our desires aren't always in alignment. Which is why it's always good to pause before deciding:

Nothing is going my way.