I’ll bet you’re familiar with the story of Joseph from the Old Testament. He is the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons and his dad’s favorite. His brothers are jealous of Joseph and come up with a great idea: kill him. But instead, they end up selling him into slavery. Joseph’s life is then pretty much one big adventure, taking him from slavery to prison to the high courts of the Egyptian Pharaoh and to the precipice of power. He saves his family from starvation (along with the entire kingdom of Egypt) and ultimately reunites with–and forgives–his brothers. (Hmmm, I think this would make a great movie . . .) Joseph lived what might be termed the “unexpected life.” And that might be a huge understatement.
How many of us are living “unexpected lives?” I have a friend that lost her husband to cancer when her youngest child was three. She raised five kids without a husband. I know quite a lot of families who had a child born with autism, a heart condition, or other disability, who had to vastly change their expectations of what their life would be like. Who expected a pandemic? Many people expect they will marry and have a family, but they don’t. How many people ended up in Sidney, Montana (a place they had never heard of) for jobs in the oil field during the last oil boom? I’m fairly certain that we all experience unexpected events that turn our lives upside down and force us to go in totally different directions from our original plans.
In every situation Joseph was in, he found a way to make things better. In Potiphar’s house, he went from being a slave to running the entire household and managing all of Potiphar’s property. When Joseph was sent to prison, the keeper put him in charge of all the other prisoners. When he successfully interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, he was put in charge of all of Egypt. Joseph was the ultimate maker of lemonade from lemons. And through all of these tragic and unexpected events (none of which were Joseph’s fault), he did not curse God, become bitter, or blame others. He followed God and kept his faith, and ultimately, after thirteen years of not-so-great times, his story ends well.
There are great lessons for us in Joseph’s life. One is that we can learn to adjust, blossom, and grow anywhere, given time and determination. We can learn to make the best of bad situations. I have a very good friend who was desperately unhappy when she first moved to Sidney. She had moved from a bigger city with lots of activities, events, and shopping to eastern Montana, where there are more cows than people. Her family was far away, she had recently had a baby, she knew no one, and felt very alone. Her mom told her to stop feeling sorry for herself and find someone to serve. She did that and it changed her life, as well as her attitude about being in a small rural community. She definitely grew where she was planted.
When we have faith, God can turn what we might consider negatives into positives. In Philippians 4:13 Paul counsels, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Christ can give us the grit, attitude, and determination to get through the unexpected turns in our lives and come out better on the other side. It doesn’t happen in an instant. Unexpected events often leave us grieving for the life left behind and cultivating very different hopes for our future. I think most of us, once we’ve adjusted and worked through these unexpected events, would not want to remove them from our lives, as these are often the situations that make us kinder, more empathetic parents, spouses, and friends We are forced (sometimes kicking and screaming) to grow and mature, and to deepen our faith in Him who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Christ becomes our sure foundation to rebuild a different–and better–future.
Kristine Gifford is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
