Last night, I sat in a friend’s family room. Shoes kicked off, no makeup, kids interrupting kind of conversation. We caught each other up on the past few days, laughing about the chaos of motherhood, when the conversation shifted, as it often does.
She’s the kind of friend you laugh with until your sides ache, but also the one who rolls up her sleeves and climbs into the trenches with you. We’ve weathered so much together these last few years. She stood beside me through some of my deepest losses, even while carrying her own heavy ones.
Four years ago, her husband was diagnosed with cancer. If you’ve ever walked alongside someone in that kind of journey, you know it’s not just the diagnosis but the daily grind of living in the shadow of it. From the outside, she looks like she has it all together. But here’s the truth: neither of us ever got the memo that we had a choice. We don’t get to stay in bed and let life pass us by. We still get up, make breakfast, pay bills, fold laundry, hold our families together, even when our hearts were breaking.
God has Given You the Grace for Today
It’s in moments like these that I think about Joseph. When we picture the heroes of faith, we often think of Paul raising the dead or Peter healing the sick. But for every Paul and Peter, there are a dozen Josephs, steady, faithful men and women whose skills God uses to quietly save lives.
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Joseph’s life didn’t start off glamorous. Betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and left in prison, his story is one long chain of disappointments. Yet Scripture says again and again, “The Lord was with Joseph.” God gave him wisdom, favor, and the gift of leadership.
So when famine swept across the land, it was Joseph’s God-given wisdom and steady hand that preserved the nations. He didn’t raise the dead, but he kept people from starving. He didn’t heal the sick, but he created a plan that spared countless lives. Joseph shows us that faithfulness is in the ordinary of managing grain, storing food, and making wise decisions. It can have an extraordinary impact when God’s hand is on it.
God’s Grace Enough!
Sometimes we feel weak, standing in the wake of devastation, overwhelmed by tsunamis of loss we can’t undo, by deaths we can’t reverse. But like Joseph, we are still equipped to serve in the everyday. To show up for our families. Bring a meal. Listen. To hold hope. To remind one another that God is still with us.
And that’s the heart of it, isn’t it? We can’t fix everything, but we can carry on with calm assurance: God’s grace is always more than enough.
As Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
If this story resonated with you, I want to gently encourage you:
You don’t need to have all the answers or a grand gesture to make a difference.
Like Joseph, your quiet faithfulness might be the very thing God uses to bring hope to someone else.
Let’s keep holding each other up -one small act of love at a time.
