50:20 Vision : No matter what is happening, God is still working for good.

Genesis 50:20

New Century Version (NCV)

20 You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done.

I have been studying this scripture Genesis 50:20 and hope that I can always see with the vision that Joseph did.   When I did a segment on Renewal Radio Dr. Gene Getz said  he felt this scripture was my life verse as well as Romans 8:28  because God has brought good from all the tragedies that occurred and poor choices that I made.  This verse means a lot to me.

As I was reading about this in the Bible it made me think all the different things created that have been  used for evil but how God can turn that evil around and  use it for good. Everything that is created God has a purpose for . (God made everything with a place and purpose; even the wicked are included—(Proverbs 16:4 MSG) This had been on my mind as I was studying Genesis 50:20 and looking at how it seems everything can be used for good and for evil. For instance let’s take a look at Facebook, I have heard more than one person say Facebook is the tool of the devil.  Now I’m not saying Facebook is evil or created for evil . All I am saying is that I think the enemy has used Facebook to bring evil into many lives.  I have personally heard of marriages collapsing as old flames have reconnected through Facebook. I have heard of many people being bullied and harassed.   Satan is cunning and is out to destroy, he will use any means he can to attack with his fiery darts, he will try to make anything his tool even Facebook. But as with everything in this world  it is how a person chooses to  use it and how we allow God to work through us to fulfill HIS purpose .

Personally for me this social media has been of great support  : encouragement through loss, encouragement through victory .  I can  honestly  see both  the bad and the good, knowing God is ultimately in control . But I wanted to share one Facebook story that changed a life and I know without a doubt God’s hand was in this.

Let’s go back to Palm Sunday of 2011 my old friend Randy Smith  asked me to speak to his Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Allen and share my testimony which he knew about from Facebook. After I shared I became Facebook friends with some people in the class,  one being a man named Steve Wade .This story kind of paused there for a while as if that was the extent of it . But God , the master choreographer , was working behind the scenes all the while.  On November 9, 2011 ( Yes it was the 9th.  9’s are always so significant in my life both good and bad ) I wrote this post on my Facebook Wall . I have shared the snapshots of it in this post today, November 9 ,2013 : ))) . After  sharing my heart  I received a message from Steve Wade whom I had met that fateful Palm Sunday  at FBC Allen telling me he wanted to help Alexis and that he might have a job for her. It was a job at the First Baptist Church of Allen. He is the Facilities Manager and oversees all the maintenance of the church.  This was an answer to my prayer on a much larger scale than I could ever imagine.

Long story short I took Alexis to meet Steve at the Starbucks at Spring Creek and 75 where she had an initial interview. I remember helping her pick the dress and boots for her interview. She looked so pretty. Then there would be another interview with Steve’s boss. This interview was harder for Alexis , she had made a poor choice that had legal consequences . The whole situation had caused her to feel shame but she made the decision to be open and transparent in her interview and told the truth. Because of her honesty  she got that job and started in January of 2012.

This job changed the trajectory of her life and the environment she worked in drew her closer to God,   as you can read in her journal :) It was a hard job and not glamorous but God used it to penetrate her heart. I could literally see the difference in her countenance. (There is a spiritual shift within you when you go from a victim stance to a stance of gratitude and humility. I experienced it myself when I got my first post incarceration job as a cashier at Dickey’s making minimum wage, there was no “I am too good for this job”.  I was  overcome with gratitude and thankfulness that they took a chance on me.  My heart was much different when I got out of rehab and thought I was too good for many jobs because I had a college degree. God had changed my heart and I knew God was working on Alexis’ as well because I could see it through my experience. I love how God works)

This job opened many doors for her and seeds of hope were planted through it and through the people she worked with. She finally had some extra money and even took on an extra day of work. They saw the best in her and she recognized that. Her self-esteem changed and she had so much hope for her future. Sadly she just didn’t have much of a future left on this earth but because of this job she saw herself differently the last 6 months of her life and for that I am forever grateful.

So today I am so thankful for Facebook, for Randy Smith, and for Steve Wade. God orchestrated and intertwined our lives to meet the need of a young 19 year old mother who was trying to make positive changes for her and her daughter. . And because of Steve’s attitude of “Let’s give this girl a chance” her life was changed for the better. After her death Steve told me that he admired her so much because she was trying to change a lot of things in her life to make a better life for her and Riley. I was so moved by that. God really brought good into Alexis’ life and used Facebook to tie it all together.

Genesis  50:20 vision. What the world, the human plan, the human scheme planned as an evil, self-serving act – God took and used for good, preserving life!

Joseph’s 50:20 vision tells us that despite all evidence to the contrary, God is at work. God is making things good despite the evil.

The story of Genesis is that God is always working for good despite human efforts to the contrary. God has stuck with us, and seeks to work in and through us. No matter what we are facing, we can be sure that somehow, someway, God is still working for good.

That’s 50:20 vision!

This an excerpt from a sermon by Bob Kraylor , I felt it was fitting. I hope we all can see and look at others  with 50:20 vision. That is how Steve looked at Alexis, he chose to look for  the good within her and found it letting her know he saw the best in her. It changed how she viewed herself It changed her life. When I think of this I want to look for the best in everyone and sometimes that is hardest with the ones we love the most because of our history . But it certainly makes me want to be intentional about this.

The Eagle and the Prairie Chicken

"A man found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life, the eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did whatever the other prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no morethan a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.

Years passed. The eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong wooden wings.

"What a beautiful bird!" said the eagle to his neighbor. "What is it?"

"That's an eagle - - the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."

So the eagle never gave it another thought. And it died thinking it was a prairie chicken."

How tragic : built to soar into the heavens , the chief of the fowls of the air. This eagle settled for being a prairie chicken. In this world it is easy to live like prairie chickens . It's easy to opt for a wrong way of life. Thinking all the while that because everyone is doing it it is right. 
Chuck Swindoll 

I listened to this on Insights for living and it really moved me. 

Mark Twain: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover”

Music is so powerful !!

Music is incredibly powerful ! At times I am surprised at the memories that surface , the emotions that rise up, and how a song can take you back in time recalling details you thought were long buried. I had two major experiences with this on my drive to lunch with two different songs. The power this had over me was startling, one took me back to  a really happy day and one reminded me of a tragedy .  

 As  I seemingly went back in time and was overcome by emotions from long ago it made me realize that people who are trying to make positive changes in their life may need to be very careful in this area, in the music they listen to. For instance if you were a drug addict and there was certain music you always listened to while getting high , hearing that music  might trigger a desire to use  you because when you hear a song certain memories can flood your mind.  I had never really thought about  that before but it occurred to me today. 

Here’s what happened to me. I was driving to Market Street to get some grilled chicken and cabbage for lunch. I was flipping through the channels on my radio and stopped at 88.5 FM,  a station owned by Mesquite ISD  that  plays mostly 70’s music.  Normally I listen to music on my phone or podcasts but today I decided to do something different. The station was playing “Night Fever” by the Bee Gees and it immediately took me back to a Sunday afternoon during my junior year.  Leah was in my pale yellow cutlass supreme with me and we  were driving to pick up  Patti  to go see Saturday Night Fever  AGAIN. It was a sunny day and there was a lot of laughter. Three silly teenage girls having fun . After the movie we drove around White Rock Lake as we always did back then ………… It was as if I was transported back in time, I felt as if I was there . It was a sweet memory that made me smile.

The next song I listened to was “Heard it in a Love Song” by Marshall Tucker Band. I immediately went back to a Monday morning in my speech class during my junior year .   Kevin Clifton , who was a senior,  walked into the class with his cowboy hat on ( I can picture him perfectly)   and told us that a good friend of his was killed at a rodeo that weekend. His friend was thrown from a bull and the bull stepped on his skull. It was tragic and sad. My heart broke for the young life lost and those that remained behind.  “Heard it in a love song” was the boy and his girlfriend’s “song” …………………..I don’t recall recalling that speech class ever before but today I did . It was a memory that appeared without warning triggered by a song. The teacher was a small blonde , I can’t remember her name  and I don’t remember anything else about it but that song took me back…………………….The sadness I felt  as the song continued was overwhelming . I don’t know if it compared to how I felt that morning in 1978 or if the feelings have been altered by the experiences I have had but the memory brought tears to my eyes. It really made me think .

Music is so powerful.

The Dragonfly

The Dragonfly

Once, in a little pond, in the muddy water under the lily pads,
there lived a little water beetle in a community of water
beetles.  They lived a simple and comfortable life in the pond
with few disturbances and interruptions.

Once in a while, sadness would come to the community when one of
their fellow beetles would climb the stem of a lily pad and
would never be seen again.  They knew when this happened; their
friend was dead, gone forever.

Then, one day, one little water beetle felt an irresistible urge
to climb up that stem.  However, he was determined that he would
not leave forever.  He would come back and tell his friends what
he had found at the top.

When he reached the top and climbed out of the water onto the
surface of the lily pad, he was so tired, and the sun felt so
warm, that he decided he must take a nap.  As he slept, his body
changed and when he woke up, he had turned into a beautiful
blue-tailed dragonfly with broad wings and a slender body
designed for flying.

So, fly he did!  And, as he soared he saw the beauty of a whole
new world and a far superior way of life to what he had never
known existed.

Then he remembered his beetle friends and how they were thinking
by now he was dead.  He wanted to go back to tell them, and
explain to them that he was now more alive than he had ever been
before.  His life had been fulfilled rather than ended.

But, his new body would not go down into the water.  He could
not get back to tell his friends the good news.  Then he
understood that their time would come, when they, too, would
know what he now knew.  So, he raised his wings and flew off
into his joyous new life!


~Author Unknown~

The Butterfly

It is said that if we were to help the butterfly remove itself from the cocoon, the butterfly would not be strong enough to survive. It is the struggle that prepares the butterfly to become strong enough to fly. Without the struggle in the cocoon, it could not survive as a butterfly.

The Lord prepares each of us in similar ways. Some of our childhoods seem to have been harsh and born from a seemingly unloving God. However, the Lord knows our struggle and will make our life an instrument in His hand if we will follow Him with an upright heart. He does make all things beautiful in His time if we are willing to be patient.

This little butterfly is going to soar and I know her life  will be an instrument in God's hand. It already is:))