God never wastes our experiences

"Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." The name of the second he called Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Genesis 41:51,52

We have read of all Joseph's hardship; all the unfairness, the pain, the continual waiting. Yet we see that every hardship and every affliction has a purpose in God's sovereign plan for our lives. The places of our pain become the places of fruitfulness. Only God can make someone fruitful in a land of affliction.

Last week my friend Cindy was talking about how she felt after the death of her son Adam, who died two years ago. She said she thought that after a season of searing pain, the Lord would give her more of Himself in exchange for the life of her son. Time went on, and she did not feel she was experiencing a richer and deeper walk with the Lord. She said she finally got to the point where she told the Lord, "Even if this is all that I get of You, I trust You." I felt like I was sitting with her in a holy place, because in her words, her face, her voice was the presence of the Father who had accompanied her at every moment during her affliction, and accompanies her even now, because her hardship will last until she sees Jesus. And the ministry she and her husband have now is a result of their affliction....they are always being called or visited by parents who have lost children. They have 'fruitfulness in the land of their affliction.'

I pray that I will always trust God when His path for me is hard.