I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. – Genesis 45: 4-5

Imagine you’re planning to bake a sweet potato pie.

It’s your grandmother’s recipe and you love baking it for special occasions because it’s always a hit with guests.

Excited, you get your list together and head to the store to buy the ingredients – sweet potatoes, all-spice, sugar, eggs, flour, pie crust, vanilla extract, and butter.

As soon as you get home, you start peeling the potatoes, but before you’re finished, in walks your little one eager to see what you’re doing.

They pick up one of the potato peels laying on the table and chew on it only to spit it out in disgust.

You explain to them that some of the ingredients may not taste very good on their own. But when the ingredients are all mixed together, it makes a delicious pie.

When Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, it was just one “not-so-tasty” ingredient in God’s recipe for something good.

Having an understanding of this concept is what gave Joseph peace and allowed him to show his brothers so much love when he reunited with them.

Joseph understood that God is sovereign; nothing happens in life that He doesn’t orchestrate.

So don’t ever hold anger against anyone for anything they did to you. And don’t carry around unnecessary guilt for something you’ve done.

God allows things to happen the way they do for a reason.

He’s the Master Chef of life!

Be blessed,

Alexia