26 January 2013

Sometimes God Lets Us In on His Plan

I'm reading through the Bible this year with the help of YouVersion.

This morning, I read about Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream that pointed to an upcoming famine in Egypt, through which, of course, Joseph became reunited with his long-estranged family.

Joseph's words to Pharaoh in Genesis 41:
God is letting Pharaoh in on what he is going to do.
Over twenty years ago, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer. In June, the oncologist estimated he had 18 months to live. At the end of July, I had a dream from which I awoke crying, remembering from the dream only the idea that my dad had 4 months to live.

I could only imagine that if the dream had meaning, it was for me to help my family speed up their goodbye preparations. I only told one sister-in-law of the dream and we watched for opportunities to gently add to planning some what ifs: Yes, that's a good idea but what if his time is much shorter? What would be our plan for that?

We planned his November 24th birthday celebration for November 10th. He was sitting at the table surrounded by family, very much enjoying our company.

On November 24th, he was aware of very little, and he passed away on December 1st, nearly four months to the day.

Genesis 41 assures me that sometimes God does let us in on his plan. We can ponder this inside information and plan accordingly.

Joseph faced famine and I faced losing someone so dear to me. In both, God was gracious and loving and painstaking.

I am forever grateful.

Blog Archive