We serve an awesome God.  When we think about all The Lord has brought us through, we can’t help but say thank you.  People look at us and have no idea the spiritual warfare we have been through. They see and tell us how good we look.  If they only knew what we have been through, they would be amazed.  However, there are some people who heard about what we have been through.  Therefore, they expect us to look weak and worn, but when they see us they are surprised.  Why?  Because, we don’t look like what we have been through.

I think about Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery when he was seventeen, because they hated him. They lied to their father and told him a beast must have killed him.  Even though his brothers dismissed him, The Lord was with him.  Joseph was put in charge of his master’s house, because The Lord was with him.  Even after his master’s wife lied on him, and he was put in prison. The Lord was with him. The prison guard put him in a leadership position. Then The

Lord created the opportunity for him to interpret pharaoh’s dream, and save the Egyptians. A famine was coming to the land after seven years of good harvest. He was able to do this because The Lord was with him. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of storing and distributing the food, and he was second in command in Egypt.

The famine reached Canaan where Joseph’s family was and his brother came to Egypt to buy food (Genesis 42:1-9). When Joseph saw them he knew who they were, but they did not recognize him. They did not expect to see him again, but if they did they would expect to see him as a slave. They did not know The Lord was with him through all that he had been through. That’s why he didn’t look like what he had been through.