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Month: January 2024

When Our Kids Can’t Get Along

Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.” Genesis 45:24 Most of us, as parents, don’t like it when our kids quarrel. Because we love our children, and we desire to live in harmony with them, we also want them to love and…
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Forgiven

You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. Genesis 45:10 One day when I was maybe six or seven years old, my brother and I were fighting when he threw his…
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Afraid of Losing Myself

Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry.” Genesis 45:9 I’ve said this before, but I think it’s worth repeating – When I went to God, desperate to find recovery, he asked…
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God’s Perspective

And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. Genesis 45:7-8 In the immediate disaster of my addiction, there was no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I felt…
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I Once Owned a Motorcycle

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. Genesis 45:3 I once had a motorcycle, way back when I was young, dumb, and single. My parents advised against it, concerned about my safety, but I…
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Did You Injure Yourself Just to Get Drugs?

Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant . . .” Genesis 44:18 The week my life fell apart due to my addiction, I also happened to injure my knee. That was…
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What Have I Done with My Time?

Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain. Genesis 44:1-2 When my life fell apart due to my…
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My Family’s Old Videotapes

Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” Genesis 42:43 Like many of you, we recorded our kid’s childhoods on videotape. I’m sure that when we bought it, those MiniDV…
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Hiding My Beef Stick Wrapper

Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” Genesis 42:21 When I was a kid, my family was camping on vacation one…
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I Resolve to Be More Disciplined

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13 In my drug use, I made up my mind a thousand times to stop. I’d clench my fists, pray, and promise God that I’d never…
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