Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble...." The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful..." (Genesis 41:51-52 NIV).

As we travel and share the good news of Jesus around the U.S., I am grieved to hear story after story of suffering. Stories of rejection, betrayal, suicide, abuse, hurt, neglect, mistreatment.... No question, we live in a cruel world that has left a trail of broken hearts littering our landscape. If we look closely behind polished facades, our chruches resemble a battlefield strewn with bleeding wounded.

As I mentor young women, I find myself in a repeating pattern of counseling victims. It's seemingly impossible to move on in the Christian life, to get past the past, and come to a place of freedom, peace and abiding joy that Christ promises (Isaiah 61). It angers me that our enemy, the devil, convinces these precious children to believe "the lie" that holds them captive to an identity they are comfortably chained to. I know the Lord desires each one of them to go beyond the victim stage--to deliver them in complete victory. It's a process, but the Word brings hope. Hope through the life of a man named Joseph.

Talk about mistreatment, betrayal, rejection and hurt! This man experienced it all, but his life proves that unwavering faith in God can allow an ordinary person to rise above his circumstances and live large. Despite his suffering, Joseph held tightly, trusting in a living Lord who promised him a future inheritance. Regardless of his situation, Joseph knew who he believed, and clung to the sovereignty of his God. He didn't resort to anger, but waited patiently for his Deliverer to act. He refused bitterness. He shunned revenge. He shook his head at demanding his rights and rested in God's right to do as He pleased. And Joseph's God came through...and God used Joseph to save a nation.

The hope for other victims is subtly seen in the veses above. After Joseph's release from prison, he married and God blessed him with two sons. Look how he named his boys for it reveals much about Joseph's journey from victim to victor. The first son he named Manasseh, meaning "one who makes me forget." This child represented God's healing hand in Joseph's life, bringing forgetfulness--no string of his past remained. The second son Joseph named Ephriam, meaning "fruitful." What the Lord heals, He makes productive. Yes, God can take the past and put it behind us. There can be blessed forgetfulness, but He also desires to make us useful to the Kingdom--sharing a word of testimony and encouragement to someone else that needs the same delivering grace.

Oh victim--rise up! For your Deliverer will heal, restore and bring blessed victory. It's a promise!

-Peggy Forrest

"You intended harm, but God intended it for good to accomplish...the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20)!

© 2003 Kingdom Building Ministries