This week is brought to you by the letter C, and the word confinement. At first glance, this word does not give off a warm, fuzzy feeling — right? No one wants to be confined. We love our freedom. I mean, we actually live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Or so we've been told. 

However, I'm going to do one last note regarding my surgery and recovery. (I promise!) Because of the severity and the scar location, my neck has been extremely restricted. The approach is to allow the discs and bones to heal and set. Similar to when you superglue the broken handle back onto your favorite mug. You want that thing to be strong, so it must significantly solidify. Thus confinement.

Consider how many Biblical heroes were placed in some type of captivity. Joseph was delivered to a dungeon. Jeremiah was thrown into a pit. John the Baptist was imprisoned. Paul and Silas were sent to jail. John was exiled to the island of Patmos. Not every situation ended happily. And yet, if we believe in God's providence, He has a plan and a purpose. 

Joseph was not only sold into slavery by his own brothers, but he was also falsely accused and unjustly incarcerated for at least two years. But look at his own words to the brothers who betrayed him.

[But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.]
Genesis 50v20

The word confinement actually has two definitions. 

con·fine·ment:noun

1. the situation in which a person is kept somewhere, usually by force

2. the process of giving birth

Woah. You didn't see that coming, did you? The so-called negative term also indicates that a new thing is happening. Think back to all the above heroes — the Lord was doing something in order to bring restoration, renewal, and revelation. Don't despise whatever is restricting you today. God is working while you wait. 

Send this to someone who feels confined, captive, and closed in — God's not absent in the pit or the prison.

grateful —