And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28
Recommended Reading Genesis 50:19-21 “19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.“ COMMENTS: Envy and jealousy are sins and envy being one of the “deadly sins” identified by Evagrius Ponticus, a Christian Monk, in 4th century. Jacob should have recognized the danger of holding one child as favorite over his other children even if Joseph was his favorite. Can you understand how it felt to be one of those fewer favorite sons and how awkward it was to be Joseph as the favorite. Joseph was the favorite not because of anything special about himself but because his mother, Rachel, was Jacob’s favorite wife. Deception never brings good results for the guilty and for the victims of that deception. Jacob’s father-in-law, Laban, had deceived Jacob with his older daughter Leah when he had worked for privilege to marry the younger daughter Rachel. The consequence was felt by an unloved wife, Leah, and her unloved children. Then again, Rachel had to share her husband and her children had to suffer as well.
Yet, Jacob made matters worse by playing favorite without regard for consequences of doing so. Deliberate sin makes matters worse too and often propagates deliberate sins in others. Selling Joseph into slavery was a choice Leah’s sons decided together without regard for their father or Joseph. They only wanted to get rid of the “favorite son” so they could gain their father’s love. How sad, but consider how similar situations have repeated similar consequences in countless numbers of families over the centuries since and still do today in every country and even in every community. Maybe in your own family too?
Well today’s story does have a happy ending and so can yours. Joseph broke the cycle of deception and sin by refusing to let circumstances pull him into sin. He drew closer to God instead of responding with sinful behavior. He opened himself to God’s council and intervention. He trusted God enough to put himself at risk for prison and death. He didn’t know what would happen by refused to yield to temptation anyway. By doing so, he broke the cycle of sin and opened God to bless him and use Joseph for His honor far more than he ever could imagine.
If we take this story to heart and open ourselves to draw closer to God and refuse temptation, we likely won’t face as dramatic circumstances as Joseph but then again you just might. As dramatic or not, God wants to use faithful people who are not especially talented or gifted or strong or good looking, but faithful people none the less. People who will obey Him no matter what. Will you be such a faithful person? Will I? That is our daily choice and each day is a new opportunity to make that commitment even if we failed yesterday. Each new morning is an opportunity for a fresh new beginning.
When God gave Joseph the dream of his brothers bowing to him, it enraged his brothers to sin against him but was opening a path to a closer relationship of Joseph with God and even with his family but not before a number of very dark and uncertain years. God prepared Joseph to prepare and lead his family and a nation (Egypt) during years of life-threatening drought. God would be honored by Joseph and give us an example to guide us to honor God as well. Joseph’s legacy still lives on and is still impacting us today and will continue to. His story is recorded in God’s Holy Word. “When God closes a door, He always opens a window.” Woodrow Kroll
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 311 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present. You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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