So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Genesis 45:25-28

When Joseph disappeared from Jacob’s life, something broke inside this father’s heart. Hope died. His spirit withered. It would be this way for another 20+ years until he got the news that Joseph was not dead as he believed, but very much alive in Egypt. He had grieved his son’s death and disillusionment had been his companion. His heart had grown numb to good news. But finding out that Joseph was alive, Jacob’s heart revived.

Can God do a new thing in my later years? Yes. Even when something catastrophic happened in my teens and I learned to adapt by closing off my heart, God can introduce healing many decades later. 

A dreamer, in response to a series of disappointments, shoves his dreams underground. Can God resurrect them later in life? Yes. Though decades seem like an eternity and dreamers are tempted to believe that life is always going to disappoint, they discover that God can write a new plotline.

What is it you’re waiting for today?  For what have you stopped hoping? Perhaps you believe that it’s futile to trust God for anything different, that God’s promises are for those still enjoying the dreams of their youth. Oh, but not everything is as it appears. Jacob held what he thought was bloody coat of his son Joseph, but the evidence of his death was a sham. Joseph was very much alive.

This could be the day of your breakthrough. Tell your heart to stand at attention to see the miraculous hand of God write the next chapter of your life.

 I lived to see my own resurrection. All because of You. Amen