someone to help them, Joseph was
there. Joseph wasn’t so busy
wallowing in his own self-pity that he
didn’t have time for anyone else. The
two men had a dream, and dreams
were Joseph’s specialty. Interpreting
both dreams for the men, he used
the gift God had given him to help
someone else.
hear about other people with problems,
you don’t care to help them because
you want to spend all of your emotional
energy on nursing your own wounds.
But the key to overcoming your own
suffering is actually the opposite. You
are to look for people going through
a similar thing as yourself and find a
way to minister to them while you wait
on God to minister to you. Joseph,
noticing their sad faces, ministered to
them (Gen. 40:6–8).
What many people do is get selfish
in their suffering. But the righteous
response to suffering is to help
someone else. One of the ways God
moves you through your detours
is through your ministry. If you are
unwilling to minister to someone
else, you could be delaying your own
destiny by increasing the length of
your detour. Being self-centered may
actually cause you to miss out on the
blessing God has in store for you.
When the two men in jail needed
22 • Solutions
If you want to see God show up in your
detour and take you to your destiny,
look for other people to serve. You
don’t have to be sophisticated about
it; just use the gift God has given you
when you see someone who may need
it. God wants to use your detours to
help others in theirs as well. Noah
ministered while he waited for rain.
Ruth ministered while she waited for
God to change her situation. Rebecca
drew water for a stranger’s camels
while she waited for God to provide
her with a mate. They all ministered in
the midst of waiting—during the delay
of their detour.
Be careful not to miss your ministry
because of your misery. God uses
ministry to recharge your spiritual
batteries while you wait. As 2
Corinthians tells us, God has a reason
for the comfort, favor, and kindness
He gives us in the middle of our
troubles. It says, “He comforts us in
all our affliction, so that we may be
able to comfort those who are in any
kind of affliction, through the comfort
we ourselves receive from God. For
as the sufferings of Christ overflow
to us, so through Christ our comfort
also overflows” (1:4–5). God not only
desires for us to connect vertically
with Him. He also wants to use us to
connect horizontally with each other.