The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

DAYS OF DISTINCTION: How God's Gotcha in Goshen | PURPOSE | and...Happy Birthday Family Disciple Me!

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 6 • Episode 10

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What if the chapter you’d rather skip is the one God is using to shape your calling? We open Genesis 50:20 and sit with Joseph’s bold confession—“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good”—to reframe detours, delays, and disappointments as ground where purpose grows. From betrayal to breakthrough, we trace how character formed in hidden seasons becomes strength for public assignment, and how that pattern is alive in our own eight-year journey with Family Disciple Me.

Joseph’s story gives language to what many of us feel: purpose doesn’t vanish in the pit and it isn’t guaranteed in the palace; it develops when God remains our focus through every season.

This is the story of Joseph, this is the story of the Family Disciple Me ministry, and this is the story each of us can have as we continue to walk with the Lord and "Seek Him Speak Him." So, be encouraged! Subscribe, share this episode with a friend who needs a “but God” moment, and leave a review to help more families discover these tools. Let’s keep seeking Him, speaking Him, and trusting that God still intends it for good.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

SPEAKER_00:

Have you ever looked at your life and wondered, what is the purpose of all this? The disappointments, the delays, the detours, the seasons that just don't make any sense. If you've ever felt like your story was falling apart, well, Joseph's story reminds us it might actually be falling into place. In Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, Joseph looks into the eyes of his very brothers who had betrayed him, and he said, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is being done now, the saving of many lives. That's the very heart of this week's conversation as we continue in our days of distinction conversations talking about how God's gotcha in Goshen. And today, how does God got you? Well, he has purpose in this place. He has purpose in your life just like he had purpose for Joseph way back in the land of Goshen. You see, things were hard, but God. Things, they looked impossible, but God. Things seemed hopeless, but God, God intended it for good. So welcome to the Family Disciple Me Ministry where our goal is to help every Christ follower be encouraged, equipped, and empowered to do one simple thing that we call seek him, speak him. And well, as we begin this podcast video cast episode, this week is especially meaningful because it is the Family Disciple Me Ministry's eighth birthday. I'm so excited about that. Eight years ago, this ministry began with a simple desire to help families and Christ followers of all ages and stages be able to meet with God and then make him known. That's what we sum up when we say seek him, speak him. And what started as a small step of obedience eight years ago has grown into a movement of devotion-driven discipleship. I believe that this movement has the power to change the world for Jesus as we live out the Great Commission, Jesus' Great Commission, in our lives, in our families, and in the lives of all those that He's entrusted to us. But just like Joseph's story, I have to say it hasn't always been easy. There have been some moments, many moments, in fact, of uncertainty. There's been seasons of waiting. We certainly haven't arrived yet. We're still waiting. And there's been time after time when we've wondered what God was doing in us and around us and through us. But through it all, we've seen God's faithfulness. We've seen his presence, we've experienced his provision, we've watched his protection, and now we also see his purpose because every single step of the way we can say with Joseph, but God intended it for good. Joseph's journey was anything but easy. He was betrayed by his brothers, he was sold into slavery, he was falsely accused, he was thrown into prison. So many things happened. He was forgotten by people that he helped. But here's the thing: he was not forgotten by God. God was still a part of writing his story every step of the way, in every moment of waiting, in every injustice, in every disappointment, God was still intricately involved in the weaving of Joseph's life. So when Joseph finally stood in Pharaoh's palace so many years later, when famine struck the land and when his brothers came seeking food and help, all of a sudden everything made sense. Joseph realized that even in his hardest days, God had been preparing him with purpose for this very moment. Yes, things had been hard, but God. Yes, things had looked impossible, but God. Yes, things had seemed absolutely hopeless, but God. You see, purpose doesn't disappear in the pit, it doesn't disappear in the prison, and it doesn't just automatically appear in the palace. The thing is, it develops in those places when God, when God is our focus. Maybe you can relate to this. Maybe there's something in your life right now that doesn't make any sense. You've prayed, you've waited, you've tried to trust, you're trying to give it all back to God, but it still feels uncertain. Friend, here's the thing: God's purpose is never thwarted, it's never waited. For all of us, for you, for me, just like with Joseph, we may not see the full picture yet. But when our trust is in the Lord, when our eyes are focused on him in the midst of everything, we can be certain that he is working behind the scenes to accomplish something good and what's more, something that's eternal. That is the story that we've seen through the eight years of family disciple me. This ministry was birthed. I never imagined how long labor would be. As I can honestly attest, there have been moments that I didn't know what was next. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I didn't know how we were going to get over that huge hurdle. I didn't know if I was gonna be able to learn the technology that was required. So many things, so many moments where we were at a make it or break it point. But in every one of those moments, just like in Joseph's story, God has kept showing up for us and showing us his purpose in us, to us, and through us. Every piece of devotion-driven discipleship that's been written, every podcast that's been recorded, every step of the way with the Family Disciple Me website, everything that we've learned about social media and creating an app and doing all the things with YouTube and video and and and sending out mass emails and text and messages and encouraging people in whatever we do to seek him, speak him. Every single one of those moments have been steps of faith for my team and I, my amazing team of volunteers and I. And in all of this, for every single Christ follower who's begun talking with their kids again about Jesus, for every single parent who has started a pattern of devotion-driven discipleship in their home, for every auntie and uncle and big sister or mentor, whoever it is in the body of Christ, who's decided to not just have their personal devotions, but then turn around and disciple somebody else. Every piece of that is part of God's purpose for this ministry. And so every step of the way has been a part of his plan and his path for us. God has used each of the conversations that have been deployed to accomplish what's being done now, what Joseph called the saving of many lives. And we don't get to be the saviors of people, but we do get to be now today the ones who speak Jesus and He is the Savior. And we get to meet with him and then turn around and make him known to others. So you see, in this Family Disciple Me is not just an organization. We are a living, breathing testimony that God's purpose still stands today. As the founder and the executive director of the Family Disciple Me Ministry, I can say for all of us, we have watched him take seasons of scarcity where I didn't know how financially we were going to make it, and he's turned that into stories of abundance. We've seen God take our fear, or I should speak for myself. I've seen him take my fear about family disciple me and turn it into deeper faith. I've seen him take what was uncertain and use it for good because that's just the kind of God that he is. That's what he does. But God, he's the game changer, he's the page flipper, he's the story, absolute upender to give us an unexpected next chapter, if not ending, but God intended it for good. When someone says to me, Family Disciple Me helped our story engage one another in talking about Jesus again, that's the one sentence, that's the one sentiment that is the why we do, what we do. Every time a mom or a dad or an auntie or an uncle or whomever listens to one of these podcast or vodcast episodes or opens up one of our devotion-driven discipleship guides, every time a teenager does that and comes back with questions about scripture, every time a new believer listens and then begins again and takes a deeper step of faith, that is purpose unfolding. That gets me really excited. That's what Joseph's life shows us. That's what the family disciple ministry celebrates. God's purpose doesn't stop at the end of a hard chapter, it continues into the next one because he's still writing the story in all of us. So, what is it that he's writing in you today? Do you sense his purpose? Do you sense his calling on your life? Do you sense a little piece of what he's doing in you and to you and through you? Let me encourage you to lean in, to receive that, to walk with him into what he has for you. And then, since you're here in this episode with me, I just want to say thank you for celebrating with us as a ministry as we are looking at eight years of completion. We are so thankful. With that, we also believe that God's purpose is expanding for the Family Disciple Me Ministry as we prepare to launch the Family Disciple Me app. This is a tool that will make devotion-driven discipleship even easier for families everywhere. And if you've tracked with the Family Disciple Me Ministry for any time, you know we've been working on this app and the building of it is going along. It's all volunteer, so it's taken a hot minute, but it is coming. And we are praising God for what he's doing. And in the midst of that, here's our invitation to you. A couple of things. Would you pass on however you're coming into this episode today? Would you share it with a friend? Would you pass on this podcast or this YouTube link to somebody else? Or maybe you've popped into this because you received the Family Disciple Me email or text? Would you invite somebody else to subscribe? Maybe you found us on social media and you're listening to this, watching this now. Would you go and like or follow that social media platform with Family Disciple Me? One way or another, we invite you to engage with us in the next level of story in your journey with Family Disciple Me. So that's number one. And then number two is would you celebrate with us by helping us reach our$5,000 birthday goal? Every dollar that's donated will help us go into this next chapter as we release this app and do all the things that will put this on the market and make it known so that, not just so that we have an app, so that more families and Christ followers can do what our mission is about. And that is seek him, speak him. You can go to familydiscipleme.org forward slash donate, and every penny counts as we seek to reach this goal and to continue our mission. Thank you so much for coming alongside and being a part. Thanks for listening to this episode. As we close, I just want to challenge you to remember this. Whatever you're walking through right now, Joseph's story reminds you, can remind all of us that God still has a purpose for each of us. So things may be hard right now, but remember, but God, things may look impossible right now, but God, things may be impossible right now, but God, because God intended it for good, for the saving of many lives. He is still in the business of accomplishing miracles. He is still working in what is now being done in our lives, in our families, and through this ministry and other ministries. Thank you for being a part. I pray that you will be encouraged, challenged, and blessed as you live into your purpose of meeting with God and making him known in the lives of the precious ones that he's entrusted to you. So let's keep seeking him and speaking him, and let's keep trusting that God's purpose will always prevail, and his purpose is eternal. So happy birthday, happy eighth birthday, family disciple me. And to all of you listening, thank you for celebrating with us what God has done, what he is doing, and what he will continue to do. Because in every season, in every way, God intended it for good. So go with him until next time.