MVP Guest Blogger:
Greg Davis, Lead Pastor
Cornerstone Church
Southaven, Mississippi
Greg & Nancy Davis
What do you dream about—when you are awake?
Most people have a dream of what their life could be or should be, as opposed to what it is. Some call it a dream: others call it a vision. No matter what you call it, most of us have a ‘mental image’ of what we hope our life will someday become. When our reality is at least moving towards our dream; we feel a sense of satisfaction and well-being. But when our reality is nowhere close to our vision for the future or even moving in the opposite direction, we can begin to feel helpless and hopeless.
When a Dream Becomes a Nightmare
For many years my wife Nancy and I dreamed of starting a family. We had always loved children and we had visions of how perfect life would be, once our family was complete. After an 8-year struggle with infertility issues; the day finally came when I was awakened from a deep sleep by the sound of Nancy screaming, “It’s positive……it’s positive” as she came running into the bedroom waving the little stick from the pregnancy test.Our dream was coming true.
But on the morning that Colton was born, our vision for the future took an unexpected turn. Just hours after his birth, we were devastated to learn that Colton had numerous life-threatening heart defects. He was kept alive by machines until 6 days later when he underwent his first heart surgery. That was just the beginning of a long season of health issues that our family has faced. To date, Colton has had 6 open-heart surgeries and numerous other heart related procedures.
When he was a toddler, Nancy almost died of an auto-immune disorder. She was totally incapacitated for 6 months and took 2 years to recover any semblance of a normal life. Nine months after Colton’s third heart surgery, we adopted a one-year-old baby girl from China. Less than one month after returning to the United States; our new baby girl, Anna Grace, was diagnosed with brain cancer. She endured a 12-hour emergency surgery to remove the tumor and underwent very aggressive chemo and radiation treatments for over a year at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. All of this, (and more) happened while we were doing our best to keep up with the demands of leading a growing church.
As you might imagine, we have experienced intense struggles with unanswered questions. Why would God allow such vicious attacks on our family’s health time and time again? We learned that if we are not careful; the unanswered questions could do more damage than the attacks themselves.
If we allow ourselves to ruminate on our problems and get bogged down in our questions; we can lose sight of the dream that God placed in our hearts.
Joseph’s Dream
This issue of unanswered questions about dreams that seem to turn to dust is not new.
Probably the most prominent biblical story on this subject is the account of the life of Joseph that begins in Genesis 37. As a young man of only 17, Joseph received a dream from the Lord that revealed a snapshot from his future. Joseph’s understanding of the dream was that he would be elevated above all his brothers, as they bowed down to him in reverence. The overarching idea of Joseph’s dream was that he was destined to lead a life of greatness and significance.
Joseph’s Reality
Shortly after revealing his dream to his brothers, the comfortable life that Joseph had enjoyed as the “favorite son” took a drastic turn as his brothers faked his death, cast him into a pit and sold him into slavery. This would be depressing enough against the backdrop of a dream of greatness; but it didn’t end there. It got worse. Falsely accused by his master’s wife, Joseph was then cast into prison and later betrayed by a trusted friend who had promised to try to get him out.
His dream was a life of greatness and significance. His reality was a pit, slavery, false accusations, prison and betrayal.
There was a HUGE gap between his dream and his reality. Many of us know what that is like. The gap between your dream and your reality can be filled with unanswered questions. Why would God allow this? What possible good can come from this? Does God even see what I’m going through? Those unanswered questions will force us to choose a response.
Joseph’s Response
It was Joseph’s response to every dilemma, distraction and detour that he faced that laid the foundation for his amazing success in the midst of incomprehensible circumstances. I’m quite sure that if I had been faced with the exact same situations that he endured; I would have thrown the biggest “pity-party” the world has ever seen!
Joseph chose to trust God, remain faithful and continue to use his gifts, in spite of his unanswered questions.
His amazing ability to control his focus resulted in his remarkable success in Potiphar’s house and in the prison as well.In both cases, he quickly rose through the ranks and was put in charge of the entire operation.
What are you looking at? Your focus is the key to your future.
If you focus on the injustice you’ve suffered or the unanswered questions in your mind; you could descend into the depths of despair. But if you focus on the opportunities in front of you, trust God and remain faithful to use your gifts; you can find a pathway upward that leads to the dream that you received from the Lord.
The Dream Fulfilled
There’s a saying, “it takes many years to become an overnight success.” To the casual observer who was unaware of all the years that Joseph spent in slavery and prison; it may have seemed that he was an overnight sensation as he was placed in charge of virtually the whole country of Egypt. The dream that God showed Joseph was eventually fulfilled. His brothers actually did bow down in reverence to him as they came to Egypt to acquire life sustaining food and supplies. No doubt,Joseph’s seventeen-year-old self never could have imagined the pathway that he would have to tread in order to see the dream fulfilled. But that is not uncommon.
The pathway to a God-given dream rarely looks that way we expected.
God’s Purpose Revealed
At this point, it is important to note that Joseph’s “early concept” of the dream was focused only on himself being elevated while others bowed down. There is a lesson in this for us. We can receive a genuinely God-authored dream, but if our focus is mostly about US being elevated; that is an immature perception of the dream that God has given.
Joseph’s focus was on himself being elevated. But God’s purpose was always about others being elevated through the impact of Joseph’s life.
Let’s review the impact that his life has made on the world.
millions of lives saved through Joseph’s plan to stockpile grain for the coming famine
Jacob’s family survived because of Joseph
From Jacob’s family came the 12 tribes of Israel
God’s relationship with the 12 tribes Israel is the main focus of the Old Testament
Jesus Christ was born of the tribe of Judah
The entire New Testament revolves around God’s plan of salvation through Christ
In essence, everything we know about God, can be traced back to the events of the life of this young man named Joseph and the hard choices he made to trust God when he absolutely could not understand what God was doing!
In our times of extreme trial and tribulation, we may not understand what possible good could come from what we are going through. I am well-acquainted with unanswered questions and the potential damage they can do.
Like Joseph, we must trust that God is who he says he is---- even when we don’t understand why God sometimes allows such tragedy to come into our lives.
There are two main lessons from the life of Joseph that have helped us to thrive in the toughest days of our lives.
When things don’t turn out like we planned, God is still with us and has a purpose to fulfill.
I must choose to trust God’s identity, when I don’t understand his activity.
The pathway to your dream may take you through some dark places; but don’t give up. When you stay on course, the dream will be fulfilled.
The Davis Family: Greg, Nancy, Anna Grace, & Colton
Upbeat Update
As a testimony to the Lord’s faithfulness, I am grateful to let you know that Colton is a healthy, productive young man who works hard and has a servants heart. Nancy has worked hard to improve her physical condition and she is in better health now than in the last 30 years. And our little “princess” Anna Grace, who, because of the damage of the tumor and the danger of the treatment to a 1-year-old brain, had little chance of walking, talking or even surviving: is now a delightful young lady in her third year of college. And the Lord continues to growth the church in spite of all the dilemmas, distractions and detours that we have faced along the way!
Do Not Give UP - No Matter What!
- Greg Davis
MVP Guest Blogger
In 1998, Greg Davis was called to take the Lead Pastor role of Cornerstone Church in Southaven,
Mississippi. Since that time, the significant growth of the Southaven church, as well as the
successful launch of an additional campus in Tupelo has allowed the influence and impact of
Cornerstone to be multiplied and spread across North Mississippi.
On a personal note, Greg and his wife, Nancy, have a unique story. Childhood sweethearts since
the 2nd grade, they were married shortly after high school and have been in ministry together
for over 30 years. They have two grown children: Colton and Anna Grace.
Repeatedly navigating life-threatening health issues in their family has developed a passion in
Greg and Nancy to encourage and equip people to thrive during the most difficult seasons of
life.
Pastor Greg and Nancy Davis