September 20th, 2026
By: Gabi Pope
“You grow differently when your prayer stops being, ‘God change it", and becomes, ‘God change me in it.’ Because some things don’t end when you ask them to. They end when they finish shaping you.”
I read this quote recently, and it immediately made me think about Joseph. His story is one I’ve heard probably a hundred times, but the older I get, the more I realize there are parts of his story that hit differently when you’ve lived through your own seasons of waiting, disappointment, and wondering what in the world God is doing!!!!
Joseph had every reason to pray, “God, change it.” He was betrayed by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and eventually forgotten in prison. None of those things were part of the life Joseph probably imagined for himself. He had dreams of what God was going to do through his life, but his reality looked nothing like those dreams for a very long time.
I wonder how many times Joseph prayed for his circumstances to change. How many times did he wonder when God was going to finally get him out? How many times did he question why he was still waiting? Scripture doesn’t give us every conversation Joseph had with God during those years, but we do know something incredibly important, God was with him. Joseph’s circumstances kept changing, but God’s presence never did.
And maybe that’s something we need to remember in our own lives! Sometimes we become so focused on asking God to change our circumstances that we miss what He might be trying to change in us. We pray, “God, get me out of this. God, fix this. God, make this different. God, let this season end.” And there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing those prayers to God. He wants us to come to Him with our hearts, our disappointments, our desires, and even our questions. But what if we started adding one more prayer? “God, while I’m waiting for You to change this, would You change me?” Because sometimes God does change the situation. But sometimes the first thing He changes is us.
Joseph’s years of waiting were not wasted years. God was developing something in him that he would eventually need for the purpose He had prepared for him. Joseph couldn’t see the palace from the pit. He couldn’t see his future from the prison. He couldn’t understand how any of it could possibly work together. But God could see what Joseph couldn’t.
Eventually, Joseph’s circumstances changed. He went from the pit to the palace, from being forgotten to being placed in a position of influence, and from having no idea what God was doing to seeing pieces of God’s plan unfold right in front of him. And one of the most beautiful parts of his story is what happened when he finally came face-to-face with the brothers who had betrayed him!!! Joseph had every reason to hold onto bitterness. He could have spent the rest of his life defined by what had been done to him. Instead, he was able to look at his story through the lens of God’s faithfulness. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
Joseph wasn’t saying that what happened to him was good. But God was good, and God was able to take every painful part of Joseph’s story and use it for something greater than Joseph could have imagined.
I think that’s where this quote becomes so powerful for me. “God, change me in it.” Maybe the waiting is teaching me how to trust Him. Maybe the disappointment is teaching me how to surrender. Maybe the uncertainty is teaching me that I don’t have to have all the answers to know that God is still faithful. Maybe the season I desperately want to escape is producing something in me that I will need for the season I’ve been praying for.
We don’t always want the lesson in the situation, we want the ending. We want God to move the mountain, not teach us how to climb it. We want the answer, not the waiting. We want the breakthrough, not the process. But sometimes the process is where God does some of His deepest work.
Looking back, I can see seasons in my own life that I didn’t understand while I was living in them. At the time, I just wanted God to change everything. I wanted Him to make things easier and take away the uncertainty. But now I can see how those seasons shaped my faith, softened my heart, taught me to surrender, and showed me that God really can be trusted even when I don’t understand what He’s doing. I wouldn’t necessarily choose those seasons again, but I also wouldn’t trade what God produced in me through them.
That’s the joy I find in this now. I don’t have to understand the whole story to trust the Author. I don’t have to know how everything is going to work out to believe that God is working. I don’t have to see the palace while I’m standing in the pit. I just have to remember that God is still there.
So maybe your prayer today isn’t only, “God, change it.” Maybe it’s, “God, change me in it.” Change my heart, my perspective, the way I trust You. Change the things I’m holding onto. Teach me what You want me to learn!! Don’t let me become so consumed with getting out of this season that I miss what You’re trying to grow in me while I’m here!
Because one day, you may look back at the very season you begged God to end and realize it wasn’t wasted. God was working in places you couldn’t see, preparing you for things you couldn’t yet understand. The pit wasn’t the end of Joseph’s story. The prison wasn’t the end. The waiting wasn’t the end. And whatever you’re walking through right now isn’t the end of your story either. God is still writing every one of our stories!! And maybe instead of only asking Him to change what is around us, we can begin asking Him to change what is within us.
“God, change it if You want to. But more than anything, change me in it.”
Because when God finishes shaping us, we’ll realize that even the seasons we wanted to escape became part of the story, He was using to make us more like Him! And honestly, I think there’s something really beautiful about that.
“You grow differently when your prayer stops being, ‘God change it", and becomes, ‘God change me in it.’ Because some things don’t end when you ask them to. They end when they finish shaping you.”
I read this quote recently, and it immediately made me think about Joseph. His story is one I’ve heard probably a hundred times, but the older I get, the more I realize there are parts of his story that hit differently when you’ve lived through your own seasons of waiting, disappointment, and wondering what in the world God is doing!!!!
Joseph had every reason to pray, “God, change it.” He was betrayed by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and eventually forgotten in prison. None of those things were part of the life Joseph probably imagined for himself. He had dreams of what God was going to do through his life, but his reality looked nothing like those dreams for a very long time.
I wonder how many times Joseph prayed for his circumstances to change. How many times did he wonder when God was going to finally get him out? How many times did he question why he was still waiting? Scripture doesn’t give us every conversation Joseph had with God during those years, but we do know something incredibly important, God was with him. Joseph’s circumstances kept changing, but God’s presence never did.
And maybe that’s something we need to remember in our own lives! Sometimes we become so focused on asking God to change our circumstances that we miss what He might be trying to change in us. We pray, “God, get me out of this. God, fix this. God, make this different. God, let this season end.” And there is absolutely nothing wrong with bringing those prayers to God. He wants us to come to Him with our hearts, our disappointments, our desires, and even our questions. But what if we started adding one more prayer? “God, while I’m waiting for You to change this, would You change me?” Because sometimes God does change the situation. But sometimes the first thing He changes is us.
Joseph’s years of waiting were not wasted years. God was developing something in him that he would eventually need for the purpose He had prepared for him. Joseph couldn’t see the palace from the pit. He couldn’t see his future from the prison. He couldn’t understand how any of it could possibly work together. But God could see what Joseph couldn’t.
Eventually, Joseph’s circumstances changed. He went from the pit to the palace, from being forgotten to being placed in a position of influence, and from having no idea what God was doing to seeing pieces of God’s plan unfold right in front of him. And one of the most beautiful parts of his story is what happened when he finally came face-to-face with the brothers who had betrayed him!!! Joseph had every reason to hold onto bitterness. He could have spent the rest of his life defined by what had been done to him. Instead, he was able to look at his story through the lens of God’s faithfulness. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good.”
Joseph wasn’t saying that what happened to him was good. But God was good, and God was able to take every painful part of Joseph’s story and use it for something greater than Joseph could have imagined.
I think that’s where this quote becomes so powerful for me. “God, change me in it.” Maybe the waiting is teaching me how to trust Him. Maybe the disappointment is teaching me how to surrender. Maybe the uncertainty is teaching me that I don’t have to have all the answers to know that God is still faithful. Maybe the season I desperately want to escape is producing something in me that I will need for the season I’ve been praying for.
We don’t always want the lesson in the situation, we want the ending. We want God to move the mountain, not teach us how to climb it. We want the answer, not the waiting. We want the breakthrough, not the process. But sometimes the process is where God does some of His deepest work.
Looking back, I can see seasons in my own life that I didn’t understand while I was living in them. At the time, I just wanted God to change everything. I wanted Him to make things easier and take away the uncertainty. But now I can see how those seasons shaped my faith, softened my heart, taught me to surrender, and showed me that God really can be trusted even when I don’t understand what He’s doing. I wouldn’t necessarily choose those seasons again, but I also wouldn’t trade what God produced in me through them.
That’s the joy I find in this now. I don’t have to understand the whole story to trust the Author. I don’t have to know how everything is going to work out to believe that God is working. I don’t have to see the palace while I’m standing in the pit. I just have to remember that God is still there.
So maybe your prayer today isn’t only, “God, change it.” Maybe it’s, “God, change me in it.” Change my heart, my perspective, the way I trust You. Change the things I’m holding onto. Teach me what You want me to learn!! Don’t let me become so consumed with getting out of this season that I miss what You’re trying to grow in me while I’m here!
Because one day, you may look back at the very season you begged God to end and realize it wasn’t wasted. God was working in places you couldn’t see, preparing you for things you couldn’t yet understand. The pit wasn’t the end of Joseph’s story. The prison wasn’t the end. The waiting wasn’t the end. And whatever you’re walking through right now isn’t the end of your story either. God is still writing every one of our stories!! And maybe instead of only asking Him to change what is around us, we can begin asking Him to change what is within us.
“God, change it if You want to. But more than anything, change me in it.”
Because when God finishes shaping us, we’ll realize that even the seasons we wanted to escape became part of the story, He was using to make us more like Him! And honestly, I think there’s something really beautiful about that.
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