What were you thinking in between

Gen 40:13-15 Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will again put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, as when you were his butler. (14) But think of me when it shall be well with you and show kindness, I beg of you, to me, and mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. (15) For truly I was carried away from the land of the Hebrews by unlawful force, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me into the dungeon.

and

Gen 41:1 AFTER TWO full years, Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river [Nile].

Gen 41:8-14 So when morning came his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but not one could interpret them to [him]. (9) Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, I remember my faults today. (10) When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the captain of the guard's house, both me and the chief baker, (11) We dreamed a dream in the same night, he and I; we dreamed each of us according to [the significance of] the interpretation of his dream. (12) And there was there with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard and chief executioner; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them to us, to each man according to the significance of his dream. (13) And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass; I was restored to my office [as chief butler], and the baker was hanged. (14) Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. But Joseph [first] shaved himself, changed his clothes, and made himself presentable; then he came into Pharaoh's presence.

After you asked the cupbearer to remember you, did you feel a sense of hope? Did you think, In just a few days, I'll be FREE. Surely a week at the most! Did you watch the door anxiously and get butterflies in your stomach every time it opened?

What did you think as a few days stretched into a few weeks? A few months? A year? Did you continue to watch the door? Or did you give up hope? What were you doing when the guards finally did call you...after two years?

At what point did you realize

Gen 45:7-8 God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on the earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors. (8) So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Did this realization occur when you saw your brothers bowing before you and you remembered your dreams of long ago? Was it when the famine began? Was it when Pharoah called you out of prison? Or did you know it all along, even as you were waiting those two years for the cupbearer to send someone to release you?

And by the way. Thank you. Thank you for remaining faithful and allowing the Lord to use you. Thousands of years later, long after the famine that you thought was the reason God allowed you to be kidnapped, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and imprisoned, God used your life over and over again to encourage me. He used it to give me hope as I was in my own "two-year waiting period" (which seemed to be happen repeatedly).

Maybe it's a good thing that God didn't tell us what you did, said, or thought during that time. Maybe that isn't what He wanted us to focus on. Maybe He wanted us to focus on the intricate tapestry that He was weaving of our lives, despite all the ugly, ugly threads that were being woven into it. What's not important is how you dealt with it all but how God wants us to remain faithful and patient, trusting in Him. He wants us to remember that He is The One In Control, even when things go wrong or when we are "endlessly" waiting. He wants us to remember that

Rom 8:28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

But now that we're here, Joseph, what were you thinking during that time? :-)