41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt. Genesis 41:41-45

Just like that, Joseph was promoted to second in command of Egypt. Most politicians only dream of such power. They may scrape and scratch and crawl to make their way to the top, but Joseph got there by interpreting two dreams. Of course his wasn’t an overnight success. He had to go through quite a few years of depressing prison life.

How do you prepare for the “sudden” success? How do you prepare for depressing prison life? They both have their challenges to overcome.

The bottom line is, you can’t prepare for instant success or a bad life. It just…happens.

The best way to prepare is to stay close to God. There is no downside to staying close to God. Then when instant challenges come, you are better prepared to overcome them.