desert times...

Its s crazy thing sometimes when we look back at the tracks we have made in the sand of the desert we have just crossed. The tracks are normally quite deep and worn in… as we do not always come victoriously through the desert instantly. I know as I look back on the different times in my life I have felt the scorching sun beating and the hot winds blowing while I thirsted for something deeper and something greater than I had experienced before.

God leads us through some of the driest and darkest times of life… not so we suffer and not so we “learn our lesson” like a parent scalding their child. But so that we rely on Him. And more times than not it is ME who walks toward the desert, and it is Him who doesn’t leave me to walk it alone. It’s an amazing gift that He gives me. His very presence and His very self. It’s precious. It’s undeserved.

As I look back on the year I just lived I realize that I have walked through a few deserts. Difficult times. Not impossible, because here I am, but difficult.

Why do we so often choose to remain in a place of drought instead of trusting Jesus fully? It seems so much simpler to believe Him at His word, but we choose to take the tough road. Or shall I say, I choose the tough road. I want to be able to take lessons I have learned and apply them to each new circumstance in life.

Walking into His greatness is the most overwhelming beautiful experience to be had. He completely consumes my fears, He erases my doubts and He brings a peace that is indescribable. Even in the midst of the desert I can sense Him, feel Him. He promises to be the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, so we can follow Him. So I can follow Him.

Joshua 1:5b-7 “… as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.”

So I sit here and wonder, what deserts am I choosing? What areas of life am I electing to take the hard route?

There is a set of movies called Nooma. These dvd’s are inspiring, deeply powerful and so concise in describing incredible truths of God. There is one called “Storm”. This depicts a Father and Son going on a walk through a forest in the middle of a storm. The narrator of this dvd is the Father. He describes how his opportunity to hold his son as they made their way through the rain and storm was one of his most privileged and intimate moments with his son. He would never take it back.

There are so many times when I am walking through a storm of life and I begin to ask God, Why? And I begin to wonder if God cares for me. To question His love. I do not ever want to do that. God sees the opportunity to hold me CLOSE to His chest as a privilege and a great experience.

All we need is God’s heart beat pressed against ours in order to know that we WILL make it through.

The most remarkable fact of God is that He doesn’t allow us to walk through a desert or endure through a storm for nothing. He brings fruit, abundance and blessing after. When God takes away He always returns more, and when God endures with us He always rewards us with Himself.