Desert Time

Do you sometimes feel like you are walking through desert alone?  That answers to your questions won't come?  That you don't even know how or what to pray?  That God is far away from you?  I believe that we all go through these periods where nothing makes sense and we feel tired of trying to figure it out.  A time when fear creeps in and faith falters.  A time when we feel separated from God.

Guess what?  He hasn't gone anywhere.  We are the ones that have walked away.  Away into the world around us.  Away into ourselves and our stuff.  Away into our sin and failings.  We focus on things other than God and lose our way in the process.  Those are the times when confusion, fear, doubt, and insecurity can creep in.  Those are the times when we can believe the lies of the devil that we are not enough, that we are bad, that we don't measure up, that we don't have what it takes. that we can't make a difference in this crazy world we live in, and that we are not loved or even lovable.

I feel that these times are actually a necessary part of our growth.  Just as a plant will lose all of its leaves in the winter only to burst forth with beautiful blossoms and foliage in the spring, we must go through these seasons for us to bloom.  It's similar to walking through a dark tunnel only to exit to a brilliant light.

I have always found that these times turn out to be a time of discovery and that once I exit, there is the Light.  There is the oasis.  He is there waiting always to refresh me, to minister to me, to heal me, and to teach me.  I come out of these dry times with a new understanding of His love for me, of my love for Him, and of what my next step on the journey should be.  When that next step is not clear, I come out with a sense of confidence and trust, that I can simply wait and He will bring it to me.

Here of late, I have had the sense that He wants me to simply leaving myself open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and just listen for His guidance and instruction.  I have a sense that He is healing me from my "deserts" and preparing me for His next step for my life.  I pray that I can with humility and docility remain open and obedient to His stirrings in my heart and follow through in trust His direction.

Fear not the desert for the springs of His Spirit will come to renew you!