Days in the Desert

When I think of a desert I think of dry, parched land.  I picture scenes from movies where the character is alone and dragging themselves across the sand and searching for water or people.  They are usually searching for someone to rescue them from dying in the desert.

The only description I can find for the past months is that of a walk in a vast desert.  It has been lonely at times and dry and seems to go on forever.  There seemed to be  no one to rescue from the desert, no one to offer a drink of water.

Now let me be careful to say that this wasn't a lonely walk because people weren't around, but instead because it was a journey that I needed to take with God.  People around me were encouraging and asked to pray for us.  People were in that desert with me, but the walk God had planned wasn't one of fellowship with others, but fellowship with Him.

He intended to teach  me that He was the sole author of the plan for my life.  He was the water that quenched my thirst and the director of my paths.  Because we  reached a no in the journey didn't mean He had changed.  He needed my attention to teach me some things.

One of the biggest lessons I learned in the desert was that God was trustworthy and that He still speaks.  I learned that I needed to first run to God and trust that He would answer my prayers and show me the way.  I had the formula backwards - God will speak and he will use circumstances and people to confirm His speaking.  I tended to listen to people and circumstances and beg God to confirm what they were saying to me.  Dangerous ground to tread on.

It took not sharing a lot of things with people and focusing on listening to God, but I can tell you that He will speak when we choose to listen.  He will make His way clear.  He is trustworthy.

Would I chose to intentionally wander for 10 months in a desert?  Absolutely not - I prefer cool weather and lots of fellowship.  Would I trade the lessons I have learned in the last 10 months.  Definitely not!  I have found a friend who so greatly desires to rescue me from a dry desert and lead me beside still waters!