Desert Season

Psalm 63:1-4

“O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.”

We travel in and out of desert seasons while here in this life. Whether single, married, divorced or widowed, we will experience desert seasons.

A dry, desert season in my life brought me to a place of full dependency on Him. It was a lonely time where all I had was Him. For an entire year I had tremendous difficulty in being single. I was struggling with God’s timing. I couldn’t see why He would want me to wait so long for my husband. He truly wanted to be everything to me, as He knew I had a bad habit of filling His place in my heart with a man. He loves me too much to let me do this to myself again.

One afternoon I searched for His presence… I laid down, lifted my hands up to Him, and praised Him. I then felt the touch of His mercy. He was teaching me-in my waiting, lonely, spiritually worn out season, I didn’t need to experience the sweetness and thrill of the mountaintop constantly. I had to walk by faith and not by sight. He also taught me to realize the “facts” (truth) in my life, as my feelings had a way of lying to me. And the fact is, God is good, and He loves me. I also learned our faith will grow and our walk will mature if, during times of dryness, we determine to hang in there and keep going. During these times, it greatly pleases the heart of God, when you lift your hands, follow hard, and cleave to Him.

Say, “I’m going to stick by You. I don’t care how dry it gets. I don’t care how hot it is. I don’t care how unfruitful it might be or how painful…I’m going to cling to You day by day!”

He will pull you through, holding you all the way! His promise is He will never leave you nor forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5) Let Him love you through the storms. Are you lonely? Do you have an illness? Experienced the loss of a loved one? Gone through a divorce from a difficult marriage? Have you been hurt by a parent? Do you suffer from depression? He knows. He is with you. When you don’t seem to feel Him, He is closest.

I learned suffering is the purest form of “love” as opposed to the feel good stuff we all seem to desire so intensely. But real love, pure love suffered for us. It didn’t run away when things became tough, or didn’t feel good anymore, oh no. He stayed, and suffered to the point of death, to demonstrate how much He loves us… and to teach us how to love. This is the pure stuff. This is real love.

Suffering- 1 Peter 2:21-25, states you join Jesus in suffering. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example, that we should follow in His steps. “

I read a story in Jon Courson’s commentary about a father and his three- year old son playing in the snow.

The father said, “Come on, follow in my foot prints if you can.” He couldn’t, his stride was too big.

1 Peter 2:21-25 states, when Jesus was wrongly, cruelly, and terribly treated, He didn’t answer back. I am also to follow in His steps. Yet I know I can’t do this because I want to fight back; I want to let my opinion be known; I want to make sure I’m heard. Here’s the good news; Jesus not only is our example, He is our enabler, He is not only the Lamb. He is the shepherd of our souls.

This three-year old son did indeed follow in his father’s steps. As the father lifted him in the air and back down again, the little child was able to put his feet in each of his father’s footprints. He followed in his footsteps not only because he gave him steps to follow, but because he also enabled him to do so by lifting him up.

This is what our Lord does. He’s the One who hoists me up and allows me, if I’ll let Him, to follow in His steps. He’ll do the same for you. Trust Jesus!

The challenging and toughest seasons in your life are also the most beautiful. They are shaping and molding you into a mature, real, and beautiful person. Allow Him to teach you during these difficult times; as it will produce an abundance of fruit in your life. Not until you travel the difficult road in victory, are you able to experience His beauty in your life. Allow Him to give you the power to step in His footprints.

Before I was saved I went through a painful season without the Lord’s strength. I was going through a heart breaking divorce, and right alongside this…I lost my brother to cancer. Because I was handling it alone without God, it was the darkest and hopeless season of my life. One I don’t even remember.

As a saved woman of God, when I was just four months married, my father died, then four days later I lost my new sister in-law to cancer (the one who introduced me to Frank). We found out she had this horrible cancer on our honeymoon. When we returned, we watched her die. God had a plan. My dad was saved right before he died. Christina had a true experience with Jesus as he was leading her home. It was indeed painful. But I did feel the power of God help me through. I believe He was as close as He ever was to me during this heartbreaking time. I learned to lift my hands to heaven and trust in the One who loves me. He never left. He was holding me. I believe I grew more in this season than any other season.