Beauty in the Desert

Hosea 2:14 "...I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her."

I mentioned yesterday that I've felt like I'm in the desert. When I think of the desert I think of brown, dry, prickly, nothingness - and then I read a verse like the one above.

Perhaps God leads us to the desert because He loves us enough to find a silent place. A place that when He speaks will go directly to our hearts because there is nothing else around to distract us. Perhaps, too, that is why we often don't volunteer to go to the desert. Silence is uncomfortable. In the silence we are often taken back to places that we may not want to revisit, or we are able to be still long enough to recognize things about ourselves or our lives that we really don't want to see.

In a world where we can fill our lives with "noise" - cell phones, email, email on cell phones, texting, iPods, tv, etc.- we must make a choice to be silent.

Psalm 4:4 ..."search your hearts and be silent."

I read the blog of the sweet friend whom I told I was in the desert last week and she gave me such a new perspective on what the desert can look like, if we allow it.

Desert redefined by an awesome Godchick: 1) vast land with that grows that bread of life; an area filled with the living water 2) a wild and exciting area full of opportunities to gain knowledge and grow closer with our Father in Heaven 3) an intimate and pleasant area (thanks, allie!)

What tremendous encouragement I received from that! I can't say that I embraced it the day that I read it, but as I have spent time with God both in prayer and in His word, He has tenderly spoken and reminded me of what He can do in the desert.

If you find yourself being led into the desert today, I pray that these verses will encourage you and allow you to embrace what God can do with what we often consider a dry wasteland.

Isaiah 41:18-20 ..."I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

Isaiah 43:19 "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert, streams in the wasteland."

Psalm 78:15 "He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas."

Psalm 136:17 "to Him who led His people through the desert, His love endures forever."

When I ponder these verses and read all that God can do in the desert, I can praise Him for bringing me to this place.

If you have not heard the song below, I encourage you to check it out on You Tube. What beautiful lyrics.

Desert Song -

This is my prayer in the desert,
When all that's within me feels dry,
This is my prayer in my hunger and need,
My God is the God who provides,

And this is my prayer in the fire,
In weakness, or trial, or pain,
There is a faith proved more worth than gold,
So refine me Lord through the flame,

I will bring praise,
I will bring praise,
No weapon formed against me shall remain,
I will rejoice, I will declare,
God is my victory and He is here,

This is my prayer in the battle,
When triumph is still on its way,
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ,
So firm on his promise I'll stand,

All of my life, in every season,
You are still God,
I have a reason to sing,
I have a reason to worship,

And this is my prayer in the harvest,
When favour and providence flow,
I know I'm filled to be emptied again,
The seed I receive I will sow

Broken

Psalm 51:17 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart. O, God, you will not despise."

"Lord, today I bring to you my broken spirit and my broken heart. For some time now, I've chosen to insert you where I thought you were needed but for the most part have tried to prove that I can do it all by myself. I am tired. I am weary and I cannot do anymore on my own. Help me."

How many of you, like me, could make that your prayer today?

As I unpack that prayer, I realize that it is not until I give Him my brokenness that He has anything to work with. It is extremely difficult to work with someone or assist someone who thinks that it is their job to "make it happen." That is the person that I have been for months now. I've lived by the motto -- "If it is to be, it's up to me." What a joke. I haven't spoken that with words, but my actions have proven that I've edged God out in my self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency doesn't work! It may have the illusion of working on the outside, but I've found that inside I have become dry and crusty. Self-sufficiency hasn't made me a better mother, better employee, better girlfriend or better friend. It has made me grumpy, critical, overly stressed and empty. I told a friend the other day that I feel like I'm in the desert. I am parched and dehydrated and have felt as though I've been wandering aimlessly trying to find the "perfect solution." The crazy thing is, I've still gotten up and had my quiet time with the Lord. As I reflect on it, though, I've realized that I spent a little bit of time asking God to help me, but not believing that He could or would, then asking Him to get on board with my agenda of how to make things better at work, be less stressed, have more patience, etc.

God does not want us to live this way! That is why He tells us in Matthew 11 verse 28 "Come to Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." What I struggle with is why I do not do that the minute I am burdened -- I wait until I am so weary that I must crawl to Him, completely parched. Thank goodness, He gently whispers to me that no matter how I come to Him, He is, and always has been, there. He is waiting with open arms to welcome me back with no rebuke, only love.

Isaiah 40:11 "He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young."

Today, I am learning that in order to do the one simple thing that He asks, that I must have the confidence that He is who He says He is and will do everything that He has promised He will do. By having faith in my Father, my Shepherd, my Savior not only will I be able to rest, but I can live in the freedom of the life that He has chosen for me.