Desert
Lessons
By Karen D’Amore
“I am about to do a
brand-new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you see it? I will make a
pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers
for them in the desert!”
Isaiah
43:19 (NLT)
Everything
was new and unfamiliar: newly married…newly retired…and newly relocated to a
state distant from my family and friends. This new land was dry, dusty and
desolate; a stark contrast to my lifelong coastal paradise. Moving from my
California beach-town to the Las Vegas desert was God’s plan…not mine!
Following
God’s call into full-time ministry, my new desert translated into a “spiritual
desert,” a wandering wilderness for my soul. For four years in that barren
desert, I never once felt at home and experienced heartache, loneliness,
betrayal, persecution and serious illness. The testing process stripped me down
to the bare emotional essentials, where I could no longer hide from personal
truths. But it resulted in a deepened faith and renewed inner life that clung
to God in total dependence. Parched…I hungered and thirsted for Him, like never
before. I was no longer in control.
Choosing to let go and let God deepen His purifying work, I gradually responded in surrendered obedience.
Biblically,
the desert is not a place to stay forever, but rather a process of pilgrimage,
a journey we must travel through. My desert experience was a time of spiritual
purification, preparing me for a new life of freedom and love, in a land that
God would eventually reveal. The wilderness drew me to discover spiritual
vitality in the depth of my heart - - a hidden oasis - - planted by God. An
obedient heart was the necessary component for responding to God’s plan and
mission for my life. Hindsight clarified the purpose in those desert lessons,
revealing the necessity of each and every difficulty and hardship, as God’s
testing and refining tools.
Now,
on the transformational end of that desert journey, God has called me to that revealed
land. And as I’m living out God’s mission and plan in this new land,
I am overtly aware of my inability to have fulfilled His mission without
responding in obedience to those invaluable desert lessons.
Jesus
spent forty days in the desert, where He obeyed the Father through testing and
suffering. This is equally true for us. Through testing and suffering, we are
challenged to obey and choose between God and evil. Jesus emerged from the
wilderness, prepared for His ministry and mission… obediently proclaiming the
Kingdom of God all the way to the cross. As Christ-followers, our desert
lessons prepare us for our God-ordained missions: to ultimately draw others to
Jesus!
GOING DEEPER:
1. Do you resist or respond to your desert
experiences?
FURTHER READING:
Married
to Dan, Karen, a retired police officer, currently works as a Manicurist at
Craig Berns Salon and Foot Care
Specialist at Shorehaven Senior Facility.
She also serves on Oakwood ‘s Women’s Special Events team.
