Wednesday, August 26, 2015

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!

Once 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.