Five Minute Fridays: Gift


I'm joining the Gypsy Mama for her Five Minute Friday Challenges. We write because we love words and the relief it is to just write them without worrying if they’re just right or not. No editing, no back peddling. We take five minutes on Friday and write like we used to run when we were kids. On Fridays we write like we believe we can fly. Won’t you join us? Today's subject: Gift



I am in a desert.

It's dry here, spiritually speaking. I feel cut off, lonely, and out of control. Never,
never have I felt so out of control.

It feels dead here. My eyes squint to see life, but it's all empty--stifling heat and vast emptiness.

And yet I know
, I know God called me out here. I heard His voice. I followed Him here.

I came, arms empty, heart broken, to this place that is so far away from where I want to be, trusting in His provision and restoration.

At first I'm frantic to find out why.
Why here? Why now? Why this place?

No answer. Humph!

I come from a different angle.
Okay--what do you want to talk to me about?

A subtle whisper.

Look.

I do, and all around me I start to see life, maybe not quite where I expected it to be, but there nonetheless.
I see the little miracles, the life that survives the heat of the day and the cool of the night.

Heat refines.

I nod to myself. There's purpose here. Life. This desert isn't a curse, it's a gift.

A chance to go deeper with Him,
just Him.

And I thank Him for the gift of loneliness and deserts, for provision, for refining, and for life in the most unusual places.


It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.
-
2 Corinthians 1: 8ff (The Message)

Comments

  1. Alex ~
    You are not alone. God seems to be calling a lot of us to Him, listen to Him, be with Him, journey with Him ... alone. I'm glad you are seeing the life and the beauty of the desert. One of my favorite places.
    Many blessings,
    Felecia

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    Replies
    1. Felecia, thanks for visiting here and for the encouragement!

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  2. How well I know the blistering heat of the desert. But one day, in the middle of your desert, there will be just a few drops of rain. And everything around you will burst into flower, those seeds just waiting for one Word from Him, to burst out in praise. The desert never sleeps. Only waits.

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  3. visiting via the Gypsy Mama:

    ohhhh...thanks for sharing this...

    it feels like our family is also in a desert right now...we followed God to a hard place in a remote, lonely area, to help at-risk Navajo young people...and it feels so dry and so lonely and so hopeless right now...

    Thanks for the reminder to stop and to LOOK...to search for the beauty around us and to remember that we believed we were following God when we came out here...

    you bring just a little bit a HOPE back to my heart again!

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    Replies
    1. Oh, THANK you for your kind words of encouragement! I'm glad that we're both in this desert, learning to see the beauty in the heat and the dry places! It's so corny but I remember this saying alot: if God brings you to it, He promises to bring you through it!(hey, I said it was corny right? but it's helped me focus on the important thing: His promise.)

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