When I think of something NEW, wilderness is not the first picture that pops into my head.

I love visions of snow capped mountains, meadows covered in yellow flowers, and rolling acres of beach with white foamed waves crashing upon it. You can keep the miles upon miles of sand, prickly cactus, and poisonous snakes that make up the “wilderness” known as the desert. Now before you are too quick to correct me, I know that wilderness is also found in forests and other uncultivated regions where only wild animals inhabit it. But the desert is my minds picture of wilderness! I hate the heat, I hate being thirsty for even a minute or two, and snakes are one of my all time dreaded creatures.

However, it is undeniable here, as we study our passage in Isaiah, that if we are to acquire something NEW from God, then He is going to take us through our wilderness.

“See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”          Isaiah 43:19

Why do visions of beautiful, white, snow covered mountains and landscapes of rolling beach fronts splashed with waves of ocean water pop into my head so quickly? Because that is where I would rather be. But, if it were not for the “wilderness days”, the days framed in dryness, the weeks spent in worry, the months filled with anxiety, the moments wasted in fear…would I be able to fully enjoy and appreciate the beauty and blessing of the mountains, beachfronts and meadows?

God has allowed the difficult “Wilderness” days to teach us to look, see, and perceive what NEW thing He is doing. When we look to Him and see that He is taking us out of the wilderness, that is when we can perceive the good and NEW thing that He is bringing us.

The closest event I can liken it to in my life is fasting. If you have ever fasted from something you enjoy in order to grow closer to God through your time of sacrifice, then you know that it is not easy to go through. You are in a “dry” time with that sacrifice, spending time with God and growing closer to Him, but not partaking in that thing you love or at least like a lot!  God seems to call me to giving up some kind of food that I love. One time my sacrifice was cupcakes. Yes, you heard me right, cupcakes. You may be feeling like my sister did when she asked me, “Are cupcakes really that big of a deal for you?” And sadly, my answer was yes! At that time there seemed to be a new cupcake place on every corner of every block. They were popping up as fast and as frequent as Starbucks in Manhattan! I was out of control with one of my greatest weaknesses, CAKE! I fasted from them that year for 40 days. At the end of my fast I ran, not walked to the nearest cupcake store and that cupcake never tasted so good! Sure, I had been to that particular cupcake store many times. I had eaten that flavor of cupcake on numerous occasions. But until I had been through the “wilderness” of not eating cupcakes, is when I appreciated and enjoyed the true goodness of them.

You and I both go through wilderness times when we feel dry, thirsty and wrung out! God uses those times to cause us to look up to Him, see what He is doing, perceive that it is a good and NEW thing, and lead us out of our wilderness.

TRUTH BOMB

GOD WILL MAKE A WAY IN OUR WILDERNESS

Have you ever noticed how close the words desert and dessert are to each other? Just saying! No matter if your wilderness is a desert, a dessert, a relationship, or a job, we all have them, and God knows it! His desire is to do a NEW thing in us and take us through it!

Speak Truth Love