Why The Desert Wanderings in Our Lives?

The one word that continually comes to my mind is "journey." Most likely that is because I feel like I am on a journey. Physically this is the case. I am on a path leading Nikki and I to move to a foreign country with a foreign culture and a foreign language. It will lead us to eat foreign food and who knows what else! As the excitement continues to build toward the big move, I can't help but also think of the faith journey he has brought us on.

I say journey because I keep finding myself learning, growing, forgetting, trusting, doubting, joyful, and sad (I am sure there are others, but you get the picture). In this journey though, I have realized that the process of our journey is where the growth is at. While the journey of my Christian life has been a 21 year experience, the journey of this phase has been relatively short. But in that short amount of time I have experienced the ever powerful waterfall of God's goodness poured out, and the ever dry waiting of the desert wondering how everything is going to happen. I have been encouraged in the times of waiting though. Here is why.

This tough question from The Green Letters got me thinking... "Are we to love and trust and respond to Him only when He seems to be 'blessing' us? What sort of love is that? Self-love?" Tough question huh, he goes on to explain "Our Father strips everything away from time to time to give us the opportunity of loving and trusting and responding to Him just because He is our Father."

In these times of waiting, He has proven himself and shown himself to be enough. As He painfully strips away all the layers of flesh from my life that have held on to the things of this world and life, I find myself being fulfilled not by the flashy, but by Christ Himself.

Here is the tough question: Are you longing to be blessed, or are you longing for Jesus? He alone is enough, for in Him is all we need.