Can You Thrive in a Dry Place?

Embracing the Wilderness Season

“These are the ones sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves but last only a short while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.” ‭‭~Mark‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭TLV‬‬

It was a summer afternoon. I lied alone on my full-size, sheet-less mattress, taking a break from doing laundry to rest in my thoughts; My eyes glued to the yellowed popcorn ceiling when the voice boomed through the room clear as if I were speaking to my earthly father.

“It’s time!” It said.

I sat up quickly, rolled off the bed, and looked around. Who said that? The two-bedroom apartment I shared with my boyfriend and his friends was completely empty. Not even a fly in sight.

But I wasn’t alone. God was present and there was something He needed me to know. It was time. Time for what? I didn’t know exactly. It isn’t like my life was great before that moment. In fact, it had significantly declined and though I’d recognized it, I couldn’t see how I’d gotten myself there. Still, after that moment, it continued to decline. I mean, there were brief instances where I came up from the bottom of the ocean, got a whiff of fresh air and some sun, but right back under I went; every time. I was drowning.

At that moment, I was living in St. Joseph, MO. The goal was to go off to college, study journalism, and become some big journalist. Instead, before the semester ended, I dropped out of all my classes. They made a mistake in approving a freshman to live off campus. I made the mistake of seizing the opportunity, because eventually I lost my apartment (which I spent the next nine years being harassed about until God miraculously paid that debt for me, but that’s a story for another time).

I scurried back to Kansas City to find a place to live. Within three years from that divine moment I left my boyfriend, lost another home, and found myself from couch to floor of my people’s places. Whatever it was time for, I wasn’t quite ready. I was losing left and right. Everything had completely dried up. Low and feeling alone, I cried out to the ones who usually came running, and even they couldn’t help me that time around. My only hope was the one who spoke—Adonai.

I don’t claim to have it all figured out. Though my life is beautiful and I’m appreciative of where Father God has brought me from, my life isn’t without challenge. In fact, I find myself in a current season of Midbar. In Hebrew this means wilderness and represents either a dry place or a place of growth and self-discovery.

In Scripture, we see many instances of the Spirit of God leading people into the wilderness. The Israelites were led into the wilderness when they came out of Egypt—their bondage. Jesus was led into the wilderness after He was baptized. Elijah ran into the wilderness away from Jezebel.

These wilderness seasons were not for nothing. They were not just for the sake of being lost, or hungry, or thirsty, or depressed. There was a refining that God had to do; a preparation and a purging that needed to take place for His promise to manifest.

As I discovered from my own experiences, the Word of God comes first. Then, the preparation. Finally, the manifestation. As Adonai is speaking in Isaiah He asks, “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.” (Isaiah 66:8, TLV).

You and I, sons and daughters of God, are pregnant with seeds of God—of His Heaven—and we do not birth forth those things which we carry until after we have first travailed. So, how can we reshape our thoughts and position our hearts in preparation for the dry place that must come before the entry into the land flowing with milk and honey? We must focus our entire being on the Lord. We must put on our rags and die. We must humble ourselves under the hand and authority of God and surrender to His way, even when His way is not pleasing to our desires. We must throw away every desire and be open to the new things that God is doing in us and around us. When our lives become God’s life and nothing is about us anymore, we have reached a place of total surrender and have granted our Father complete access to do as He pleases. Then and only then are we able to enjoy the beauty of His righteousness.

“You keep in perfect peace one whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

‭‭~Isaiah‬ ‭26‬:‭3‬ ‭TLV‬‬

Reading

Mark 4:16-17; Isaiah 26:3

Prayer

Father, we thank you for brining us out of bondage. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ; for His blood, and that by His blood we are set free. We thank you for your instruction for each season, level, and stage of our lives. We thank you for being a present help. We thank you simply for being present, because your presence alone provides peace that goes beyond what our human minds can comprehend. You come forth in all your glory and splendor and you rest on us, and you live in us, and you give us the right to live in you. Father, give us the anointing of your spirit—the fresh oil—that we need to withstand and endure during our wilderness season; remind us that when things begin looking dry and bear, that is when our breakthrough is nearest; that is when your hand is about to be revealed. So, give us strength to wait on you and teach us how we should wait on you: with prayer, and praise, and thanksgiving in our hearts, holding fast to faith that we will see your goodness despite what it looks like. Father we thank you for the testing of our faith and we pray that it produces perseverance in us while purifying our faith to be as gold. Lord we acknowledge that none of this is possible without you. We acknowledge that your love is the reason we’re able to come boldly before your throne with this prayer. We thank you that your ears are attentive here and we pray that your heart would remain here continually. Continue being our keeper and watching over us to ensure no evil befalls us; that your cornerstone holds us up. This is my prayer, Father, in your son Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.