Coming Out of the Wilderness...

I attended worship services yesterday with our youngest daughter and her family at their church here in Broken Arrow.  It’s a much smaller church than where I have been attending at Rhema and it reminded me in many ways, of our last church in California.  The people were very outgoing and friendly and immediately made me feel at home!  I made contact with the gentleman who is in charge of the Men’s ministry and am planning to attend the next Men’s Breakfast fellowship in a couple of weeks at a restaurant just down the street from my apartment home.  So… we’ll see!

I’ve been doing a lot of praying and soul-searching over the last couple of weeks and am very eager to hook up to the right place as I begin this next chapter of life.  Everything is SO new to me nowadays!  Nothing is like it was… nor will it ever be again.

As I stood in my bedroom unbuttoning my shirt after returning home from church, I looked up with a tinge of sadness at the pictures of my lovely Piper on the wall.  At that moment I felt a little confused and told the Lord again, that I just feel so empty and purposeless right now.  For someone who has always been purpose driven with a vast array of dreams and plans for both my present and future… I’m living in a state of limbo at this point in my life!

But as I was reading before turning off the light last night, I had a sudden surge of hope as the author talked about past revivals in the church and then looked ahead to a coming move of God in the near future.  He described the times between the revivals when dedicated Christians prayed, sometimes for years, before things came forth in the physical realm.

And with that thought, I found myself excitedly exploring the idea that maybe… just maybe… I am in that place… a wilderness of sorts… just before God’s plans and purposes for me explode and life goes forth once again like I’d never imagined it could!

Could there be something on the horizon that is spectacularly above and beyond what my limited senses cannot fathom right now?  I have found myself over these last ten plus months since Piper moved to heaven, crying out like David did in Palm 63:1 “when he was in the wilderness of Judah. (saying) O God, you are my God. At dawn I search for you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry, parched land where there is no water.” (God’s Word ©) 

But, strangely enough, I haven’t felt totally alone or totally without an inner sense of expectation.  I’ve felt like the children of Israel when God “led his own people out like sheep and guided them like a flock through the wilderness.   (When He) led them safely. (And) They had no fear while the sea covered their enemies.  (For) He brought them into his holy land, to this mountain that his power had won.” 

Am I near that mountain that His power is winning for me?  Is my life about to take a turn for the positive?  Well… I wouldn’t put it past Him!  Would you in your life?

I remember the times in 2008 when Piper and I were helping with the Children’s ministry while attending Rhema.  Piper could still function on her own, but was experiencing a growing inability to respond to the quick changes that regularly occur during the kid’s services.  There were many times when I would have to take her hand and gently lead her.  That’s what I feel the Lord doing for me right now!

But I’ve been told that I am a “PLODDER!”  That once I set my mind on something, that I just keep plodding on until I get the answer that I’ve been seeking!  I like to think of myself as being “DETERMINED” and more in line to what the Lord told Joshua when he was suddenly put into a brand-new place and position in life as described in Joshua 1:9 when the Lord encouraged him by saying “Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the LORD your God, am with you wherever you go." (GNB)

So… do I have any idea of what’s going on or where I’m going… NO!  But it is NOT going to stop me from continuing to SEEK Him, to LISTEN for His voice and then to DO what He tells me to do!  Although some major things have dramatically changed in my life… other things have not and I’ll continue to follow the steps that Piper and I followed in the previous 48 years!  How about you?

Have a great new week, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting the unexpected in my life to turn out EXACTLY as God has planned for me!”