Desert Lessons

Dear Friends,

We have finally made it... that's right. I write you from the burning desert where all you hear is the wind blowing, the lifting of sand, where the sky is clear and the sun just never seems to get tired of doing it's job and where there is absolutely nothing in view... at least not where I am. What am I doing here? Well, a lot of things so far, but mostly just learning to turn my heart to God, to quiet my soul and hear Him speak. I wasn't really planning on such a trip... when He suggested we go I said...

"Great! Let me get..."

"He's not coming."

"Oh, then let me tell..."

"She's not coming."

"Then... we surely must take..."

"Nothing...just come :)"

"0_o..... hmmm, I think I have to gooo"

What am I really saying? Just that the Lord loves us so much, He knows what we need and when we need it too. If our prayer is to be closer to Him... to have more of Him... but if we are already full of ourselves, then how can this happen? God takes prayer seriously, He takes us seriously and if we say "Oh Lord I want more of you in my life"... then He'll probably have to take something out of you, to put more of Him. No? In a way I think that what we sometimes mean by this is really, Lord bless me with more things that are good for me. Give me, give me, give me. This morning when I woke up, still a bit dizzy from the whole trip I said. "Lord, what do we do? Where do I go from here?" First off, the basics... love, forgive, give thanks, and something I seldom do, lay it all out before God and man if necesary. Why? because if I carry things around when I'm trying to focus on Him... I can't really, because I'll still feel the burden of my load... so that's got to go... "Ok cool...what next?" And here comes my first Desert Lesson.

1. When we pray, "More of You", that actually means, less of me... and that's how our prayer will be answered. Then when we say... "Lord, why do I feel so empty?" He will lovingly remind us that we do indeed seem to have a new hole, a new emptiness, but that He's here to fill it and He will...we just have to follow Him and trust that He is good and all good things come from Him.

I think I will learn a lot of things in the desert. God did many miracles right there... Jesus spent a lot of time there too. If I want to follow Him with all my heart I'll have to understand what the desert is, as it seems to be a very important place for God. I'm getting excited about this. I've managed to bring my Bible, my guitar, a pen... a study.... some chocolates (shhhhh) Everything else He will provide. Speaking of which, Happy Thanksgiving to anyone reading this today. Even here in the desert the Lord is going to provide a meal for me that I won't even prepare. The guys (just two really) from our Bible study are coming and one of them will cook. :) And we hadn't even planned to have a Thanksgiving Dinner... infact, I'll have to tell them that that's what we are having. :)

Cheers and God bless you where ever you are.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." Isaiah 26:3