Today was the first time that it took me a while to figure out what to write. I initially had an idea, but it would require a little more intentionality, and I wanted to do that topic justice. I’ll probably write it tomorrow. As I was thinking about it, I finally decided what to write about. This is the most spontaneous post I have written because I started with one thought and it completely morphed into another.

Have you ever been in the wilderness? Where nothing is happening, things are not going as planned, and you can only hear crickets. Complete silence. It was a season in your life when things were working well, but then everything suddenly changed. It was a season when you looked at your life and felt you should have been far ahead of where you are now. From my short experience in the wilderness season, I can tell you it’s not fun. But I’ve also learned that your response in that season determines many things and, in fact, shapes the rest of your life

One day in December 2022, I came face to face with a decision on how I was going to respond in my wilderness season. After the events of the war and my coming to Germany, it didn’t take long to know that God had gently ushered me into the wilderness. As I had written in some of my previous posts, God was so generous with His word and comfort, but like a loving Father that He is, He also knew when to call me to order when my complaints began to fall into borderline sin. That particular December, I looked at everything happening, and it looked so bleak. I had let worry cloud my judgment and thought that I was sinking into despair. At that particular moment, it felt like my life had ended and nothing good could ever happen again to me. I had called one of my friends, and I cried to her. She encouraged me, but God knew that it was time to bring the rod. He was no longer sparing the rod. I knew from medicine that when your soul is troubled, it sometimes tells on you physically. 

You see, I started having severe neck pains. Pains that made me unable to move my neck. I had to move my entire body just to turn my head. One of those days, I heard the word “stiff-necked.” Knowing that it was a word in the Bible, I googled it, and behold, I received the most severe reprimand of my life. Allow me to share the full verse with you.

Exodus 33:3

“Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

I can’t forget this word and what it did to me. God told Moses to go to the land, but He wouldn’t go with them because the Israelites were stiff-necked. And in that moment God said, “This is how you are behaving, and you have a choice: you can either stay in the wilderness for 40 days or for 40 years. The choice is yours.”

Whew! What a good God, who can call His children to order! That was the very moment I knew that I was not going to let my attitude elongate my season. That was where I knew that God was doing something, and I was going to cooperate with Him. Were there harder days after this moment? Oh yes, but my disposition changed to that of gratitude and also reflection. I knew that there was a purpose to this season of my life, and God needed me pruned for what is coming and where He is sending me. I needed this experience in my life because God will come for the lessons I had learned in a future timeline. My heart softened; I embraced the wilderness with so much joy that if you were not close to me, you never would have guessed what was happening. 

The wilderness bares you open; you see who you really are, what you say you know or believe about God, and what idols or personalities you have held on to. The wilderness prunes you because God is on your matter, and lastly, the wilderness refines you. You really come out a different person.

I’m so grateful for that season of my life. I’m truly grateful for the pruning and refining that has changed me. I’m grateful for the invaluable lessons that I learned. The most important one is that God is with me and that all things will truly work together for my good. 

I’m not sure what hand life has dealt you! But I know that when we walk with God, we won’t reap a harvest of emptiness, even when things look bleak. God is there!

I encourage you to embrace your season. Joy truly comes in the morning. Two scriptures came to me, and I might as well share both.

Psalm 30:5 AMP

For His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.

Isaiah 43:2 NIV

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

Love, love, love you!

See you tomorrow