Do you ever feel like God is just not quite all the way there? Like you are on the outside of His plan looking in and just can't quite get there? Or maybe you know He's there but feel like you are not? That describes me lately.
It's not that I don't know He is real and that He is involved in my life. I know all that- I have experienced it first hand but, sometimes I am just not on the inside of the "God circle". I hate it! What have I done to get there? I know it's not God's problem. So here comes the evaluation of my spiritual state - the good, the bad and the ugly.
First, am I doing the basics? Reading my Bible, praying daily, confessing known sin, worshipping in all circumstances and gathering with other believers. Usually I can see that one of these disciplines have slipped. But what if I check them all off? What if I am doing all these things but its still Dry Gulch City? Am I just a loser? Has God had enough of me? Get behind me Satan! No way! So now what?
Well, I have learned that life is life and sometimes it is just a plain desert. It's like driving through Oregon really. You leave the beautiful coastline and you drive over that awesome coast range to reach a lush valley. You want to rest there and soak in the green fields with their rich bounty but you see those majestic Cascades and you have a destination to arrive at so you keep moving. You go over those mountains and you find an almost immediate change in the terrain with sage brush and dry grass. Its different but just as striking. However, it's a desert. A place that can be unforgiving and scary if you are not prepared. You persevere and drive on towards your final destination and slowly the trees change, the grasses get a little greener and the animals seem friendlier. All this time the desert seemed endless but you knew that if you kept on going and didn't quit it would get greener. I don't know about you but I love to visit the desert country if I am well stocked in the vitals. I would hate to be stuck out there unprepared and vulnerable.
I guess that is the difference between my deserts of old and my new deserts today. When I reach my dry spells I am better prepared. I am doing my disciplines and I don't quit - I am prepared and not as vulnerable to the wiles of the Enemy. That's not to say I have it down. I still have a lot to learn but what I do have is a faithful God that has given me all I need to be prepared to follow His road map through mountain ranges, lush valleys and dry deserts. I will get to my final destination and it will be Heaven and I will be more like my Savior and less like myself! Hallelujah!
