DESERT JOURNEYS

 

Desert Journeys in today’s parlance would mean something adventurous for holidaymakers making a trip to the desert. Fun, bold and exciting.

But here, the reference is to the dry spells in our lives. The feel of walking and trudging through the heavy sand dunes. When life does not play fair, when we suffer a setback – hard times. Friends desert us and the going gets tough. The time we keep asking, ” why me?” We struggle with our own selves, to tame our thinking process and to find ways to get out of the darkened way.

In the process, we find the solution or remedy only if we quieten our mind and think out things rationally. Our thoughts then turn to God. We seek for Divine intervention and Divine Help.

And it does come. When we submit and surrender at the feet of the Divine.

Ephesians 4:24 of the Bible tells us:

Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

We wonder as to why God leads us through these desert places. He does that so that He might test us, humble us and let that true condition of our hearts be revealed. That we might come to know the real ‘us’. There is nothing like the desert to help us discover our real selves. (Even Jesus fasted for forty days and forty nights in the Judaean Desert.)

Stripped of all trappings, with the masks peeled off. and having shed the gaudy costumes, the real self in us is revealed – to ourselves! We come to face our true identity, the false one being forsaken amidst the dreary journey.

At this point. we really need Grace and Strength from Above.

Ask and you will receive: seek and you will find: knock, and the door will be opened, for the Love of the Lord has no end.

PRAYER:

As we walk through the deserts of our Life, be with us. It is a very painful journey where there seems to be no one around and we are left all alone.Our only relief is Your Presence, Lord. Strengthen us, give us courage enough to bear all the trials on the way. May we be re-created and re-formed in You. May we strive to be like You, full of Love and Patience, to endure all that has been willed for us. Fill us with Hope for a glorious tomorrow. In Your Name. Amen.

God bless us with His Hope, Love and Peace.