Rivers in the badlands

I am trying very hard to take in the scenery of this life journey I'm on and for the most part, I think that I have enjoyed each phase of my life. But I have to say the road I've traveled over the last year has been one of the most treacherous I've come across. I have been in what some refer to as the badlands or desert which is somewhat fitting considering a milestone birthday is fast approaching.

While sitting in the doctor's office, I overheard a 14 year old girl tell her 5 year old brother - "Don't ever grow up, stay a kid forever. The older you get, the harder life is." It took every bit of restraint that I had not to tell her how she had NO idea.... But obviously she gets it. Good for her! Maybe that awareness will help her prepare for the battles that lie ahead in her future. I almost wish I had adopted that attitude in my youth. But then, probably nothing could have prepared me for the direction my life has taken. Rose colored glasses are nice, but when reality slaps you in the face, you find those rose colored glasses did nothing but skew the vision.

However, God uses our attitudes to His advantage no matter what the situation. My rose colored glasses were shattered long ago and would have been no good in the desert. My soul is now parched and I long for living water. How tempting it is to try to turn around and go back - but I'm afraid that is just not possible. The verses I'm finding around every corner in my search for water tell me not to look back but to keep going forward. The water is starting to trickle in... My tears have become the aquifer for my river in the badlands. And through those tears I'm beginning to see that it is precisely that river forming that will lead me out of the desert and to something brand new.

Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Isaiah 43.18-19

When we find ourselves in the desert, we are often there alone - or so it feels. That is the time that its easiest to reach out to God. He wants that from us, craves that from us. Those are the times we see just one set of footprints in the sand because He carries us through. He carries us till He makes that road or creates that river to help us find our own way out. Max Lucado said it best in Facing Your Giants - You'll never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.. Its hard to understand why it takes a tragedy to bring us to Him, but sometimes that is the only way He gets our attention. These times of trial are a blessing waiting to happen. Which always brings me back to Isaiah 55:8 - For My Thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways declares the Lord. I for one am grateful for that because my ways tend to lead me back to the desert and I don't think I really want to visit the badlands EVER again.