Placed in The Wilderness without permission strips away everything that was once familiar.
Dearest Reader,
There are two types of wilderness; the one you choose and the one that finds you. Like me, you may have experienced them both. You have righted the ship and began moving forward with a new heart. Life is good.
And then the wilderness finds you. If you are there or have been there, you will understand when I say these words to you:
“Being placed in The Wilderness without permission strips away everything that was once familiar. Sucker punched when least expected.”
Can you relate? Do you know this wilderness?
It is the thing you did not choose.
Instead, this wilderness found you. Your ordinary days soon fade away, and you find yourself exactly where you least expected to be.
- Hearing the words, “There is no cure.”
- A wayward child that has kept you awake nights is breaking your heart while driving away.
- The broken marriage
- Loss and grief
- Depression
- A diagnosis
- The barren womb
- And so much more
So much more.
You have been placed in the wilderness without permission while the pieces of your life shatter around you.
Your life derailed without asking for permission.
I remember the day my Sweet Man rolled me into Duke’s Dysautonomia Clinic in the child-size wheelchair my Mother had found me. The taste of fear lingered and my heart pounded as we made our way down long corridors praying for answers. We had prayed for a cure, for my former life, my old self to show back up again.
The future, my future, sat in the waiting room — walkers, wheelchairs, canes, IV fluids connected to skeletal arms. None of this was my choice.
I can feel the disappointment as if it was merely days ago instead of years. See the tears splashing down my face landing in my lap when her warm brown hands held mine and said the words, “There is no cure.”
On the long drive home I settled into the nothingness I had become, my body rail thin, unable to stand. Life moving forward while mine stood still.
Dearest Friend, let’s pause here and look at another woman’s story.
In Mark 5:25-34 we are invited into her pain, her wilderness.
“Now a woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years had endured much under many doctors. She had spent everything she had and was not helped at all. On the contrary, she became worse. Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his clothing. For she said, ‘If I just touch his clothes, I’ll be made well.’ Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
At once Jesus realized in himself that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’His disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’’But he was looking around to see who had done this. The woman, with fear and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ‘Daughter,’ he said to her, ‘your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction.’” -Christian Standard Bible
We know her as the bleeding woman.
A woman hiding on the outskirts of town, a prisoner in her blood, stripped bare of the life she would have chosen, should have had, if this wilderness had not wanted her.
In her pain she reaches for the Savior’s tattered robe, a moment of desperation, her last hope was her hope.
Reaching for the tattered robe of Jesus transforms hopelessness into hope. Your wilderness becomes the sweetest place where you meet the risen Savior. It is where He touches our pain, catches our tears, and promises there is a better day yet to come. Whether in this life or on the other side of this life.
We reach for Jesus and hope redefines the wilderness.
Your Wilderness Guide,
“There is no space to live well or love well, much less pursue the God who created us to be in fellowship with Him. We close the gap between what we need and what we want with more. Our spinning lives and broken hearts are empty while appearing full. We paste a smile on our face and tell anyone who asks we are okay while inside we are shattering a million different ways.” -Mornings In The Word
PS: My first book, Mornings In The Word is available now. Order your copy today.
This is so good… and so hard… Thank you for always pointing us back to Jesus!
Karrilee, it’s good to see you!! Thank you for your kind words!
XO
Amen. I have found that tattered hem is the sweetest gift to touch. He is the true hope. Again tonight I needed to be reminded of the redefining that HE brings when everything else around me shouts that nothing will ever change. Thank you for these sweet words. Blessings and prayers for you Dear Sister.
Oh, Bettie, yes and yes…grasping and clinging to the tattered robe of Jesus is the only way we can carry our hard things. Praying for you Sweet Friend!
Tammy, your title and the words that follow are powerful indeed. Thank you. No matter who we are or what our station or season of life, each of us will undoubtedly experience such a wilderness for one reason or another. Thank you for sharing your own and pointing us to the woman with the issue of blood as well.
Also, loved Mornings in the Word…sharing it with someone else.
Awe, thank you, Pam! Thanks for your words of encouragement!
XO
Thank you Tammy! Your words are inspirational. I am sitting here reading them and thinking what an awesome & brave woman you are! Thank you for sharing your story! When I say my prayers today, I will remember to ask God to bless you & your family! GOD BLESS YOU!
Thank you, Elaine! I’m so glad you dropped by, I hope you will come back!
XO
sometimes it takes that wilderness to make us reach – you are a faithful follower, dear Tammy.
Yes, it does Sue! I believe that’s exactly why the Lord has me here.
XO
Thank you for reminding us of the hope that redefines the wilderness. Thank you Jesus, You are our hope in every wilderness!
Amen Cheryl!
XO