"Lately,
I've been reading the gospels, and for the first time, I've been
identifying with John the Baptist. (Usually I am put off by the
eating-locusts-living-in-the-wilderness-crazy-eyes part of his story)
He is described as "a voice shouting in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way
for the Lord's coming!'"
(Luke 3:4) And
this made me think, we are still living in the wilderness. There are
predators and dangers all around us, and some of us go for such a long
time without a proper spiritual meal, existing on whatever we can find
along the way. God has been working on my heart to come out of the
wilderness, to eat and drink from his word and to stop walking that fine
line between good and evil. And I want other women to experience this
refuge that I've found, which is why IF has become so important to me. I
see the same heart for women in the speakers and planners of this event,
and that's why I hope you'll find some time to join me. If you can
only come for one session, please do. Even three hours of encouragement
and community can go a long way in the wilderness of our souls."
Friday night, the conference began. We were ready. We came in, not knowing what to expect, hoping for the best. And the women in Austin DELIVERED. One after another, they spoke, they shared, they preached. When Christine Caine came on the stage, I thought surely there is no way she can top what has already come. I didn't know anything about her. But she began to speak, and she directed us to Joshua 5, to the story about Joshua circumcising all the men because a generation had DIED in the wilderness, and the new generation had to rise up to take their place. The previous generation had been delivered from slavery, but never made it to the full life, the freedom promised, the land flowing with milk and honey. "Why settle for deliverance when we could be free?" Christine asked. And so the next generation entered the Promised Land when all their parents had died. Even Moses died in the wilderness; Joshua took over and finished the journey. I'm not going down like that. I AM NOT DYING IN THE WILDERNESS. I am ready for something new, in my life, in my church, in this world. I'm grabbing freedom, because free people free people. "Let go of the weights and sin that entangle you," she said. "Usher in the Second Coming," she proclaimed.
We weren't meant to wander in the wilderness, and we weren't meant to stay up on the mountain. Those places are glimpses that we are to take with us into real life, into the endless cycle of laundry and dishes and hugs and crying eyes and REAL PEOPLE. Come out and come down, but not the same. Bring a changed heart and a new life to the world. Abide in the truth of God's word, because the Truth sets you free.
If God is real, then what?
Then I believe. I believe that I have a unique place in his Body, that I'm not redundant or unnecessary, like an appendix or a male nipple.
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