“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on the earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have the opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13-16).
To quell the rumors…
I have NOT, in fact, climbed the heights of Mt. Nebo and taken my plunge into eternity (please refer last post). I’m still here, walking with the view of Promise in my mind and living with the truth of God’s love in my heart. I’ve heard from many of you over the past few days, and I appreciate your concern. But what I want you to know is that my last post didn’t write from a place of deep depression. Instead, I wrote it from a place of deep introspection. A point of deep conviction and with a sense of urgency that required my obedience via my pen.
Sometimes, these moments come to a soul and pulse so loudly within that, if not spoken aloud, they will bury their voice long and deep, never to sing the melody they were meant to chorus. I learned a long time ago to tend to these melodies. This was one of those occasions, and without risking the integrity of the writing, I would like to unpack it a little more for you today.
Here’s something you need to know.
I don’t climb Mt. Nebo so that I can fast forward into my next. No, I climb Mt. Nebo so that I can better live in my now. The view is breathtaking, even as it was for Moses. It reminds me that I am not home yet. That for all of the promise that can be tasted on this side of eternity, there is a greater promise yet to come.
Moses was quickly ushered into his next without time enough to linger in his lust for the now. He moved from an earthly best into God’s best in a single pause. I find this profound and revelatory and a sacred gift from God to this servant who lived his life as a desert dweller, more than he did as a promise taster. It simply was his journey to make.
As it was with Moses, so it is with me. I am a desert dweller. In fact I wrote an entire series of posts on the topic. It is not a popular view in Christian circles. Most pulpits won’t preach it, and most retreats won’t teach it. Desert living simply doesn’t package well with promotions aimed toward promise and abundance and lush and green.
I love these packages. I’ve purchased most of them. I believe in them and want more than anything to walk in them. But in my daily, I don’t. Not usually. I’ve monitored the condition of my heart for years. I’ve tended to my spiritual pilgrimage and been careful to administer the daily checklists of a Christian obedience. I live Jesus, each and every day, and I am bold enough, or perhaps just crazy enough, to admit that…
most of them walk dusty and hot and hard.
Now, before you send me your books on abundant living and on breaking free from my sands of struggle, you also need to know this.
I’m learning contentment in the desert because I believe that my life was meant to walk as such. I am a pilgrim in search of a better country—a place of perfected promise and full abundance and a pure truth that breathes lush and green. It is an incomparable glory that far outweighs the “all” of my now. Thus, my reasoning for my dusty roads and my acceptance of them accordingly.
Try as I may, I can’t shake them. They have been my portion for as long as I can remember. So here’s the deal.
I can keep trying to shake them and nearly wear myself out with the prescribed and well-intentioned gymnastics of self-help and spiritual disciplines, or I can learn to walk them in faith and with the full expectation that my temporary is seeding for me an eternity that will blow the dust from my eyes and my feet with the full force of God’s forever.
I can learn the beauty and abundance of a long and hard obedience, even in the desert. What choice levels better in the heat of a summer season?
Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, knew what it was to walk a desert road. He lived it. His fleshly frame was cloaked with it. Like me, He was a pilgrim in search of a better country who managed to hold onto and to cherish the sacred perspective of an unseen tomorrow. He never lost sight of it. Not once, because he knew that his Father was seeding in him an eternity that would blow away the sands of our temporal once and for all.
Calvary. Easter. Forever.
A resurrection Bloom that has bled vibrant and alive and lush and green for over 2000 years. Jesus is the desert’s bloom, and thus, I can find the strength and the contentment for the dusty road I currently step.
I am a desert pilgrim. Perhaps it will be my life’s assignment. The desert may not be your portion. You may be walking in the beauty and blossoms of a Spring season. I love this about you. I celebrate this with you, and I relish in your joy. But don’t make the mistake of crying for me in my summer’s walk. God has deemed it important. He is teaching me to trust and to watch and to wait for the beauty of unseen vistas and untouched blossoms. Even as he did for Moses, he does for me.
He walks the journey alongside, whether we’re climbing the difficult mountains toward surrender, or we’re walking the glorious resurrection of such an obedience. Either way, Jesus understands the gap between things visioned and things yet to be tasted.
Either way, he is the bloom of both. In the desert and in promise.
And thus I pray,
For the mighty displays of your witness in all seasons of this journey, I thank you Lord. For being the bloom along my weary and well-worn path, I bow in humble adoration for your companioned beauty and your lasting aroma. I may never understand the fullness of my desert, but I will always endeavor to do so from your guiding watch within. Let me not balk at summer’s heat or falter in my steps toward your forever. You are good and gracious to give me this day, regardless of how it breathes. May I never discount the sacred value of the current road that we travel together. Open my eyes to see, my mind to conceive, and my heart to believe that all is living as you intended for it to live. In me. Through me. And most days, in spite of me…until my now crosses over into my next. Amen.
Copyright © September 2008 – Elaine Olsen. All rights reserved.
I haven’t forgotten our walk to Emmaus. We will return to our series in my next post. Shalom!
wifeforthejourney:
Glad to have the first comment on this post to say what wonderful friends you have made through the internet. I don’t believe we realized or appreciated the number of new relationships that would spring from your venture into
blog-land.
May we all continue to bear one another’s burdens as we have opportunity and be ready to lay those same burdens at the feet of Jesus. For all of its hardships, “desert dwelling” can be a place of refining for those that love the Lord.
I hope we will all grow in our trust that God is able to finish whatever He starts (Phil. 1:6), and that is cause for celebration!
Love,
Billy
It’s the desert walking for me that increases my thirst…a thirst that only Christ can satisfy.
Walking along the dusty paths with you,
Joy
The sweet focus of the desert. We do not think of what we will wear, what car we will drive, who will win the election, how many calories are in the next snack… We focus solely and “souly” on one thing. He who alone quenches our thirst.
It sounds as though you have come to the place of contentment in season. Wonderfully stated post.
As a literal desert dweller in the arid, cactus-strewn land of the Southwest, I just have to say the desert has a lot more going for it than most realize. It may seem barren. It may behave inhospitable. It may even cause a parched panting. But let me tell you, the beauty of the barren is – both literally and figuratively – unique unto itself.
In my desert sojourns (lots of ’em), I have found such refresing water for my thirst. I’ve found shade for my head. I’ve found an oasis I couldn’t see until I was right atop it.
We walk this way in such good company. Your introspection to the deep is likely rooting into those hidden springs that give even deserts their glory.
Bless you,
Kathleen
Desert flowers are amazing…it seems impossible, doesn’t it? Jesus is the impossible…and his grace is His promise and He will not leave that covenant.
Thanks be to God!
There is no peace without Him…
come again…I just posted a really heartfelt video from a vet that I want to do my part to have many people see it.
Elaine, the way you allow God to speak through your posts just blows me away, girlfriend! I just want to soak it in. As Joy said, “It is a thirst that only Christ can satisfy.” Wow.
So many blessings to you!!
Love,
Susan
Elaine ~
John Piper and I have a love for a certain poem by Thomas Gray in 1751, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” Piper has helped me understand a stanza that rings true to your post:
Fully many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear;
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Piper explains, “Gray had been moved by the thought that on the bottom of the ocean there were beautiful gems that no human eye would ever see, and that in distant deserts millions of flowers would bloom, blush with vivid colors, give off a sweet fragrance, and never be touched or seen or smelled by anybody but God!” (The Pleasures of God, p.89).
I can so relate to you in my own desert dwelling place. The thought that in the desert (where only God can see) He receives glory and pleasure from me helps me press on. It may never change before Heaven…it may in a different season. But I’m learning to dwell here and be the flower called “Acceptance with Joy” that Much Afraid meets in the desert in the book Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard.
Thank you for being my blogging friend and writing the words that my heart sings as well so eloquently. And, I suppose because of the blogosphere…we aren’t only shining for God’s pleasure….your blog is a pleasure to me. I’m looking forward to meeting you in eternity, if not before.
Oh yes, a thousand times yes! Thank you for this. This world is NOT our home. I think it was George MacDonald who said that we’re supposed to view this life as the scaffolding we stand on while we build for the next life. The problem is, too many of us spend our time and efforts transforming our section of scaffolding into a luxury hotel and forgetting the work of eternity. There are riches to be mined in the desert that can never be found elsewhere. May we never again turn up our noses at Heavenly Manna and lust after Egypt’s leeks and onions.
I praise God for your testimony of His worth.
Hello agn! May God Bless You and your lovely Family!
I am praying for you!
James 1:2-7 Perserverance and Wisdom!! (Look it Up)
Keep Blogging
GOd Bless
With Love In Christ
Tim
Oh, Elaine! I. LOVE. THIS. POST.
What a glorious desert journey.
Our Lord is He who turns deserts into pools of water and parched ground into thirsty springs. (Reference Psalm 107:35 and Isaiah 41:18)
Even now, the Lord says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)
One day, “They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.” (Isaiah 49:10)
Our cherished promised land is in sight, but to reach it, we must first travel through the desert.
Praise God that He sees us (and meets us) there! (Reference Genesis 16:7).
You know Elain, before reading “Anonymous” or your post, I would have thought the “desert” to be lonely and depressive but after your last post my heart soared. I know this desert you so wonderfully pen, I am there because of my own sins and I am finding the most incredible life in this desert-my relationship with my Lord. It’s not depressive. It’s a state of brokenness, of living humbly, of searching deeper and deeper for God.
Keep writing…keep following God’s lead for you are writing to my heart and my soul the words God wants me to read.
You continue to amaze me!
In His Graces~Pamela
Oh Elaine, how I just grow to love your heart more and more each post. What’s weird is that I echo with your words, though definitely not as eloquently or probably not even as spiritually mature. lol. I went through a loooooooooooong season in the valley several years ago. I thought it would never end. But my theology has never been that our life would be all on the higher path or the mountain top, but that we would walk through the valley knowing that in this life “there will be trouble.” (My childhood was full of it.) It was through that desert season that I learned truly how to depend, how to thirst for Him, how to lean. And to be honest, when I’m on the higher plain, sometimes I get too complacent. So for your sake, I’m thankful the Lord has you where He does, for He is using you mightily in the process. You minister to me in the deepest parts of my heart.
I am a girl who loves how songs speak to my heart. Reading your post brought this song to my mind. I think all of us walk in the desert… some more often than others, some more often during a certain part of our lives. I think of my life from a young girl when my parents divorced up until the chains of sadness of not having children fell off I believe I was in the desert most of the time… but He was with me… guiding every step – even when I didn’t know it!
Bless you sister! You are loved!
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s ‘all as it should be’
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Elaine, you have spoken so eloquently again. I too am a desert dweller. It is not so important that we find our way out of the desert, for one of the scriptures the Lord has given me is Is. 35:1
“The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom.”
And another: Jer 17:8, “He will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.”
I have and am learning that there is joy, gladness, fruitfulness, life, abundance, and blossoms in this desert. It’s not so much about the place as it is the Presence.
Praise God!
Elaine,
You inspire me so!I loved your posts on desert dwelling. Sometimes, we just abide there for a while, no? We have been extremely busy the last couple days, and while I’ve been keeping up with you, haven’t had time to post. You are in my thoughts, my friend. I’ll catch up with you by email soon…I promise!
Thanks for the wonderful post. Seems like there are many desert dwellers right along side you, Sister. We are nomads until we see Jesus face to face. I don’t want to get too comfortable in the desert. But I’d rather be in the desert now and enter heaven later, than to sit on the mountain never to go further.
Peace and love,
I am so glad you found my blog and posted to me today! Thank you! I love your blog– especially the verse on the header. I will be back to read more!! Thank you for the encouragement. God knows when to send his people:)
Trusting in God’s sovreignty even when our circumstances seem to suggest otherwise is the true measure of faith. Then we see the desert bloom and know.
Thank you for your honest, heartfelt writing.
Blessings,
Kelli
I agree with Kristen…
the song BLESSED BE YOUR NAME is one of my favorites we sing with our youth…our perception of this song is so different b/c of the valleys we’ve been through and the mountains he has helped us climb…all of which are a challenge, especially when we don’t involve Him in the walk.
You’re probably wondering why I’m leaving a second note on this post…I came back this morning b/c my spirit is unsettled with the storm coming into the coast…
I want to blanket myself in prayer for the people, the places, the animals…and I wanted to share some prayer time about this with you.
Your words are always so comforting as they are drenched in His truths…
DEAREST LORD, JESUS:
ELAINE AND I LIFT UP this huge area of impact to you…for to you it is but a tiny speck of sand.
We lift up Your Word with snippets from Your Psalm 68:
WE sing to God, sing praise to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds,his name is the LORD— and rejoice before him.
YOU ARE a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
THIS IS NOT NEW TO YOU for YOUR WORD says…”the earth shook, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel. You gave abundant showers, O God
Even while (THOSE WHO HAVE DECIDED TO REMAIN AND THOSE WHO ARE SEEKING SHELTER AT STRANGE PLACES)you sleep among the campfires, the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.”
AGAIN, ELAINE AND I “Praise the Lord, our God, our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.”
WE “summon your power, O God show us your strength, O God, as you have done before.”
WE JOIN TO “sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice.”
THROUGHOUT THIS DAY MAY WE “proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the skies.
You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; God of Israel gives power and strength to his people.”
LORD, THANK YOU FOR PROVIDING THIS WAY FOR US TO SHARE IN PRAYER, SHARE WITH EACH OTHER, SHARE WITH YOU OUR CONCERNS FOR OUR NEIGHBORS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS IN THEIR TIME OF UNKNOWN.
Praise be to God!
AMEN
Elaine, your writing is just beautiful, but the meaning behind the words are even more moving. We have been raised by a church who believe in plodding. I do agree that plodding is the vast majority of our Christian walk. What I loved about your desert teaching was that you made it clear that some will be there for a time, you are feeling His calling for more time than that. I have been taught that when we have those Spring mountaintop moments to buckle up, the valley is coming. Instead we should be encouraged to enjoy those times as well. I know they are preparation for the valleys, but it is sad when the heavier times are more expected and preached. Thank you for being encouraging to any season of a believers walk.
Right now I am not sure exactly where I am. I am not feeling like a desert, but not feeling a bountiful Spring bloom either.
I always love reading your blog Elaine. It gives me much to ponder.
Now this is one I would love to sit down and talk about face to face.
From my own perspective….there have been years of walking and hoping that one day my steps would lead me to the high plain. A place of coolness and rest. A place where the struggles and trials would be fixed and I could finally feel like I had arrived at this mystical place so many preach about. This would also be the place of happy go lucky…brimming over with joy and smiling all the time.
I am coming to realize that for me…this place will be mine when I step into eternity.
That also is not a sign of depression. It is just about looking in the mirror and realizing how God made me….what He made me for and what He wants to do in me.
If my walk in this land is just to prepare those who will go ahead and full fill what God has for them….then I will gladly experience life right where I am. Because if I was not here….I would miss the connection that God created me for.
Make sense?
You are right….the desert is not always a bad place…unless you are hanging out when you are supposed to be crossing over.
After all-who else saw the God of the universe the way Moses did in the wilderness?
Good stuff girl.
as I allow your words to flow through my soul. embraced by our Lord. Soaking in His presence…
you amaze me… you are no doubt on a precious road paved (by desert dust-smile)by Papa…
Oh I pray for you to live your days as a flower among the thorns.
love you sweet friend
Not too long ago I had moments where I would get upset and discouraged always seeming to be in the desert. I have come to the realization that at this moment that is where God wants me. I still have some of the same issues I have had for many years now, but they are not as hard and not nearly as upsetting as they used to be. I still get discouraged, but I can handle it better now. I trust Jesus and I take it one step at a time.
Elaine,
So much to ponder and relish in this post…so beautifully captured by your pen. Praising God that He is indeed the bloom of both the desert and promise!
Like Kristen, God often grips my heart through lyrics. Your post brought these words to mind. May we praise Him whether desert or storm, peace or plenty…He is so worthy.
Bring the Rain – Mercy Me
I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that
I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there’ll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain
I am yours regardless of the clouds that may
loom above because you are much greater than
my pain you who made a way for me suffering
your destiny so tell me whats a little rain
Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
is the lord God almighty
is the lord God almighty
I’m forever singing…
Thankful for this post I will likely read over and over…
Blessings,
Tracy
I DON’T KNOW WHICH I LIKE BETTER, THE SHIRT OR THE POST!! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this great blog! I’m so thankful for my thirsty times because each thirst takes me right to Him!
Oh yes, can I relate. The desert makes the beauty of our true home that much more brilliant, and makes us long for it that much more. Thank you once again.
Like you, Elaine, I have been a desert dweller most of the time during my life.
As I have gotten older, I have come to realize though, for myself, that one thing about being in the desert is for sure……I am in Good Company….because (just like you said) Jesus was a desert dweller too.;)
God Bless,
Amy:)
Beautifully expressed. I think our journeys are quite similar, as I too struggle to choose contentment with my life as it is rather than how I think it should be. I desire that the Lord be glorified even here in my desert!
May the Lord bless your break with a fresh dose of His presence, power and peace…