I am so grateful to the Lord God Almighty for the work that He is doing in my life. He made it clear to me a month or so ago that I need to rest and recover because I am in a “season of healing”. So when I get antsy and wonder why I can’t seem to move forward, I am reminded that right now I am not supposed to be moving forward. I am supposed to be standing firm on the Word, building my roots and getting stronger.
The season of healing is a form of wilderness. We’ve all been in the wilderness at one time or another (if you haven’t, don’t feel left out, it will happen – sorry!). The wilderness, although it can feel like it, is really not a bad place. It is a place of reflection, repentance, renewal, and regrowth. The Holy Spirit is with us there, even if we don’t feel like He is. We have been promised that He will never leave us, nor forsake us; He is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow; He is not abandoning us just because we can’t “feel” Him. We walk by faith, relying on what we know, not on what we feel and see. Even when we’re in the wilderness.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV)
The wilderness is a place to work on those roots. To get our faith muscles strong again. To feed our spirits with the Word again. You cannot reach the heights of where you want to go, without climbing up out of the valley and up the mountain.
Think of BASE jumping [BASE jumping, according the Merriam-Websters Dictionary is the activity or sport of parachuting from a high structure (such as a building, tower, or bridge) or cliff]. Think of the preparation that goes into a single jump. You have the have the right equipment, the right safety gear, the right suit, the right helmet. You have to be fit and strong and able to control the parachute once up in the thermals. You have to know what you’re doing even before you can consider actually jumping. Then once all the equipment is checked, and checked again, to ensure safety, the jumper then has to get to the top of the mountain, to the cliffs, to jump off. You also need to make sure that nothing is left behind – you don’t want to have to climb the mountain again just because you left your phone up there!
You can’t climb the mountain without preparation (building the right muscles and practice) – reflection, repentance, renewal and regrowth. You have to navigate the wilderness so you can learn to fly again.
The moral of the story is this: you can’t fly until you’ve climbed the mountain.
Voyage through Life 