Rivers in the Desert

A few years ago when God pulled me away from everything that was familiar to me and placed me in a new place that appeared to be desolate, I asked Him why have you seen fit to bring me to this desert-like place where I am a stranger among strangers, and nothing I see is something I have known before? Why Lord are you allowing this drastic change in my life?

This was the inner response that I received, "I am taking you to a place where the people you will meet are not your own, where everything will be unfamiliar, so that there I can plant you and there you will bloom like an exotic flower in the desert"

With these few words, I caught a glimpse into what God had planned for me. I saw a desert place that no matter where I looked, the sand dunes, etc. were endless but in the middle of that vastness, I saw a single exotic flower planted and being sustained by an underground water source that flowed like a river around it, allowing the flower to be alive and full of blossoms. Despite, the arid conditions, this exotic flower thrived and provided the beauty that this desert place was missing.

At the time that God revealed this to me, I could not see how He would take the mess that I had made of my life and make something beautiful. I was going through a period of brokenness, loneliness, disappointment and disillusion. Nothing I had done in the past was working. It seemed as if the old ways were no longer sufficient to sustain me. I decided to trust God, because there was nowhere else to go, but to Him.

Since then many years have passed and I have continuously seen God restore and cultivate a beautiful garden out of my life that has bloomed and blessed others. In John 7:38 it states that "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." In believing what God said about my life, I allowed Him the access He needed to transform my life. Day by day, as I placed myself in His hands, He began to remove the dead roots that prevented new growth. As I read His word and prayed for His guidance, He was able to renew my mind and restore me from a young seedling that lacked the fullness of the living water to a tree planted by the rivers of water (Psalm 1: 1-3). He made the difference and showed me a new way. I could not have done it on my own.

God told the prophet Isaiah, "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise (Isaiah 43:18-21).

We need to put aside the former things in our lives that hold us captive and remind ourselves that we belong to Him and He wants to do a new thing in our lives that will transform us even if we find ourselves in desert places. He is the living water and He is able to change us into the strong trees that will have deep roots connected to the water source. All we have to do is begin to drink and allow the refreshing to begin so that we will grow.