Spiritual Desert

Do you ever feel like you are lost in a spiritual desert? Sure you do! We all face times that feel like we are lost in a dry, parched land. We all have times when we:

• Get a bad diagnosis
• Wonder if this is all there is to life
• Suffer a relationship breakup
• Get caught up in bad news, whether personal or through the media

A Past Spiritual Desert

When I first wrote this blog post, my family returned from a vacation in Arizona. I had not officially been to a desert until then. After seeing how the Sonoran desert looked, it made me wonder if I needed to revise the cartoon.

Little did I know that we would be living in that same desert ten years later. It didn’t turn out the way we anticipated, and found ourselves back in the Midwest. We have no regrets. When you take a step of faith, it doesn’t always turn out how you expected. Yet that risk-taking grows you in ways you never anticipate either. It expands your horizons and helps you realize you can trust God no matter what.

There is a verse that helped us through those times:

When you pass through the waters,
    I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
    they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
    you will not be burned;
    the flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)

I’ll be honest: it’s not an inspiring verse when things are good, and you prefer they stay that way. But I will also give it to you straight: things never stay that way. Life has a way of knocking us around. We are going to experience an occasional spiritual desert here and there.

So my advice to you is when those times come, get into the the Bible.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.
Psalm 42:1 (NIV)

You may go through tough, dry times. But when you get to the other side, you will find it will be worth it.

Editor’s Note: I originally published this blog on October 6, 2015. I revamped and updated it for timeliness and comprehensiveness.