desert paintbrush

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well." 

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

What words come to mind when you think about a desert? 

Dry. Desperate. Thirst. Wasteland. Loneliness. Longing. Hot. Abandonment. Lack of water. 

Those are a few that came to my mind. Many years ago I read the Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson, in which he described the wasteland to be a place where you learn to trust the Dream Giver (aka. God). It is not a waste, even though it may be a delay. It is a faith-journey where God sees what is beyond, when we can only see what lays ahead. 

In Victory in the Wilderness, John Bevere writes "A time comes when character must be developed. And the wilderness is where it's done." He is building our character and preparing us for what's to come. The wilderness is not God's rejection but His preparation (John Bevere).

To be honest, I feel like most of the time I'm lost somewhere in the desert. Dry and thirsty. Desperate for more of God and too weak to search for Him. Too tired to keep moving forward, I sit down to rest... but the sun just burns and I'm not any closer to finding water or shade. And yet... God calls me to find rest and  strength in Him. 

Around this time last year, I was visiting the Grand Canyon and one flower in particular caught my attention because of its colour and how it stood out against the rocky background.  I captured the image with my camera because it was a reminder of beauty in the broken.  A few months ago in church my pastor was speaking on "thriving" and desert flowers came to my mind. I wondered how they thrived in the dry and hot desert. The first flower I came across was the Desert Paintbrush (Castilleja), which happened to be the same one I had taken a picture of. 

And God  reminded me again. Desert flowers, such as the Desert Paintbrush are a reminder that there is beauty in dry times. Desert plants thrive because they collect and store water. Some plants have leaves that help collect water or have deep roots which reach down into the soil to the water far below the ground. Desert plants often store water in their stems and some can even survive on stored water from a single rainfall for years.  

It's proof beautiful things can grow and thrive despite unbearable conditions. 

It's proof that you can grow strong and flourish beautifully despite your situation. 

In the desert, water is a limited resource. However, even in the dry seasons of our lives, the living water (Jesus Christ) is always available and can be overflowing in our lives. There can be joy in pain.  Sometimes is just takes a little effort on our part to dig our roots down deep into His love and His word. To remember the past and how He brought us out of our other desert times. Trust that you are growing and He is up to something, despite not feeling anything. In the wilderness or desert times in life, God has not forgotten you. 

At a recent conference I was at, Kim Walker spoke about this. She said the desert times are God's grace on your life to go deeper. It is an invitation to trust him fully. A calling to intimately know Him. It's about surrendering everything you have... until He is the only thing you desire. It's about embracing the desert season in your life, like all the others. Even though it isn't easy to enjoy the process and we desire to reach the destination... the promotion comes after the learning.

"See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 

 I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." 

- Isaiah 43:19 

God is with you. Trust that. Trust Him. It's a faith-journey and it's a process. It's growing despite what you think. He is doing a new thing and He is making a way. Surrender. Allow him to paint the masterpiece of your life.  Be beauty in the broken and thrive in the season you are in.

Be a Desert Paintbrush.