Your Wilderness Is Bigger Than You!Sample

When I was nine years old, my family was in a terrible car accident. So awful that we should have died on the side of the road.

Later that day, at a nearby emergency room, we were all checked out for further injuries. The doctors became concerned when I failed a vision test, as I had a cut over my eye. When my parents questioned me, they discovered I had been having issues seeing the board at school for quite some time. I wasn't hurt - I just needed glasses. I couldn't see clearly, but the problem wasn't the accident.

When I got my first pair of glasses, it was as if a whole new world opened up for me. It became much easier to hit a baseball, take notes in class, and see people coming my way. I had no idea how much I wasn't seeing as a kid.

Are you in a similar situation? You probably started this plan about the wilderness because you're in the middle of a challenging season in your life. Perhaps you're where you never planned to be. Like our family after that accident, life has taken a hard right turn, and you've been holding on for dear life.

I want to encourage you today with a lesson I've learned the hard way - we don't see life clearly when we end up in the wilderness. I've often found myself in the last place I expected to end up. Physically, I'm in a circumstance or place far from where I planned to be. Emotionally, I'm dealing with stuff that I never thought I would feel or struggle with.

The wilderness has a way of clouding our vision, shrinking our world, and throwing us off balance. It's easy to feel like the world is out to get us, and it's normal to feel like a victim. Our world focuses inward very quickly, and that's a problem.

When you can't see clearly, it's hard to understand where you are and even harder to trust your assessments of what is happening. In the same way that I had been struggling to answer my teacher's questions because my eyesight was blurry, you may be struggling to make sense of your current experience because you don't see clearly in the wilderness. You're doing your best but need some help with your vision.

Without knowing you personally, I have a hunch about you. You don't want to live a selfish, self-centered life. You want your life to matter and long for a greater sense of purpose. You want to feel closer to God and hope to find clarity about what He is doing in the present.

Scripture promises us that in this life, we rarely see God's plans crystal clear. But the Bible also promises us that we serve a God who waits for us in the wilderness, a God who is near to us when life leaves us shattered and reeling.

In this plan, I want to offer encouragement about your current wilderness experience. You are not the only person who has been in the wilderness. In fact, you'll be surprised how nearly every person you admire in the Bible was formed in the place you now inhabit. Each of their stories offers a powerful reminder that what God is doing here is bigger than you.

Over the next four days, you will discover four powerful truths about how what is happening in your wilderness is more significant than you can imagine. I'm excited to guide you in exploring how God will use this time and place. I'll see you tomorrow!