When we left our island oasis a year ago, we did not realize we were being uprooted and temporarily replanted into the desert.
Last October, we had just finished language study and were preparing to return to our previous place of service. Because of the ongoing pandemic, we were sent back “home” while we waited for borders to reopen abroad. What started out as a temporary move quickly became a longer-than-anticipated transition.
We discovered that we were not able to return to the Big Country. This was not a huge shock to us, but it was deeply disappointing. We had left behind a life there; friends, belongings, familiarity. Our first three years on the field were spent there. Two of our children were born there. The roots of our calling were there.
There was some comfort in knowing that we were not alone in this sudden feeling of displacement, but not much. We, and others like us, grieved this loss. As we said our goodbyes, we prayed and sought to find a new harvest. This was a difficult and confusing process, but we were compelled to return to the Island. We had already established some relationships there, invested in ministry there, and most importantly, now spoke the language.
As soon as this decision was made, we began to work on logistics. Just as we were making progress with what seemed like an endless amount of paperwork, the borders shut for a second time. This meant that visas would not be processed and we would be delayed yet again.
The days, weeks, and months spent in this strange uncertainty made me feel like a true nomad. We were left to wander the desert, walking from one watering hole to the next in an effort to stay alive. It was shortly after our third move last year that God led me to this passage:
“…you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.”
Nehemiah 9:19-21
How true these words were. They may have been wandering in the desert, but they were not walking aimlessly. They were led, instructed, fed, sustained, clothed, cared for. In all circumstances, He gives us His “good Spirit” to keep us. I began to be reminded of all the ways He sustained us in the midst of chaos.
I was reminded that we have not been deserted to figure this out on our own. He has a plan and a path and we merely need to follow His lead. When I become increasingly impatient and want to take control of matters, I need to take pause and “wait on the Lord”. When I become weary or discouraged or anxious about our current situation, I know I need to glean from His Word and take encouragement in His presence through prayer.
How many times could He have easily withheld His manna from us? Forty years He sustained His people! Surely He will sustain us for this time. I’m truly grateful for all the ways He has already provided for us; even in ways we did not think to ask. While I wouldn’t necessarily have chosen to wander in the desert, I see His goodness in it.