The Grace Journal

Others don't treat you the way you feel you should be treated. One situation after another doesn't go the way you had hoped. Your heart in constantly hurting and you wonder if it will ever be whole again.  

You are trudging through an emotional and spiritual wasteland. 

Sound familiar? 

Deserts are a part of life. Such a big part of our human experience that the Bible takes up almost 4 whole books at the beginning of the Old Testament recounting the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years. 

And this wasn't an emotional desert...this was a physical desert...scorching heat...no water...no signs of civilization...no confirmation that leaving Egypt was a good decision. 

During the beginning of their journey, they began to run out of rations and as we all know...hungry people...are grumpy people. They began to complain...going as far as to say "we should have never left Egypt in the first place!"

Then in Exodus 16 God hears them. And sends a substance the Israelites named "manna" that miraculously appeared every morning. 

And it sustained them. They didn't understand how it got there and in the beginning it was weird, but through the 40 years of wandering...it became a daily comfort that they would not starve and a daily reminder that God was watching over them. 

In the desert of life...faith is our manna. It is the thing that...while we might not always understand...it will sustain us. 

I'm sure there were days when the Israelites got up and thought "not manna again!" And there will be days where you think "not living by faith again!" On the hard days, it has to become a conscious choice. 

The Israelites could have gone a few days without eating the manna that was provided, but after a while...it would have been detrimental to their health. The same goes for us...faith feeds our spiritual/emotional/mental needs. 

As 2014 comes to a close, I pray you grab hold of faith in 2015 and allow it to be your daily nourishment during times of drought. 

Xoxo,

Keri