So I was having lunch with a friend of mine yesterday.  She’s a powerful woman speaker on grief and getting through it.  Honestly, I don’t know how she has made it through all she has in her life… But God.

We started a discussion on  wandering around in the desert which sometimes includes our journey through pain and grief.  Her statement, was “Don’t park the car.”  You know me, my mind started rolling!

Admittedly, we know it’s a journey.  We know it will take time to get through.  We know we can learn through it.  But, do we actually want to take the time and do the work while we are in the thick of it?

For me especially, my wandering in the desert took many years to go through.  I was lost and didn’t even know where to begin to dig myself out of the quicksand that I had created in my life.  And sometimes it simply takes the death of a loved one, a divorce or some traumatic event in our lives to set us on this journey.  For me personally,it was way back in high school when I got pregnant at 17.

For many reasons at that time I hit bottom.  I just knew God had LET me get pregnant.  (Wrong.)  I knew that God had left me and turned His back on me (Again wrong.) But in the situation, there was no one to help me through, nobody to tell me I was wrong and correct me back to right thinking.

But God says He comes after the one lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and he welcomes back the repentant prodigal (Luke 15:11-32). And that we are wooed back because of His love for us.  And that’s what He did with me. The Holy Spirit reassured me over time that God had a plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:10).  He told me that I would find Him when I seek Him with ALL my heart (Jeremiah 29:12-13).  And He gave me a purpose, something to work toward (Isaiah 61:1-3 and Matthew 28:18-20).

But here’s the thing.  We are totally tempted in these types of situations to stay there.  To park the car, so to speak.  But God says, “No Parking” as clear as day.  What He really wants is to drive us through the car wash.  To wash us in His cleansing blood, make us better than before, to teach us some lessons along that journey, to restore us when  we don’t feel like that will ever be possible.  I know I didn’t.  And this may be true for may of you today.

So let these verses be an encouragement to you today.  Do the work, find out what God is saying about your situation and learn the lessons.  You will be stronger and more confident than ever that God is with you and will never leave nor forsake you!