“When life is dragging you back with difficulties,
just imagine that it’s going to launch you into something great.”
Author Unknown
I wrote my book “A Journey Out of the Wilderness” while I was still in the Wilderness season. I assumed after I wrote the book that I would be coming out and into my own personal Promised Land.
I felt God tell me I was coming out of my seven year Wilderness. All I wanted to do was to click my heels three times like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, and say there is no place like home.
Little did I know God would have other plans.
“Thank you God that I’m coming into my Promised Land.” I said one day in prayer.
“You’re not coming into your Promised Land, you are Crossing Over”. He said
“Crossing Over?” I was definitely confused!
“What is that?” I asked.
Silence.
After I wrote my book, I went back into substitute teaching which for me was ‘Egypt’.
I had already had my own classroom and worked my way up in Education as a professor and administrator at a college.
And now I was back at the ground level – substitute teaching.
It humbled me to the very core.
‘Let down’ does not even describe how I felt.
‘Breakdown’ – maybe!
Many times we need to move backwards to advance forward. (TWEAT THIS)
During this time I had a dream about a bow and arrow. I was a string on a bow. God was the archer and He was drawing back the string. He was pulling me as far back as He could.
It was a huge stretching time in my life where I had to believe God despite going backwards.
God wanted to pull me in closer to His heart. He wanted me to have a deeper relationship with Him where I knew Him in a completely different way.
Many times in church this seems to be the end goal. In sermons they talk about being stretched and how good that is…then the sermon stops.
But wait –there is more…
I felt God tell me, “I need to pull you back into My heart so that when I let you go you have the power and velocity to hit the target you were meant to hit!”
Drawing into God’s heart is good, but the purpose is to shoot you into your destiny.
A bow has to be flexible and the string is joined to both ends together. We are joined to God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
When the string is drawn back, the ends of the bow flex. They bend but don’t break. It is the maximum load that can be applied before the bow is crushed.
When the string is released the “potential” energy of the flexed bow is transformed into the velocity of the arrow.
The further back your pull, the further your arrow will fly with greater force. The force required to hold the string steady is known as draw weight.
The higher the draw weight means a more powerful bow, which is able to project arrows heavier, faster, and at a greater distance.
God is the master archer. He can withstand the draw weight of this season in your life and keep you steady as He pulls you back into His heart and gets ready to launch you.
If you feel you are going backwards today, know that you coming into the heart of God. When you are fully stretched (even beyond what you think you can handle), He will finally let you go.
You will hit the intended destiny that He has for you with such velocity that the enemy won’t even know what hit him!
Allow God to draw you back into His heart today even if it seems like you are going backwards. Then feel the air in your face as you hit the target of your destiny with such force and velocity that the enemy won’t even know what hit him!
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.”
Mathew 12:20 NIV
One fateful decision landed me smack in the middle of my own Wilderness…
Though I was obeying God’s voice, I spent the next several years “walking on water,” even though it felt more like I was treading water. A Journey Out of the Wilderness is for people going through a rough time—a Wilderness experience—where you feel as though you are “down for the count” and ready to give up. Wilderness Wanderers feel as though they are doing laps around the mountain, passing the same tree over and over again wondering, “Will this never end?” However, being in the Wilderness will be one of the most transformational times of your life.