{"id":7492,"date":"2015-06-11T06:30:47","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T10:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/?p=7492"},"modified":"2015-06-21T22:44:37","modified_gmt":"2015-06-22T02:44:37","slug":"weekly-wisdom-time-in-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/2015\/06\/11\/weekly-wisdom-time-in-the-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Wisdom: Time in the Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-7491\" src=\"http:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"weekly wisdom, truth, faith, God, Jesus, suffering, wilderness, love\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness-200x113.jpg 200w, https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/timeinthewilderness.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This summer, <a href=\"http:\/\/shereadstruth.com\" target=\"_blank\">She Reads Truth<\/a> is offering a study called <a href=\"http:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/category\/plans\/women-in-the-word-ot\/\" target=\"_blank\">Women in the Word<\/a>, where we\u2019ll be learning about 40 different women in the Bible both in the Old and New Testaments. I\u2019m very excited about this study because I feel there is so much wisdom to be gained from these women, both from the good as well as the bad.<\/p>\n<p>Last Friday, we read about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Genesis+21%3A8\u201321&version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\">Hagar<\/a>. Talk about finding yourself in the most desperate of situations. <!--more-->She is homeless, sent away to the wilderness with her young child, whom she leaves to die when she has run out of all options known to her. She just sits there and she weeps. Just as God had found her in the wilderness once before when she ran away from Sarah, He finds her again and meets her where she is, He comforts her, and provides for her. We\u2019re reminded that \u201cGod is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2046&version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\">Psalm 46:1<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">…when life is good, our human nature takes over,…<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">We say, \u201cI\u2019m all set now, God,\u201d turn our backs\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">and head the other way.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Do you know what it\u2019s like to be desperate for God? What it\u2019s like to realize that He\u2019s your one and only hope? From my experiences in short-term missions in Kenya, the one thing that I always remember of the people I met there is the way they prayed. They prayed with such urgency and fervor. They desperately prayed for God to meet their physical needs as if they knew that God alone was the provider. Their livelihood literally depended on God.<\/p>\n<p>Most of us live our lives doing everything that we can to avoid finding ourselves in those desperate situations. Even our prayers seek to make our lives easier and more comfortable. The problem is that when life is good, our human nature takes over, and we forget the source of our blessings. We say, \u201cI\u2019m all set now, God,\u201d turn our backs and head the other way.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">As hard as it was when I was going thru it,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">at my lowest point is where I\u00a0was\u00a0able to experience<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">the depth of God\u2019s mercy and love for me.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>No one, in their right minds, wishes for suffering in their lives, but as the author in She Reads Truth states, we should find ourselves desperate for God every day of our lives. We should live knowing that He is our source of life, truth and salvation. And we should desperately seek His will daily. As human nature goes, that sense of desperation only comes when we\u2019re in dire straits. This is why we all need time in the wilderness, so we can gain back that sense of urgency in seeking God. In doing so, we can remember Paul\u2019s words in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans+5%3A1-5&version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\">Romans 5:3-4<\/a>, \u201c\u2026but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been physically desperate for God as were Hagar or the people I met in Kenya, but I certainly have gone thru times of emotional desperation. As hard as it was when I was going thru it, at my lowest point is where I was able to experience the depth of God\u2019s mercy and love for me. There is no valley that God\u2019s love cannot reach as it says in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Deuteronomy+33%3A26-28&version=NIV\" target=\"_blank\">Deuteronomy 33:27<\/a>, \u201cThe eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Have a blessed rest of the week!<\/p>\n<p> <br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloglovin.com\/blogs\/my-rose-colored-shades-10658125\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bloglovin.com\/widget\/bilder\/en\/widget.gif?id=10658125\" alt=\"Follow on Bloglovin\" width=\"150\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/myrosecoloredshades?ref=badge\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/\/badges.instagram.com\/static\/images\/ig-badge-view-24.png\" alt=\"Instagram\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Linking up with these lovelies:\u00a0<a title=\"Unite Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.richfaithrising.com\/2015\/06\/why-god-can-use-you-despite-your-missing-pieces-unite-linky.html\" target=\"_blank\">Unite<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"http:\/\/cornerstoneconfessions.com\/2015\/06\/titus-2-tuesday-159.html\" target=\"_blank\">Titus 2 Tuesday<\/a> |\u00a0<a title=\"Word Filled Wednesday Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.w2wministries.org\/2015\/06\/where-does-our-help-come-from.html\" target=\"_blank\">Word Filled Wednesday<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"A Little R & R Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rosilindjukic.com\/2015\/06\/a-proverb-a-day.html\" target=\"_blank\">A Little R & R<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"Coffee and Conversation Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/momsmorningcoffee.com\/coffee-and-conversation-link-party-45\/\" target=\"_blank\">Coffee and Conversation<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"Thursday Favorite Things Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/all-thats-jas.com\/2015\/06\/thursday-favorite-things-193.html\" target=\"_blank\">Thursday Favorite Things<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"SHINE Blog Hop\" href=\"http:\/\/thedeliberatemom.com\/shine-blog-hop-51\/\" target=\"_blank\">SHINE<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/3dlessons4life.com\/sugary-sweet\" target=\"_blank\">Thought Provoking Thursday<\/a>\u00a0| <a href=\"http:\/\/forfunreadinglist.blogspot.com\/2015\/06\/cozy-reading-spot-97.html\" target=\"_blank\">Cozy Reading Spot<\/a> |\u00a0<a title=\"Fellowship Fridays Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/christianmommyblogger.com\/ff75_commitment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fellowship Fridays<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"Faith Filled Friday Linkup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.missionalwomen.com\/faith-filled-friday-blog-link-up\/faith-filled-friday-an-act-of-worship\" target=\"_blank\">Faith Filled Friday<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a title=\"Faith & Fellowship\" href=\"http:\/\/www.simplemomentsstick.com\/2015\/06\/faith-and-fellowship-blog-hop_12.html\" target=\"_blank\">Faith & Fellowship<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/adivineencounter.com\/how-to-conquer-if-only-thoughts-grace-truth-linkup-week-22\/\" target=\"_blank\">Grace & Truth<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This summer, She Reads Truth is offering a study called Women in the Word, where we\u2019ll be learning about 40 different women in the Bible both in the Old and New Testaments. I\u2019m very excited about this study because I … <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/2015\/06\/11\/weekly-wisdom-time-in-the-wilderness\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Weekly Wisdom: Time in the Wilderness http:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ea16-1WQ #wordsofwisdom #livebyfaith","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[269,232,981],"tags":[270,369,738,328,1099,968,907,1100],"class_list":["post-7492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-faith-family","category-weekly-wisdom","tag-faith-2","tag-god","tag-jesus-christ","tag-love","tag-suffering","tag-truth","tag-weekly-wisdom","tag-wilderness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ea16-1WQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7492"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7564,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7492\/revisions\/7564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrosecoloredshades.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}