Leaving the Desert Behind
posted on July 20th, 2009 / by Stacy Burnett / 14 CommentsRecently, I had the amazing opportunity to interview two 90+ year-old-ladies for an article that will be in our church magazine. It was an incredible feeling to spend time with two women who together have lived over 180 years! They have experienced so much life.
This really caused me to start thinking about my own life. If someone were to sit down with me when I’m 90 years old, what would I have to say? What kind of life will I have lived?
As one of the ladies shared with me about her passion for intercession and her love for the Word, I began to think about my own life. Do I have that kind of passion?
Lately, I have felt completely passionless … as if I’m in a very dry desert without any water in sight. Things I used to care about now seem mundane and boring. My life has been void of joy. For example, my husband and I just bought our first house, and although it should have felt exciting … it just didn’t. I wasn’t nearly as ecstatic as I had expected to be. It’s as if all my joy has been completely sucked out.
But that day, seeing the look in that 90-year-old lady’s eyes as she talked about the Word and her deep, deep love for Jesus made me realize that something is missing in my life. I began to see that this desert I’m in is about far more than just losing passion for “things;” it’s about losing passion for Jesus.
I began to realize that I’ve been in a very dry place in my spiritual life and that has run over into every area of my life. Oh, I read the Bible here and there and have my quick 5-minute quiet time each day. But my spirit is crying out for more … my spirit is thirsty and desperately in need of living water.
How could I not see that until now? Why didn’t I recognize that my desert was due to my lack of time spent with my best friend, with my Lord, with my Jesus? It seems so obvious now.
After the interview, I spent some time repenting. I am leaving the desert behind. I’m ready for a fresh wave to wash over me.
I hope that when I’m 90 years old I can look the interviewer in the eye and, without even saying a word, they can see the passion I have for Jesus.
I’m with ya girl!!! When I’m 90 I want my life to be marked by lovin’ Jesus and all the fruit that comes from a life surrendered to Him!!! I love your raw vulnerability and hope that these words find themselves drawing others out of the desert as well! I love you Stacy and love the realness of your heart!
~Ris
I love your analysis of the interview. I can’t wait to read the article on the magazine.
We all have times when we are in the desert and need God’s power to bring us out of it! I hope to have passion like that when I am 90! I pray you are on your way to the Promised Land!
Stacy this was so awesome! Just the fact that you even wrote this tells me that God is stirring up passion in your heart. We all go through dry seasons which only make His presence that much more satisfying. I think He allows those times so that as His Spirit begins to beckon to us, our heart turns to pursue His with all diligence. Our God is so romantic! Love you, thank you for being real with us so that God can speak to all of our hearts through your testimony.
I’ve walked in that same dessert where the obviousness of why I’m there is not so obvious to me until it hits me upside the head..and I somehow don’t realize how much I miss my sweet time with Jesus until I dive back into his living water. Thank you for your honesty and for sharing with us this sweet account of women who’s hearts beat for Jesus.
~Babs
Stacy, thanks for your transparency. Thanks for reminding us that there is only one source of living water. There is nothing like time with Him!
So very real and vulnerable. I agree- when we are in the desert, it makes us that much more desperate to get out- and desperate for Him. Thirsty for living water that never runs dry! Thanks for being so real, loved your blog! :}
Just about the time we think we have gone deep enough with God, He calls us right out into deeper waters. Enjoy the deep water!
Luv ya!!! Kim
it’s hot here at my house., 112 today. it feels like desert heat. and i am cranky and out of sorts from being cooped up. but reading this i realize i am cranky and out of sorts because i am an in a spiritual desert. i want back into the passion filled, joyful life. you mentioned repenting… i think i need to have me a date with some of that.
“How lovely is your dwelling place, oh Lord Almighty. My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Ps. 84:2
May we all be able to speak David’s words with his passion and urgency …Thank you, Stacy, for your candor.
Life with all we juggle can be distracting not only from our purpose, priorities, & passion, but down right exhausting & overwhelming! I have thought so many times, “Please, somebody slap me! Anybody, slap me!!” because I just realized I’m surviving that day & not living & loving it! Maybe not every moment can be that, but He loves us too much to leave us void & overwhelmed! I actually told my sis in law today, ” Ever have one of those days where you tell yourself snap out of it, dummy, you’re stinkin up all the fun?!” Thanks, Stacy, for being so beautifully transparent! That ugly “I’m perfect” facade people love to wear keeps them in the dessert of loneliness! Your honesty is refreshing!:)
Love your transparency. We all need to be like the tree firmly planted…whose roots do not run dry.
Stacy thanks so much for sharing. I can relate. I live in Michiagan so summer and nice weather is really exciting. Summer seems to be the time where I get lax and spend more time playing and less time in His word. I can see where me being lax is spilling into other areas of my life, and reading your post was a reminder of that. Thanks again for sharing your heart.
Those are the kind of moments you wish everyone could have, right? When life becomes so clear and change finally seems possible again! I wonder if those dear women even know how valuable they were to you right then. As women, we like to gush over one another. And I just wonder if older women get gushed over anymore. If you didn’t get the chance then, maybe you could share with them what kind of personal impact they made on you. Just like I’m trying to do with you now! THANK YOU for the personal impact your life made on me this morning.