I Kings 17:1 “Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to King Aha, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.”
Do you write notes in your Bible? I document my life in my favorite Bible and this passage of Elijah going to the desert has many notations. The time of feeling deserted when I returned from living abroad more than 20 years ago. A time when I was unemployed after 9/11 and my company stalled in the aftermath almost 10 years ago. Loss is documented two years later going through a separation and losing my position at church as a pianist. Five years pass and I am back in the desert looking for work when my job ended and I returned to Colorado. And now, again, four years later. The deserts are not getting easier. They are not getting farther apart. The troubles are increasing in intensity and in frequency. And yet, knowing that the previous deserts were followed with a time of ‘dew’ and raining down of blessing, I have hope again. Today. In this desert.
When were you last challenged by many things going wrong? How did you weather that time in your life? Who and what was there for you?
