A High Place in the Desert

Dear  Friends and Family,


At the end of my last post I said I wanted to tell you about a word, a prophecy (knowledge about the future) I suppose, that I was given 11 years ago by a man I didn't even know.
Over the years I have gone back to it and read it but never felt that it was quite the right time yet. Earlier in the summer I came back to it again and it suddenly made sense. It felt right for now and what we're going through. It is also partly where the name of this blog comes from, On Wings Like Eagles.


I wondered if I should share the whole thing with you, but I have decided to as it may encourage someone. So here it is....


"The Lord is burdened with a huge love for you and He wants to pour it on to you so that you soak in His love-you simply need to take a step into his presence.
He has cared for you and nurtured you all your life (even if you were unaware of it). He holds you cupped in his hands, a small bird fully feathered and ready to fly, but just needing his reassurance. The Lord holds you high and launches you into the sky, because he knows you are ready, he has confidence in you and he is with you-He wants you to soar on the wings of an eagle. There are no limits!
As the Lord releases you into the air from a high place in the desert you are able to gain height and to use the thermals to soar-this helps you to see from afar the lush vegetation and the promise of new life."


He also gave this verse, Psalm 73:23-26
                            "Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand. You will keep
                             on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
                             Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on
                             earth. My health may fail and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains
                             the strength of my heart, he is mine forever."


There are couple of aspects of this that I want to talk about. Firstly, when I read this over the years I never really paid attention to the fact that he writes about being released from "a high place in the desert". Actually this is quite an important detail! If you describe a time of life as a desert time we can assume that it was hard and long and exhausting. It is in this desert time that we are in right now that God has chosen to pour out his love on me, on us, in a whole new way. It is in this desert time that he is reassuring me that I am ready for what he has planned for me and releasing me into it. We are where we are supposed to be. He is taking us to a high place so we can get a sense of being a part of something bigger.


There have been stretches of time where I have felt knocked down and a sense of being attacked over the last few months. A feeling of needing to be on my guard and praying at all times for protection over us all. But despite feeling attacked and exhausted with it all I have never once doubted God's love and protection over us. His hand in this and that all will be well in the end. But even though I have that trust and faith, my body and emotions don't always get the memo that they can be calm and relax! My body can be tense and my emotions can go haywire if I don't focus on Jesus.
I would absolutely describe this as a desert time. A hard and exhausting life experience with hard lessons to learn.


Secondly, "My health may fail and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart, he is mine forever." He is my strength, my joy, my peace, my Lord, friend and Father all at once. Clearly I forget this at times and try to go it alone, this never goes well for me!
But when I fix my eyes back on Him I am able to do so much more. I can be joyful in tough times, I can be who he has made me to be and I can see the bigger picture. I can bring myself into line with His plans and know that they are good.


He is doing an awful lot in our lives at the moment and it all feels part of the same story even if we can't fully see how it all connects.
But I guess what I want to finish with is this; don't limit God. Don't look at your earthly circumstances and be discouraged by them because God is already there, he's already acting on your behalf. Seek His joy and His strength and be excited about how he's going to use what you're going through. I couldn't have understood His love and joy if I hadn't first experienced this fear and sadness of our circumstances. Expect big things of Him. Expect miracles!


Wow, I so needed to write this post to bring myself back in to a place of joy and contentment in God. This blog malarkey is brilliant at bringing me back in to an attitude of gratitude!


So I will leave it here, and again if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I pray this all makes some sense and isn't just ramblings!


Have a marvellous week!
Blessings and much love to you all.


Rachael xx