Episode 3

 Where does one run to in the desert…what pushed me to run so hard, or what drove me with such force towards my own end, I am no longer even sure of…but I fled blindly into the wastelands.

 Do you remember those old tin can and yarn phones we played with as kids?  No matter how far apart we were from each other, as long as we talked into the can, we could hear what the other was saying.  It may be a strange way of explaining this connection God has with me, but from my beginning, there has always been an invisible string between He and I.  You may scoff, but the only way to prove it is to tell you what I have seen! 

In my blind flight, I wandered into the dead lands where the enemy dwelt!  Everywhere I ran, they sought me hungrily!  Time and again I was ravaged by the wickedness that pursued me ever so steadily, methodically drawing blood in small lethal quantities, eagerly gaining strength from the flesh that was being pulled from my frame.  I found myself at my end, in a pile of bones that must have belonged to many previous victims. 

All it took that night, was a simple tug on the yarn between those two tin cans…not sure if it broke or simply tugged, but it was enough!

 This is how I believe He arrived before me…

As I felt my breath leaving my chest for the end, there came a soft vibration from within the pile of bones I lay on, up from the ground beneath.  All I know is that it grew in intensity until my very blood vibrated with a resonance that I cannot mistake as the thunderous footfalls of my Father at an intense dead run through the desert!  He was coming! 

In my end, I did not have even the strength to open my eyes, but the sounds I heard were overwhelming…Lightening striking the ground and thunderous explosions emitting from the very hand of my Father, were all that I could hear.  The screams of death were in my ears and the smell burning flesh was in my nostrils causing me to open my eyes in alarm, only to witness the Full Level of Gods anger being directed at my enemies.  As the smoke cleared and the sounds died down, I simply let go of my spirit, unable to carry on any longer.  As I felt the darkness consume me, there was something tugging at my mind, something pulling on that string attached to my spirit, I think.   

There came a fragrance, sweeter than any flower I had ever smelled! Wafting gently through the dark, it steadily began soaking into my very fiber…I recognized it from somewhere deep within, as the very breath of God.  Every single place of damage within my spirit became drenched in the warm healing power of His breath!  From that place of complete exhausted surrender, my Father began tending my every wound.  I cannot say how long He stayed there in the wasteland with me, slowly and steadily mending each place that had been damaged.  When I gained strength to stand and walk again, He did not leave me, even then!

 Together, my father and I walked hand in hand back toward the Cities of Souls, and I did not care because I knew He was with me and I need not fear all those souls any longer.  Before I realized it, time had rolled forward and I suddenly found myself standing on a hillside on the outskirts of the city.  When I turned in question to my Father, unsure of our path, He smiled gently and cupped my chin gently in His hands.  He need not even say words out loud, as I could clearly read His thoughts from within my mind. 

Stretching out His arm toward the city caused my eyes to follow where He pointed.  Clearly, I could see a small path weaving all of the way through the city to the mountains of God on the other side.  I could see, if I looked closely, small lights illuminating the path frequently.  It was time for me to walk steadily down that path and through the Cities of Souls, making sure to follow His clearly marked path.  If I held to the path, even when I felt lost or discouraged, the path would get me home, where my Almighty God was preparing a place for me. 

If I needed Him, I need only reach out for Him, smelling the air for His fragrant breath, which kept those lights along the path glowing brightly.  With a love like this, I am now compelled to walk forward into those Cities of Souls, no longer just a wild child, but alas, an imperfectly beautiful Woman of Grace!

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

John 14:1-4