Wandering in the Desert

During my 36 years as a child of God, I spend about 25 of them doing what a friend of mine referred to as my “wandering in the desert”. Although I was saved, I was, to quote an old song, “looking for love in all the wrong places”.


I knew I was missing something. It was a feeling of discomfort, or disorganization. It was like wearing your coat backwards, or wearing shoes without tying them. It was like going to a party where you know no one. It was like trying to fit the very last piece of a jigsaw puzzle just to find that it won’t fit!

At times I felt as if I would never really be as happy as the folks I saw around me, and I just couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong. I tried several things.

I tried popularity. I thought having the approval of people would do it. But it didn’t, and I found I couldn’t please enough people to be truly popular.

I also thought that if I had enough money I’d be happy. So I worked a lot, but then I spent a lot, so I’d work more, but then I’d spend more. At the end of that phase, I discovered my then very young son was being raised by my parents instead of me, and no matter what I brought him home, the cold hard truth was, all he wanted was mom.

For a while I thought it was power and prestige. If I could only get ahead at work, be respected, be noticed, and get promoted, then I’d be happy! But it didn’t work. The discomfort seemed to grow into an empty pit inside me.

I even thought that if I exercised, lost weight, and took better care of myself, I’d be happier. After all, the “beautiful people” all seem happy, right? But then I realized that it wasn’t the outside of me that was unhappy. Fixing the outside didn’t do anything for me, and no matter how hard I tried, it just wouldn’t stay fixed! It was a vicious cycle of trying to achieve my own approval.

The devil can be such a deceiver! He kept me so busy trying to find happiness in all the wrong places that I didn’t take the time to look to Christ. I didn’t take the time to realize that what it takes to be happy, truly happy, is to simply live in the image in which we were created.

Once I realized that, turned my life back over to Christ and moved out of the way, I found a peace that I cannot explain. In the midst of my worst day, and yes there are some real struggles at times, I still have joy. I have a flood of love from my heart that can only come from abiding in Christ, and His Spirit abiding in me.

Friends, stop looking for love in all the wrong places! Stop wandering in the desert, and thirsting for water that never quenches your thirst. Your answer is Jesus, it really is! In John 4:13 Jesus tells a young woman who is at a well, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” If you’re missing something in your life, look to Jesus! He can, and will, complete your life.

Friend, if you don’t know Jesus, and want to know how to begin your relationship with Him or would like your questions answered, I encourage you to message me. I’d be more than happy to tell you anything you want to know about my friend and Savior, Jesus.