You know how sometimes God asks you to do the very thing that scares you most? You know how we sometimes say stuff like, “I want to let God be in control, really, I do. But what if God makes me move to Nebraska or something?”

Then, realizing what we’ve done, we look up to the sky, or wherever it is we think God is listening from, and we say, “Just kidding, God,” because we know the minute we tell God what we don’t want to do, it’s as if God takes special note of that and somehow works it into our lifetime schedule of events.

We talk about God-sized dreams, and a lot of us imagine that to mean some big, grand gesture God is asking us to make. Sometimes I get lost in the dreamy prospects of the thing. But if I’m honest, I have to tell you that a God-sized dream might surprise you because of its smallness. It will push you to the very edge of your comfort zone and right into the desolation of the wilderness. And it won’t always stop there.

Here’s the thing about the terrifying parts of following God’s invitation into the wilderness: even though you’re so afraid you think you might pass out and throw up at the same time, right where you stand, God is good and God is in control. The wilderness is uniquely suited for putting us in a situation where God can get a hearing from us. Without resources, stretched far beyond our abilities, and with hope consigned to the garbage bin, we want out of the wilderness, but God desires to bring us through. And He is right there with us. He doesn’t send us into the wilderness and wait for us to emerge on the other side. No. God walks every step of the wilderness journey with us, and He shapes us as we make our way our through. We are softer in the wilderness, despite our best intentions.

God is in the wilderness. Go there. You can trust Him to meet you right in the middle of your wild and worn and weary places. Take off your shoes. Tear off your pretense. Skip over the polite conversation. It’s you He wants. Simply you.

Shake your fist and stomp your feet and whine, whine, whine, because it’s you He wants. Just the way you are. He’s got designs on you. He will catch your eye across a crowded room and tell your entire story without ever speaking a word, and when you’re driving south with the sky on fire like a burning bush, your heart will hear His gentle whisper in the deepest places.

Maybe what He says will sound a bit like this:

Welcome to the good life.

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If you love this excerpt from our own Deidra Riggs’ beautiful new book, Every Little Thing, we would love to gift five of you with an incredible gift set! Simply use the giveaway widget on Monday’s post and follow the entry requirements to be entered to win a copy of Every Little Thing, a set of Everlasting Light North Star Shimmer Earrings, and an Everlasting Light “Shine Your Light” pillow cover! {click here to go to the post}.

Excerpt from Deidra Riggs, Every Little Thing. Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2015. Used by permission.

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