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Aug 24, 2025 06:00am

When the Lord Leads You Through the Wilderness

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The dream felt so real. I was on a path, walking in the light. It was a beautiful path, lush with green vegetation. It was a path that yielded much peace. Something distracted me on my left. I turned and noticed a desert. Without thinking, I headed to the desert’s edge, took off my shoes, and started walking on the sand. I remember thinking, “Why in the world am I walking on the hot sands of the desert instead of the peaceful path to my right?” Yet, I kept on walking.

I woke up after that. Troubled, I lay awake in my bed, trying to discern what this dream meant. Though I struggled to understand it at that time, I can look back all these years later and see it perfectly. The Lord was warning me about the next season of my life: my wilderness-walking season.

Too many times in life, I have walked off the Lord’s path and smack dab into the wilderness. I have taken off my hiking shoes and gone barefoot in the hot sands of the desert, roaming around and wondering where my peace went.

Somehow, without realizing it, I had loosened up on my armor of God and bought into lies the enemy had put into my mind and my heart. And this marked the beginning of a very long season of my wilderness journey. You see, the enemy, craftily and subtly, took a half-truth and woven it in with a lie . . . and that’s all it took to bait me—hook, line, and sinker.

And I had no peace.

I was like somebody in a boat being tossed to and fro in a great big stormy sea. It was such a challenging season for my mind . . . those fiery darts found all the right places as God gently exposed areas that needed His light and His truth. These were areas where I had not surrendered to Him—areas I tried to control.

I would love to tell you it took a few months before I was back on the Lord’s path, walking with Him, but in all honesty, it was much longer. For a girl who likes to control everything, I didn’t realize God was slowly loosening my grip—one finger at a time—on areas I was not willing to let go of. I didn’t see the exit signs all around the desert labeled with one word: Surrender.

After years of fighting, striving, and searching for my way to control the situation, I finally gave up. I waved my white flag to the Lord, conceding this battle was too much for me. It took one statement said in faith: “Lord, if ________ happens, I will still trust in You.” That was it. Instead of fighting against my worst fear, I faced it with faith. If the Lord allowed it to happen, I knew He would be with me to face it.

Friend, it was that statement of surrender that yielded something I had been chasing ceaselessly: peace. It came down upon me like a gentle rain, soaking my heart and mind in a calm confidence. My shackles of fear and anxiety fell away . . . I was free. And I felt wonderful. It didn’t mean my situation was perfect or wonderful, but it meant that no matter what was ahead of me, I knew the Lord was in control and He would be with me, helping me face it.

I trusted Him with all my heart.

If you, too, are in the season of wilderness walking, where you have no peace and your mind feels like it’s being attacked on all fronts, I encourage you to write your statement of surrender: Lord, if ____ happens, I will still trust in You. Say it daily. Turn it into a prayer. Anytime your fear or anxiety prompts you to step off the path of peace, make this your battle cry. Find some rock-steady verses about surrender and begin memorizing them. Get Bible studies focused on surrender. Pray daily, focusing on surrendering those areas you are holding onto tightly.

Let go and let God have them, friend. Not only will you find the peace you have been searching for, but you will also find the Lord and experience Him in a way that you haven’t before.

A breakthrough type of way.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3