I have recently began reading a book called "Wilderness Skills for Women" by Marian Jordan. Marian Jordan founded the ministry "Redeemed Girl Ministries". I first heard her on the Breakaway Ministries podcasts at Texas A&M. She is truly a redeemed girl. The Lord is doing great things through her. Through this book Marian tells of her life before she found Jesus, and then she goes into how she fell head over hills in love with Him. She tells of the wilderness of Heartbreak she went through when she lost her first love, whom she thought she was going to marry. She tells of how she didn't understand "Why" the Lord had allowed her to fall in love and then to find out that she and her first love were going down different paths in their lives. She had prayed, and prayed hard because she didn't want to be out of the Lord's will in falling in love with this guy. She felt like she had the OK from God to go for it and she had scripture to back it up. When she let herself go to fall in love, and then to have all fall apart, devestation and darkness set in. The devil began to tempt her and threw questions in her mind about God's Love for her. She said she felt betrayed by God. Through all this she tells of how she realized that she had moved her hope from the Lord, to this guy. And the Lord told her one day at the alter, she thought she would be getting married at, He wanted that Hope back! The point of the book is there are many wildernesses that we will go through. Whether it be the wilderness of rejection, the wilderness of despair, the wilderness of loneliness, etc. There is God's Word to help us and guide us through those wildernesses. God's Word is full of those who have gone before us who faced many a wilderness, yet remained faithfull to our Creator. To quote Marian, "One night I tried to fall asleep, yet all I could do was pray, and I sensed God speaking these words to my heart:
You will be heartbroken.
You will face rejection.
You will be forsaken.
You will feel humiliated.
You will be abandoned.
But remember,
I am with you.
For I, too, was brokenhearted.
I, too, was rejected.
I, too, was forsaken.
I, too, faced humiliation.
And, I too, was abandoned. I can walk this road with you because I walked this road before you.
I know the way.
I am the Way.
Follow Me."
This is an awesome book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is going through a wilderness right now of there own. Whether it be losing a loved one, divorce, a miscarriage, singleness, an illness, infertility the Lord has some powerful words in this book through Marian.
