Wilderness

This Sunday we heard a gospel lesson about Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. I was inspired to preach about how we are tempted to believe that God has abandoned us when we feel that we are in the wilderness but the promise of our baptism is that God never leaves us, no matter what.

Tim was helpful to point out at one point leading up to Sunday that I was more than likely preaching to myself more than anything else and I have to agree with him. We are indeed in a kind of wilderness as we leave one community of faith and begin to live in another. In the midst of this change we have experienced a range of emotions and have been trying to find the evidence of God in the midst of it all.

I have so many questions racing through my mind this week in between calls. Wondering if it was the right time to leave the first call. Questioning if this is the place where God has called me to be. Wanting to believe that we can trust those who guide this process even when we are feeling less than sure that we can. Worried about the move (not just because of the impending snow storm) and if it will be good for Tim and I as we are more removed from the things we depend on for a well-rounded life. In the midst of all of this change we are called to trust that our anxieties are heard by God as prayer and that those prayers will be answered in God's time. We live in this hope because of our baptism and the promises made and fulfilled in Jesus' death and resurrection.

Hopefully the move will go well, and as planned, and while we live into this season of Lent we will find Easter hope in what God has promised.