Has God sustained you in the wilderness?

“For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!” ~ Nehemiah 9:21 NLT

I began my relationship with Christ 43 years ago when I was 14 years old. Like Israel in this passage, I can now look back on four decades of God’s faithfulness, guidance, forgiveness, and provision. In all those years, through the good times and bad, God walked with me and our family. He sustained us - we lacked nothing that was needed. Some of those years were spent in the wilderness depending on God day-by-day for manna. We lived paycheck to paycheck for most of that time and sometimes didn’t know how we were going to cover our bills each month. There were lean and uncertain days and some sleepless nights, but God always provided just enough just in time.

I look back now in gratitude and humility. Not only has God provided for our needs, but he is providing more than we need so that we can invest in the legacy he wants for our family.

Our legacy values are:

*Scripture (the living and breathing word of God)

*Experiences (actively engaging in the goodness, grace and adventure of God together)

*Authenticity (bringing all of ourselves and our stories into the redemptive light of the Gospel and community)

*Learning (a lifelong posture of curiosity, teachability, and humility)

*Service (impacting our family, community and world through servant leadership)

Where did we learn to trust in God’s promises? In the wilderness when we prayed for our daily bread each day because we didn’t know where the money would come from to pay the bills.

Where did I learn about God’s character? By experiencing his comforting presence in the wilderness when we lost my father 12 years ago.

When did we come to value authenticity? When we (mostly me) quit faking it and brought our personal and marriage struggles into the light and got the help we needed.

These wilderness experiences were necessary but painful times when God pruned us back into a position of absolute dependence upon him and the spiritual family he’d given us.

What have you learned through your wanderings in the wilderness?