"..wilderness turned into a good land."

The week started with a fortune cookie that i usually do not take very seriously but it was an interesting statement- "The first step in making a dream come true is to wake up!"  It doesn't take much for my flight of thoughts to get going and I started connecting a reading from that morning.

 During a morning reading I read  Isaiah 35 and it got me thinking about how we need to have hope for the future and our dreams. HOPE, overcomes our weakness and gives the strength we need to stand firm as we go forward with our work on this earth.

" The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus..... Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble and tottering knees." ( Is 35: 1,3).

I recalled a picture I had taken at  Gettysburg Battlefield in the Autumn. 

Colorful flowers in the middle of a dry field ...

hope in the middle of a wilderness.

I read Matthew Henry's commentary on Is 35:1-4 and it stated;
This is the design of the gospel, 1. To strengthen those that are weak and to confirm them—the weak hands, which are unable either to work or fight, and can hardly be lifted up in prayer, and the feeble knees, which are unable either to stand or walk and unfit for the race set before us. The gospel furnishes us with strengthening considerations, and shows us where strength is laid up for us. Among true Christians there are many that have weak hands and feeble knees, that are yet but babes in Christ; but it is our duty to strengthen our brethren (Lu. 22:32 ), not only to bear with the weak, but to do what we can to confirm them, Rom. 15:1 ; 1 Th. 5:14 . It is our duty also to strengthen ourselves, to lift up the hands which hang down (Heb. 12:12 )

Later in the day I was reading about a Civil war battle in a book   "A Stillness At Appomattox" by Bruce Catton. The  Battle of the Wilderness was hard even to read about. The loss was great on both sides and included fires that encroached upon wounded soldiers. 

[In the Wilderness] numbers meant little—in fact, they were frequently an encumbrance on the narrow trails. Visibility was limited, making it extremely difficult for officers to exercise effective control. Attackers could only thrash noisily and blindly forward through the underbrush, perfect targets for the concealed defenders. In attack or retreat, formations could rarely be maintained. In this near-jungle, the Confederates had the advantages of being, on the whole, better woodsmen than their opponents and of being far more familiar with the terrain. Federal commanders were forced to rely upon maps, which soon proved thoroughly unreliable.
Col. Vincent J. Esposito, West Point Atlas[15]

I saw many wounded soldiers in the Wilderness who hung on to their rifles, and whose intention was clearly stamped on their pallid faces. I saw one man, both of whose legs were broken, lying on the ground with his cocked rifle by his side and his ramrod in his hand, and his eyes set on the front. I knew he meant to kill himself in case of fire—knew it is surely as though I could read his thoughts.
Private Frank Wilkeson[21]



So i started thinking a few things from Is. 35

• What allows the rose to bloom in the desert? 

Cultivation, care and water would certainly help,

• How to we keep enthusiasm for the long haul, and seeing the meaning in trials or perplexing circumstances?
• The Union Reserve soldiers were not enthusiastic about entering the Wilderness Battle since only 27 days remained before being sent home!

• How do we prepare for those stark times of trial when we need provision? 
• A glimpse of a field with hay bales quickened me to realize we care for the livestock through winter by preparation and hard work to store provisions. Likewise as we go through life we devote ourselves to the Word to build into our lives those views and convictions we need to get us through the wintry times.

One scripture that helps me see the broad view of the daily struggles that do not have answers or gives strength to persevere to the end -

2 Corinthians 4:15-17 (Amplified Bible)

15 For all [these] things are [taking place] for your sake, so that the more grace (divine favor and spiritual blessing) extends to more and more people and multiplies through the many, the more thanksgiving may increase [and redound] to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day.

17 For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!],

General Grant's action after the Wilderness has been considered a turning point in the war. Likewise we have turning points in our on lives, defining moments, when we respond in faith though everything around us is not hopeful.

Both flanks had been badly bruised, and [Grant's] 17,500 casualties in two days exceeded the Confederate total by at least 7,000. Under such circumstances previous Union commanders in Virginia had withdrawn behind the nearest river. Men in the ranks expected the same thing to happen again. But Grant had told Lincoln "whatever happens, there will be no turning back."
While the armies skirmished warily on May 7, Grant prepared to march around Lee's right during the night to seize the crossroads village of Spotsylvania a dozen miles to the south. If successful, this move would place the Union army closer to Richmond than the enemy and force Lee to fight or retreat. All day Union supply wagons and the reserve artillery moved to the rear, confirming the soldiers' weary expectation of retreat. After dark the blue divisions pulled out one by one.

But instead of heading north, they turned south. A mental sunburst brightened their minds. It was not another "Chancellorsville ... another skedaddle" after all. "Our spirits rose," recalled one veteran who remembered this moment as a turning point in the war. Despite the terrors of the past three days and those to come, "we marched free. The men began to sing." For the first time in a Virginia campaign the Army of the Potomac stayed on the offensive after its initial battle.[36]
— James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom

So  we can stay on the offensive against all that would try to lead us astray and allow us to drift from Christ and the message. So keep reaching and pursuing the dreams that captured your heart.
God's grace enables us to be a light in a cold, weary, place and time.