When You Need to be Intersected: How to Find Your Soul's Oasis. (and a video link)

I suppose we all need this, a time or two. Someone to step right in our way, slowing us down on our escape plan.

I suppose we all run away, in one form or another. Some routes are sprints right outta town, to put distance between us and our hurt, our shame. Other departures are slow,  so gradual that we don't perceive it. A road slowly paved by chronic disappointment or quiet bitterness.

Maybe it's not an actual leaving, but it's a disengaging, for the hope of your soul's protection. 

Most of us have been in a situation or a relationship that devour our faith, a situation that leaves us broken and bruised, unseen and unnamed, seemingly creating no other option but to run away.

What we believe we need is freedom from the pain, a new road paved by our own efforts and self-preservation. 

But then we find ourselves a mile in and surrounded by desert. A dry spirit, a parched heart. Lost, exhausted, dehydrated. 

Perhaps then, on this escape plan, we start to sense the inadequacies of our scheme. And then, there could be nothing better for us, then to be intersected.

It is there, at this point of intersection, that we are like Hagar. Hagar, a Biblical wallflower.  Hagar, the seemingly insignificant slave girl of Abraham and Sarah. Hagar, an Egyptian woman who never dreamt there was a God of Promises for her too.

Impregnated by Abraham, and then abused by Sarah. Hopeless and emotional and scared, Hagar makes a runaway path in the desert.

And it's at a spring of water, in a desert, along her escape route, that she gets intersected by God.

It's at this oasis, where the God of her masters, converges upon her. And he slows her, on this flight, to let her see the God who sees her.

And everything, everything, is changed when we see the God who sees-and loves- us. 

This story is for you, whether you believe in this God of seeing, or deny his existence. Whether his love defines you or confuses you, this story is for you. 
Whether your desert road was paved by your own shame, or the harshness of others, this story will lead you to a soul oasis. 
Friends, this story is about God, this story is about you, this story is about me.

I had the joy of unpacking this Scripture to the women of my church last week. If this sounds like you in any way, if your heart is dry, if you feel unseen, I invite you to listen to this story about the God of seeing. The God who still chases down and rescues dry souls.  Check out the video link here .