Turning parched ground into springs

Isaiah 41:17-20. . .

I stumbled upon this portion of scripture one morning recently and the words hit me in a new way, like never before. I love when God surprises me like that. 

He knew I needed these words. This hope. This promise.  

“The poor and needy search for water,
    but there is none;
    their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
    and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,

   and the parched ground into springs.

19 I will put in the desert
    the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers in the wasteland,
    the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
    may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
    that the Holy One of Israel has created it."

So many times I want to drink my own water, if you know what I mean. Hard times come, frustrating situations happen, and I try to satisfy my own thirst with my own agenda. My own personal sense of control.

I am sure you have been there a time or two. . . 

Yet what God is really saying here is just be still. Just wait with hope. Just hold on a second longer because while you are searching I am fighting for you. 

Yet so many times I am so preoccupied with my own thirst that I miss the bigger picture. The pool of water that is right in front of me. The overflowing spring that is right in front of my big brown eyes. 

Searching for water? Overwhelmed with what feels like an unquenchable thirst? Smack in the middle of your own personal desert, whatever that may be? 

Just keep holding on, friends. . . 

Because God is fighting. 

God is using you and your story to move mountains. 

And that dry, brittle ground you now see will soon transform into a beautiful wellspring of life.  Psalm 41 holds the proof.