No one is exempt from experiencing times when we wander mentally or emotionally. When we stray, it’s easy to end up in places where we expected safety and comfort and find none. Sometimes we’re unaware of the small compromises we make. Sometimes we’re gently coaxed or intentionally deceived into moving a dangerous direction. Other times, we go knowingly.

What we find in the desolate places only temporarily drives away the loneliness, the fear and the terror. Those things might patch, but they don’t heal a broken heart. What started out as pleasurable or tolerable, now stings. And there comes a point when we realize we’re in a place where nothing satisfies, a desolate place where we feel utterly alone and isolated. We begin searching for a place of peace, a place where we don’t have to constantly search for safety and love.

Our strength fails because our souls are not fed and the driving desire to truly love and be loved is never quenched. If we wander deeper and deeper into the unforgiving wastelands, we will surely die a slow, hard death.

In these tight spots of grief, need, distress, anguish, or guilt, there is hope. In Psalm 107:6. In their trouble, they cried to the Lord and He rescued them from their distress. Sometimes our cries are audible and sometimes they aren’t. God hears both kinds when our heart is in the “yada” posture.  The childlike posture of open hands and extended arms reflects a desire to be in God’s presence, a cry to be picked up, a surrender.

Here’s His promise: He always hears this cry. He delivers, rescues, saves. He grabs us and pulls us out. He wraps His arms around us. He tells us He loves us and He’s got a better plan for us. He wipes us off and puts our feet in a different place. He invites us to a heart-to-heart conversation he has been longing to have with us, where He brings peace to our hearts and minds.

Dear Heavenly Father, I am so sorry that I have wandered and that You see me in this forsaken place. I can’t get out of this on my own. Please rescue me. Please heal me. Please show me what I need to do. Thank You for hearing my heart’s cry and picking me up and putting me in a better place. Father, help me quickly recognize the things that lead me into the desolate places where I don’t feel Your peace or Your joy and remind me to simply surrender to You. Your way is always better! I want Your way.