0:02 This wilderness is not a punishment. It
0:04 is a sanctuary.
0:06 It is not the end of your promise. It is
0:09 the birthing room of your praise.
0:12 Yes, this land feels barren.
0:14 Yes, the fruit seems distant.
0:18 Yes, the path seems hidden, but hear me.
0:20 It is in the wilderness that I whisper deepest.
0:21 deepest.
0:24 It is in the still empty places that my
0:27 voice grows loudest in your spirit. It
0:29 is when you are stripped of distraction,
0:31 when your hands are no longer grasping
0:34 lesser things, that your heart finally
0:37 becomes free to receive me fully. And I
0:40 am here
0:42 in the middle of the nothingness. I am
0:45 everything. This wilderness is where joy
0:48 is made real. Not the joy the world
0:51 gives the temporary, the conditional,
0:54 the loud and fleeing.
0:57 And oh, this is deeper.
0:59 This is joy that roots in the soil of surrender.
1:00 surrender.
1:03 Joy that rises like a spring from unseen places.
1:04 places.
1:07 Joy that defies the circumstances and
1:10 testifies to something eternal. Is joy
1:12 that comes not from what you have but
1:15 from who you belong to. Joy that can
1:18 dance even when the ground shakes.
1:20 Joy that can sing even when the answer
1:22 hasn't come.
1:25 Joy that is not tied throughout them but
1:27 anchored in my presence.
1:29 Do you remember how Israel wandered in
1:32 the desert? Do you remember how I fed
1:35 them? How I led them? How I revealed my
1:38 glory not in comfort but in cloud and
1:43 fire? So too in your wilderness I am
1:45 showing myself to you in ways you never
1:48 would have seen in the land of ease.
1:51 You are being drawn closer, purified
1:53 deeper, and taught to sing without a
1:56 stage, to worship without an audience,
1:58 to love me without condition.
2:01 The world says joy is found in having
2:04 everything you want. But I say joy is
2:07 found in knowing you have me. And here
2:09 in the wilderness where everything else
2:12 falls away, I remain considu.
2:18 The rock that gives water, the bread
2:20 that sustains,
2:22 the shepherd who never sleeps.
2:24 My joy is your strength. Not the
2:26 strength to escape, but the strength to
2:28 endure with peace that passes understanding.
2:30 understanding.
2:32 Let go of the lie that the wilderness is
2:34 wasted time.
2:37 Every step you take is watched. Every
2:40 tear you cry is counted. Every prayer
2:42 you whisper into the wind is heard and
2:45 cherished. I am doing something unseen
2:47 in you. Building endurance, refining
2:50 faith, anchoring identity.
2:54 And soon, when the time is right, you
2:57 will emerge not the same. You will leave
3:00 this wilderness not broken, but blessed,
3:02 not barren, but brimming with life you
3:04 didn't know could flourish in desert soil.
3:05 soil.
3:10 Sing, my child. Sing even here. Sing
3:12 before the breakthrough. Let the
3:15 wilderness hear your song. Let the dry
3:18 land echo with praise. Let your voice
3:21 rise like incense, like dew on scorched
3:23 ground, like a river carving through the
3:28 dust. Your praise is planting seeds.
3:31 Your joy is preparing the rain. You may
3:33 not see it yet, but the clouds are gathering.
3:34 gathering.
3:37 The season is shifting. What felt
3:40 lifeless will bloom again. You will
3:42 laugh again. Not just polite laughter,
3:46 but deep bellish shaking joy. Joy that
3:48 comes from knowing I was with you all along.
3:49 along.
3:51 Joy that testifies
3:54 I met God in the wilderness and I will
3:58 never be the same. So take my hand, beloved.
3:59 beloved.
4:02 Don't rush through this sacred place.
4:05 There is joy here. There is intimacy
4:09 here. There is glory here. And when you
4:11 walk out of this wilderness, you will
4:13 carry the joy of one who knows me
4:15 deeply. One who sings because they have
4:18 been held by me in the silence.
4:21 My precious child, I know where you've
4:23 been hurt. I know the places in your
4:26 soul that still flinch, still ache,
4:28 still bleed beneath the surface of your
4:32 smile. You have tried to forget, to
4:36 bury, to move on without truly mending.
4:39 But I see what others do not. I see the
4:41 scars you carry and the stories they
4:44 hold. And I am not repelled by your
4:47 brokenness. I am drawn to it. Because I
4:50 see not just wounds but windows.
4:53 I see not just pain but purpose.
4:55 I see not just what hurt you but what I
4:58 will heal and use for glory.
5:00 These wounds, yes, even these are about
5:02 to shine. You think healing means forgetting.
5:04 forgetting.
5:07 You think restoration erases the memory.
5:09 But I tell you, true healing does not
5:13 cover the scar, it transforms it. It
5:17 gives it voice. It turns it into light.
5:19 My son's wounds remained even after
5:20 resurrection. Not because they
5:23 represented defeat, but because they
5:26 became the eternal proof of love. So
5:29 too, the wounds you carry will not
5:31 define your shame. They will declare
5:32 your survival.
5:37 I know it hurt. I know it wasn't fair. I
5:40 know it felt like it would destroy you.
5:43 And yet here you are still breathing,
5:45 still believing, still hoping even when
5:48 hope has felt like betrayal.
5:51 That is not weakness, my child. That is
5:53 holy resilience.
5:55 That is divine strength hidden in
5:58 fragile flesh. That is the image of your
6:01 creator alive in you. You have looked at
6:02 your past and said, "Why did this
6:06 happen?" But I say to you, "Watch what I
6:08 will do with it." But the enemy meant
6:11 for harm, I will turn for good. Whatever
6:13 I used to wound you, I will use to heal nations.
6:15 nations.
6:17 You have walked through fire, and though
6:21 it burned, it did not consume you. You
6:23 have been crushed. And though it broke
6:26 you open, it did not end you. I was
6:29 there every moment, every tear, every
6:31 silent scream.
6:33 And now I am gathering what was
6:35 shattered and breathing life back into
6:38 it. This is the season where your wounds
6:40 become beacons.
6:43 Not of pity but of power. Not of tragedy
6:45 but of testimony.
6:47 I will use what almost killed you to
6:50 bring others back to life. Your stars
6:53 will become sacred signs that I still
6:56 heal, still redeem, still raise the dead
6:59 things back to glory. The world will
7:02 look at you and see not the damage but
7:04 the divine. They will see beauty where
7:07 there once was bleeding.
7:10 You are not damaged goods. You are holy evidence.
7:11 evidence.
7:13 So show me the places that still tremble.
7:15 tremble.
7:17 The parts you've hidden, even from yourself.
7:19 yourself.
7:20 Let me place my hand on the places that
7:24 Achen speak peace over them. Not a peace
7:26 that denies the pain, but a peace that
7:29 overcomes it. I will not leave you in pieces.
7:30 pieces.
7:33 I will make you whole. I will walk you
7:36 through the memory, not to retraumatize
7:39 you, but to release you. And when we
7:42 reach the other side, you will shine.
7:45 Yes, you will shine. Not in spite of the
7:48 wounds, but because of them. Because you
7:51 let me touch them. Because you trusted
7:54 me with them. Because you let me turn
7:56 your pain into praise. Your weakness
7:59 into witness. Your history into healing
8:02 for others. The world needs what you
8:06 carry. The honesty of your struggle. The
8:08 purity of your perseverance.
8:10 The sacred light that flows from someone
8:13 who has suffered and still sings. That
8:15 light will touch those who think they
8:18 are too far gone. That light will
8:20 whisper to the broken. If God can
8:23 restore them, he can restore me, too. So
8:26 do not hide your scars anymore.
8:29 Hold them up like a torch.
8:31 Let the world see what grace looks like
8:33 on flesh. Let the church see what
8:36 resurrection really means. Let the
8:38 wounded see that healing is not only
8:41 possible, it is beautiful. I know the
8:42 season you've walked through has felt
8:44 parched. Like your prayers echoed back
8:46 with silence, like the soil of your
8:48 spirit dried and cracked beneath the
8:51 weight of waiting. You've looked around
8:53 and seen baroness where you once dreamed
8:55 of gardens.
8:57 You've hoped through dust storms,
8:59 trusted through droughts, and still the
9:03 rain did not fall. But I, the Lord your
9:06 God, declare to you now, the streams are
9:09 beginning to break forth. The drought is
9:13 ending. Water is rising from the depths.
9:16 And where you saw only desolation, you
9:19 shall now see divine provision. I am the
9:21 God who makes a way in the wilderness
9:24 and streams in the desert. This land
9:25 around you, this life that has felt
9:28 lifeless. I am speaking to it even now.
9:32 I am calling forth water from the Gurat.
9:34 I am commanding living springs to rise
9:36 in places long forgotten.
9:40 I am not limited by what looks dry. I do
9:42 not see the desert as hopeless. I see it
9:44 as a canvas for miracles.
9:47 You asked me for rain, but I am giving
9:51 you a river. You look for signs of life,
9:53 but I am birthing an oasis from your
9:56 obedience, from your endurance, from
9:57 your tears.
9:59 Every step you took through this arid
10:03 place, I saw it. Every time you chose
10:05 faith over feeling. Every time you
10:07 praised me in the emptiness. Every time
10:09 you lifted your eyes when the weight
