Flowers in the Desert

So one of the days we were in the Sahara, Rais took us out to the dunes in the middle of the Sahara desert.  Talk about a place I never thought I'd visit but one that is incredible and breathtaking.  For as far as you can see it's just straight sand.  As we were walking through the dunes, Missy pointed out to me these little yellow flowers that were growing in the sand.  I absolutely love flowers, and I bent down to look at them more closely.  I was squatting there, in an ocean of sand, and I felt the Father say to me (not in an audible voice, but definitely heard Him in my spirit), "I grow flowers in the desert."  That was it.

I shared this with the group later in the evening and we talked more about how it was pretty cool that even in the Sahara desert, even in a refugee camp, where it seems like everything is just brown and dead and hot and sand, that the Father is doing something...He is growing flowers and people.

So we all thought that was pretty crazy awesome and we went to bed that night in the open courtyard under the stars.  And that night we all woke up to a rainstorm in the desert.  Big, fat, raindrops falling on our faces for literally only 2 minutes.  That's how long rainstorms last there.  But still, it rained.  And I felt like that was the Father making His point clear to us...that He grows flowers in the desert, and He waters flowers in the desert, and we can trust Him to do that no matter where we are.

We got home and Danny shared this with the group.  I've honestly never heard it before, so it's pretty cool that it coincides with what the Father spoke to us...

Isaiah 35:1-2 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
    The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
    and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
    as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
    the splendor of our God.

-Marisa