{"id":2812,"date":"2022-06-27T19:33:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-27T19:33:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2812"},"modified":"2023-09-03T00:04:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T00:04:58","slug":"2812","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2812","title":{"rendered":"A Desert Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Desert Experience <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A story in my life on our journey 15 years previously: Before going on our anniversary trip to Copper Mountain, I had a dream. I was biking through a nice neighborhood and came to a hill with Alan. He was able to get over it but I was struggling and just pedaling in place with no progress. I saw this girl from high school pedal by us. I wanted to find out about she and her husband and told Alan to go ahead and catch her and ask how they were doing. In the meantime, I would try to conquer this hill and hoped to by the time he returned. The couple’s names were Kristi Turner and Dave Journey. When Alan returned, he reported that Turner had divorced Journey. That symbol would prove significant because Turner had “divorced” or given up the journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we drove to Colorado, Alan was looking back and having lots of regrets of not ending up financially successful and providing for his family as he had hoped. He was speaking negative things and his frustration with the call of God on his life. I knew he was thinking of \u201cdivorcing the journey\u201d and going back to his secular job. When we got to Copper, God gave me a dream. I was pregnant at 52 years old. I knew Alan wouldn\u2019t want to raise a baby all over again as our sons were older and grown. In the dream I saw Sarah from the bible who was also pregnant in her older age (her hair was almost white). I asked her what would I do about this since my husband wouldn\u2019t want a child at my age? She pointed her finger in my face and said, \u201cRest! Don\u2019t worry, she continued, because many people would adopt this baby and help raise it up. I know now that dream symbol of being pregnant is often pregnant with a spiritual growth and in my case I was pregnant with a baby of rest. I was to cease from striving and enter His rest as Hebrews 4 mentions and that many would need to do this and trust God to carry them, \u201cadopting rest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The next day before leaving for home, I was jogging with the huge mountains beside me and a lake and highway to my left. I was venting a bit to God that I had hung on to His promises and tried to encourage my whole family but unless He gave me a sign to continue in faith, I couldn\u2019t go on! I was exhausted! As I waited in silence, He spoke, \u201cGood! Now I can take over! You see, Holly, I have to carry you your last leg to My promise and your destiny. You can\u2019t accomplish it without Me! Now look up to the highway!\u201d Right as I glanced to my left there was a moving van with the title \u201cCovenant Transport!\u201d There was the sign I asked for. \u201cIt\u2019s my promise Holly, I began the call and will carry you to the completion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n


This was the training to come to the end of myself in trying to accomplish my own call and have my Peniel or wrestling with God to let the government of my life be on His shoulders. I learned to trust His way over my own\u2026I had a prophecy later that said you have heard of beauty to ashes but you had ashes to beauty. You had a death to self first then beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I believe God is giving you the experiences you need right now to back up what you know in the knowledge of the bible.
May I pray for you?
Lord,
Thank you that You who have begun a good work in us will carry it to completion. Help us to cease striving to accomplish our own calling and enter into Your rest. Help us to trust You and Your timing for our maturity. Help us to enjoy the journey and gain the wisdom and revelation You intend for us to help all those coming in our path!
In Jesus name,
Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A story in my life on our journey 15 years previously: Before going on our anniversary trip to Copper Mountain, I had a dream. I was biking through a nice neighborhood and came to a hill with Alan. He was able to get over it but I was struggling and just pedaling in place with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/53487526_10218417936063498_3211876230139740160_n.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":181,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=181","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":0},"title":"Part II Discipline or Pruning? – When God Wasn’t Winking","author":"admin","date":"February 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Click \u00a0 HERE\u00a0 to view my introductory video post entitled \"Discipline or Pruning?\" I met Alan in my late twenties, and we jointly struggled with the sins of our past. As recently recommitted Christians, we experienced God\u2019s intervention and discipline in the form of difficult circumstances. In the passage of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lessons of the Desert"","block_context":{"text":"Lessons of the Desert","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/ShadowRidge-redo-291x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":59,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=59","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":1},"title":"Ruhamah","author":"admin","date":"January 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I found myself in the book of Hosea this morning. We know that Hosea was a prophet who was called to illustrate the relationship, or lack of it, between Israel and God at the time. He was to do this through his marriage to an unfaithful wife, Gomer.\u00a0 Each child\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lessons of the Desert"","block_context":{"text":"Lessons of the Desert","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/lo-ruhamah.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2490,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2490","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":2},"title":"Hope-My Breakthrough by Alan Smith","author":"hollysmith","date":"March 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Our pastor spoke at a service and concluded by praying that the Holy Spirit might reveal to each of us in attendance where we needed a breakthrough. What I \u201cheard\u201d (perceived intuitively) however was vastly different and somewhat revelatory to me; \u201cHOPE\u201d. I was instantly able to identify with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"autumn-3753910__340","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/autumn-3753910__340-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=9","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":3},"title":"What did you go out in the desert to see?","author":"admin","date":"November 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A reed swayed by the wind? (Luke 7:24 NIV) John the Baptist as a child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly in Israel. (Luke 1:80 NIV) Solitude with God in the desert was his school. He gained the lessons and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lessons of the Desert"","block_context":{"text":"Lessons of the Desert","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2615,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=2615","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":4},"title":"What did you go out in the desert to See?","author":"hollysmith","date":"October 27, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"What did you go out in the desert to see-a reed swayed by the wind? (Luke 7:24 NIV) John the Baptist as a child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly in Israel. (Luke 1:80) Solitude with God in the desert\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"61428_10201932424216005_209254127_n","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/61428_10201932424216005_209254127_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1422,"url":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?p=1422","url_meta":{"origin":2812,"position":5},"title":"God’s School-The Desert","author":"hollysmith","date":"September 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Jesus rebuked Peter in Matthew 16:23,\u201c...you do not have in mind the things of God but the things of men.\u201d Which do you have in mind? Are you prepared, equipped, toughened for the season ahead? I had a problem. I was impatient to reach my destiny but the more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"desert road","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hollywsmith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/desert-road-300x202.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2812"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3769,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2812\/revisions\/3769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hollywsmith.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}