The 10-day count down is here. May we be ready for all God is sending our way. Being committed to God’s plan is generally an invitation into the frying pan. After Mary’s encounter with the angel she was surrendered and determined, but that did not make her immune to the onslaught of gossip, ridicule and heartache. Mary needed a safe place. She needed an oasis, a place of solace, comfort and encouragement on this mountainous trek she now found herself on as a tender, teenage girl.
We read in Luke 1: 39-40, “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zachariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.” We know where Mary went, but we don’t know exactly when. Was it immediately after the angel’s appearance?
Was it after she told her parents?
Was if before or after Joseph was told?
Was it when her swollen belly could be hidden no more?
We don’t need to know when, but thinking through the tough realities Mary faced helps paint a picture of life with God. It reminds us that God provides. He provided a place for Mary on her “desert trek.” God will provide for me as well. David, the author of many Psalms knew the provision of God. He, too, found it in oasis.
“’Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest – I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.’” Psalm 55: 6-8
Where do you go when you need a place of refuge. Is it the comfort of a favorite chair? A city park? A coffee shop? Driving the open road? No matter what, our oasis needs to point us to God. It needs to redirect our heart. Oasis is not about escape or entertainment, it’s about positioning ourselves to enter into the Presence of God. Once there, God reminds us of his sovereignty. He refreshes and restores. Have you slipped away to your oasis recently? What’s keeping you? Demands press hard, but so does our need for oasis. Who knows, an oasis might be one of the many gifts God has waiting for us this Christmas.
I have a gift for you. It’s a story that speaks of 3 treasures. I wrote it for the online version of Today’s Christian Woman in December 2011. May we have a “Christmas to Remember.”
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