Pouncing Goats and Comfort in the Desert

So, we were on our walk this morning before school, and we were almost back at the house, and there was a goat in the middle of the road.  Goats are quite common here - but this one was strangely growling at us, and we debated turned around to walk another way, but decided to just speed up and quickly past it.  Then -- it started crying louder, and then it started jumping or more like pouncing at us! It jumped higher than my head (I, know - haha - that's not very high) but it was so frightening! We sprinted down the street, then started dying laughing.  It was the craziest thing, the goat was totally possessed.

I did some research and it is a fact that a goat can jump 5 feet high! Here are some pictures to prove it!

So, on to the desert.  I feel like I have just come out of a spiritual or emotional "desert," where I have been discontent with being here.   Or, perhaps just straight up acting out of selfishness a sense that I have been focusing on the fun things and "comforts" my life here lacks.  Right now, I am walking out of it and enjoying being present in Ghana, but I learned so much while I was in the "desert."  It's when I am there that I so thirsty seeking the Lord's will.  It feels, at the time, like something is wrong, or I feel exhausted, or I am just plain unmotivated to do the things the Lord has called me to do.  I have always disliked these times, as if they are times where I am too far from God or somehow removed from His will.  But really, those are the times where I am at His feet. 

And as we know, because the desert is such a harsh and dry environment, there is limited plant and animal life - it is a place where life is not abundant.  There is very little in the desert, which is why it is so hard when we are there, but that also means there is little distracting us from seeking and waiting on God.  What a great place to be.  On our knees, seeking our Creator.

I am learning to be more comfortable in the desert.  I don't mean I want to hangout in the desert, or create  deserts for myself or others - we already have enough deserts in our lives to do that!  But, the deserts that just happen in life, for all sorts of circumstances dry up all the stuff that doesn't really matter - so that we can see The One that does.  And when we come out, we appreciate the life we have been given so much more.  The deserts in life help us appreciate the "rain forests" and "grasslands," they help us appreciate the rain and the wind, the people in our lives, the place we have to live, the love and forgiveness our Father continues to give us.

"For His anger is but for a moment,

and His favor is for a lifetime.

Weeping may tarry for the night,

but JOY comes with the morning!"

Psalms 30:5