Part 9
In the fall of 1993 Father called this church family, known as The Lord Our Righteousness, to go spend the winter with Him in the Sonoran Desert about 50 miles north of Yuma, Arizona. We would camp there in our temporary houses (RVs) on a parcel of land that Father had provided for us at the foot of Castle Dome.
By this time both my children had flown the nest, and as the time of our departure for the South drew near I sensed in my heart that I would be going alone without my husband, for it was not in his heart to go. One MUST be true to his/her own heart, no matter the personal cost.
For me to go alone was a cross much greater than I had yet been asked to bear. Not only would I be pulling our 37-foot 5th-wheel trailer 1,450 miles across the country, but I would be apart from my husband of 23 years for an indefinite period of time. I had to go knowing that it could cost me my marriage. I would also be going without any visible means of financial support. Right up to the last moment I hoped with all my heart that he would change his mind and choose to go with me, but it was not to be. Father had a different plan for us, and as painful as it was, I submitted.
While I was there I often watered the desert flowers with my tears as I deeply felt the loneliness of my heart. But there was also a joy unspeakable in the sweet fellowship of the Lord. Father was very near to us in that "wilderness" experience. Each morning we came together as a church family to be richly and bountifully fed with the manna that fell from heaven upon our souls. And each day was filled with spiritual things to see and lessons to learn. We were truly in school there, being taught by God Himself in preparation for the light that was to come.
For me personally it was also a time of deprogramming of all the religious thoughts and ideas and pictures I had gathered over the years. This had to happen in order to be able to see and recognize the second coming of Christ when He would return to this earth in the fullness of time. It was there at Castle Dome that we caught the first rays of the light of His appearing. Father said to me, "TODAY is the day, and NOW is the hour of the second coming of Christ to this world."
A few weeks before our time together in the desert was over I had an extraordinary experience that I have never forgotten. One evening we were all gathered together to celebrate Passover in our outdoor sanctuary. Others had already gone home for the night but I was still sitting there alone in quiet contemplation, when suddenly it was as though I was lifted up out of my body and was separate from myself, looking down upon this woman I knew (me), and I saw the events of her life pass before me as on a movie screen. It didn’t last long but it was quite awesome and it made an unforgettable impression upon me.
I was there for five months before I was reunited with my husband when we came to the end of our time in the desert with Father. For the next six years we continued to move from place to place in our RV wherever the Lord directed us to go. Little did we know then that this "wilderness" experience was a foreshadow of the things that were to come.
All I have to do is follow
Strength for today is mine all the way
And all I need for tomorrow
My Lord knows the way through the wilderness
All I have to do is follow
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