As we have seen through this journey on faith and suffering, if you truly want a close relationship with God and strive to be a faithful servant to the divine Calling He has placed into your life, then you will at some point in your life go through a Job Desert Experience. You can count on it. Its just part of being a true follower of Jesus Christ. Even Jesus said to count the cost before you decide you want to really follow and serve Him

If you should ever doubt that you will have to go thru a Job Desert Experience as part of your normal pilgrimage of Faith in Jesus Christ, simply take a look at all the Christian men and women through-out history who have spent their lives faithfully serving God. Search for one, just one who does not describe a time of severe testing - " the Dark Night of the Soul " .  The problem is you won't, they all went thru it

I now believe that the Job Desert Experience is not the exception for Christian believers, but the normal rule. God never promised any of us a care-free rose garden life. He actually promised that we as Christians would experience much trial and tribulation. But if your like me, sure i figured some testing would come my way. But a firey, pain filled, suffering Job Experience , never. Thats for the bibical gaints in the Bible, not us modern-day Christians. Opps - i was wrong. God says He changes not. That means the same trial tests He handed out 2,000 years ago to the first believers also apply to us Christians today in the 21st Century

Of course this doesn't happen all at once. When you first become a believer in Jesus Christ, He pours out answers to your prayer requests by the truck load. Your a new believer, a baby in Christ. You get special treatment then, your still drinking spiritual baby milk. But as you grow in your faith, then so does the testings and trials that will come your way. Oh, and all your prayer requests don't get as quick answers as they used to. As your faith grows stronger, God will give you a divine heaven sent Calling on your life. And yes, then comes the trials. And remember - the higher your Calling  the deeper into the Desert your Job Experience will be. Another way to look at this is - the hotter your Job testing is, you should feel blessed cause it means the greater the Calling God has given you

Some Bibical examples: take Joseph who heard from God in his dreams, but ended up at the bottom of a well and later in an Egyptian prison for following that guidance. Then there's Moses, hand-picked liberator of the Hebrew people who had to hide in the desert as a wanted man for forty years, hunted by Pharaoh's soldiers. And King David, anointed on God's command, spent the next decade as a fugitive on the run-doging spears and sleeping in caves. All three of these Bible greats went through the desert experience, there are no exceptions

OK, this was a little heavy. And probably not very encouraging. Unless you just happen to be going thru a Job Desert Experience at this very moment. If you are, then cheer up and smile. Cause God has big plans for your life. Just keep your faith strong and keep trusting in Him. Your time of trial will end, and what is waiting for you on the other side is going to be awesome !!!
 
 
 

remember : Jesus loves you

Gary