FOR WHEN WE CAN'T SEE A WAY FORWARD
A Centering Prayer Inspired by Isaiah 43:16-21
"When will this end?" might be the prayer I hear most often. It used to be my constant question too. For years, I thought God's promise of "rivers in the desert" meant I'd eventually escape the hard places. My prayers were all about "when"—when will this get easier, when will God lead me out?
But lately, I'm discovering something: the most profound transformations are happening right here in my desert places, not in spite of them. When I stop looking for exit signs and start paying attention to what God's doing in this moment, I find streams of grace flowing through the very situations I wanted to escape. Isaiah speaks of God doing a "new thing"—not by rescuing us from reality, but by creating holy rivers right in the middle of what feels most barren.
FOR WHEN WE CAN'T SEE A WAY FORWARD
A Centering Prayer Inspired by Isaiah 43:16-21
Sacred Well in our Wasteland,
Right here in this wilderness,
Right here in this uncertainty,
Right here in what feels barren—
You whisper of springs rising,
Of rivers flowing through,
Of life emerging in,
Not despite, our desert.
Help me trust your way of surprise:
Not rescue from, but life within,
Not escape routes, but transformation,
Not elsewhere, but right here.
Give me eyes to see
What you're birthing now,
What's breaking through
In this very place.
Let me perceive this new thing:
How you're making rivers
In, not around, our desert,
How you're creating paths
Through, not past, our wilderness,
How hope keeps flowing
In the heart of what is.
Amen.
