The definition of an 'oasis' is "A well surrounded by vegetation" or "a quiet place surrounded by busy or noisy places". It can mean a retreat, refuge, haven, sanctuary, safe place, shelter, asylum, a safe place to live, somewhere to stay, retreat, hideaway, accommodation, protect, shelter, defend harbor.
Has life ever become so overwhelming that you ever felt the need to get away from it all? Has life ever become so difficult that you didn't know what to do or where to go but you knew you didn't want to be where you are? You didn't want to have to make one more decision? You just wanted to find a place to go and hide?
I've felt like that more than once in my life. When my brother died, when my daughter died, when my marriage and all my dreams died. When my daughter died we lived only 2 or 3 miles from the state hospital. Many days I thought of getting in my car and driving that short distance and checking myself in. I was tired and worn out. I just wanted a place to go - to be left alone. I wanted someone to look after me without making any demands on me.
I never did check myself in, I had 3 young sons to look after. We can't always physically remove ourselves from the circumstances we find our selves in. But an OASIS is what I had longed for - what I felt I needed. Not forever. But for 24 - 48 hours, what a difference it could have made during the desert journeys of my life.
I still long for the Oasis, not just for me but as a place to share community. A place of fellowship with other travelers. To share their stories and mine. To learn the wisdom God has taught them in the desert and to share how he has led me through mine. We live our lives as nomads here on this earth, traveling from one story to another, and together they somehow becomes our life's history. Along the way we stop at the oasis. The oasis is not where we live though, it is a 'rest stop' where we 'fill our tank' so we can travel to our next destination.
The Sacred Oasis is a quiet place to come away - to rest - to draw from the well - the living water that God in his love provides for each of us. It is a place to come away from the stress and the pain we all experience at times in our lives and just be-loved by our Father. The Sacred Oasis is a place to deepen our relationship with our heavenly Father and draw from the well that never will run dry. My desire is that this Sacred Oasis, in the midst of this busy and noisy virtual world we now share, will be a place where you can come away and experience the Fathers love.
Dear Father, we come to you broken people, crushed by the weight of our own wrongs and those who have wronged us. We come to you expecting to find a father who wants to scold us and punish us but instead we are surprised. Why? because we discover out that your heart is so different then ours, so different from what we expected. "You reached down from on high and took hold of me; you drew me out of deep waters. You rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support. You brought me out into a spacious place; you rescued me because you delighted in me." Wow! Amazing God! You delight in me? You delight in me! It's not what I expected to hear. Thank you father, thank you for delighting in me, may I find my true delight in you. Amen
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