To wrap up the blog tour for Finding Jesus in the Wilderness, I wanted to hand over the reins to my lovely readers. And after I posted on Social Media asking if anyone had questions, I was delighted with the insightful questions some of you posed. They weren’t all easy to answer, either! But I loved it.
So here – with my thanks – are the answers to your questions about my latest books…
What is a wilderness?
Spiritual wilderness seasons mean many things to many people, but most people use this term to describe those seasons that seem to come to us all eventually, when our walk with God just seems harder, drier, more difficult or less fruitful than before. Sometimes God seems to have withdrawn, or sometimes our prayer and Bible study feels less connected and meaningful than it did. We feel dry, thirsty, frustrated and it all often leads to us questioning our faith.
What are some examples of wilderness seasons that you or people you know have experienced?
During my most recent wilderness season, I went from a time when I was hearing from God on an almost daily basis, to hearing Him much more sporadically, with no apparent reason why. I wasn’t seeing as many obvious answers to prayer, and my Bible-study time started to feel like a religious duty rather than a life-giving experience. And then something I had been praying into for a long time, that I felt God had promised freedom in, suddenly got a lot worse and I was left feeling lonely and utterly confused. It was a deeply distressing time.
Others I know have had different experiences: sometimes suffering or bereavement can lead to questioning and the undermining of our faith; sometimes church leaders and friends can let us down, causing us confusion and mistrust of God; sometimes there is no obvious trigger but we just feel we have lost the connection we used to feel with our Heavenly Father.
There are many different expressions of spiritual wilderness, but they are all dry, uncomfortable and difficult, causing us to feel lost and like God is far away.
Why did you decide to write a book about the wilderness?
So often we see the wilderness as a place to be feared or avoided, but from my own wilderness seasons I have learned a lot from the examples of many Bible passages that demonstrate how God sees it as a place where He loves to meet us and bless us. I felt it could be really helpful for people to have those examples in a book to read while in a similar season of their own – a kind of hand to hold, or a helpful guide to navigate some of the more common wilderness locations (such as loneliness, delay, wrestling etc.) that many people visit.
Why do you think God asked you to write about the wilderness while you were still in it? and how do you think that added to its impact?
Last year while still in a wilderness season of my own, I felt prompted by God to start writing right away rather than waiting until it was over. Much as I wanted to be able to offer the hope of “I survived, so you can too”, I felt God said it was important for me to write it while still experiencing it, so it would carry an authentic and relatable voice that doesn’t shy away or gloss over some of the very real difficulties there, so people could find HIS voice of compassion and presence with them in the midst of it all.
From the feedback I have received since its publication, it seems that people are receiving that very comfort and hope that God wanted for them, so although it felt harder to write while still in my own wilderness, I am grateful He helped me to do just that. It was totally worth it.
How did you decide on your 40 chapter headings?
As I read through my journals of the past three years (since my wilderness journey started), there were some themes and chapter headings that were immediately obvious. Place of Rest (chapter 2) was one of these, as it was the first one God showed me, and was key to the whole season. Others were more difficult, and only emerged as I wrote them. For example, Place of Romance (chapter 12). I knew the verse I wanted to write about (Jeremiah 2:2) because God had spoken to me so powerfully from it – but it was only as I wrote and edited the chapter, and asked God for the word that summed it up, that the word ‘romance’ really stood out as the surprising point from God’s perspective. Most of the chapter headings were decided through those two ways. Then finally when I was almost done, I had 39 chapters and knew something was missing, so I asked God to show me the final ‘piece of the jigsaw’ and He led me to ask my good friend Joy Margetts. As soon as I emailed her she replied immediately with the final heading, Place of Fear (chapter 25), and I knew exactly what to write. I’m so grateful for Joy and the rest of my Holy-Spirit-filled writing community!
How did you decide how to order the chapters?
I deliberately avoided structuring the book in the kind of linear progression that some journeys (and many books) take, because every person’s journey through the wilderness is different, and they don’t all cover the same stops in the same order. That’s why in the Introduction I encourage readers to flip to whichever chapter is most helpful.
I felt if I overthought the structure, it could become obstructive to the readers’ own journeys, so I asked God for His hand on the order of chapters, and then just did a read-through to make sure there was nothing too jarring in terms of flow from one chapter to the next. There were only a few elements of deliberate planning:
I knew I wanted to start with Jesus’ own wilderness experience, because He is always our best example in life. And Place of Rest had to follow straight after as that was the start of my own wilderness season. Then I knew I wanted to finish with Gilgal as the great Place of Turnaround where Israel ended their 40 years in the wilderness. Other than that I had only one further guiding principle: to alternate the chapters so each heading that reflected a wilderness difficulty would be followed by one focusing on a wilderness treasure. In reality, every chapter involved a blend of both challenge and hope, but the titles were deliberately structured to show that for every hardship in the wilderness, there is blessing to be found.
Why did you write a prayer journal?
This was written in response to some of my beta-readers who all asked for the same thing: questions to help them dig deeper for themselves. I hadn’t written any in the book because personally I don’t find them helpful. For me, questions like this sometimes feel too narrow or prescriptive, and can get in the way of my own organic conversations with the Holy Spirit. And I really didn’t want anyone who was already struggling in the wilderness to find this book too demanding or condemning if they ‘failed’ to engage with extra study questions.
But as I asked God about the questions, He reminded me that – clearly – some people do find them helpful, and He didn’t want them left without that extra help. And He suggested I write the questions/ prompts in a separate book, so they weren’t intrusive for those who don’t like them, but were available for those who do, allowing lots of journalling space for them to explore their own journey.
I was a little concerned that it would look like I was just trying to make more money by making people buy two books instead of one, but decided it was more important to trust God’s plan than worry about how it made me look.
And I suddenly saw His bigger plan for both: that the original book would contain encouragement from the Bible accounts and my own experiences of finding Jesus in the wilderness, and that the Prayer Journal would help the people who need extra help to personally engage in finding Him there for themselves. What a beautiful picture of His heart for us all.
Are you still in the wilderness?
Great question! Thank you for asking!
I would say (with some hesitation, because the wilderness does tend to leave us more cautious, at least for a while), I don’t think I am. Years ago as I entered my wilderness season, God showed me a picture that likened it to a valley. Not everyone’s wilderness will be like a valley, but mine was. And recently God has been speaking to me a lot about starting to climb His mountain – the opposite of a valley. It is still hard work and requires discipline and courage, and it is slow steady progress rather than an instant miraculous deliverance, but there is fresh purpose, and His presence is with me. I am starting to see things with a new perspective, and there is excitement at the adventure ahead.
But whatever is to come, I am deeply grateful to carry with me the treasures that Jesus led me to in the wilderness.
Thanks for the great questions, everyone! If anyone would like to get copies of the book(s), whether for yourself or a friend, you can buy them here* where I have a special offer if you buy both together. (*Amazon is better for international readers). And may God bless you richly in the reading xx
Rachel Yarworth, Writer 