Desert Flower

By V.K. Bronz

Ella was raised with her own mammy and with the finest of founding fathers heritage. As a young adult she married an anointed man of God and they settled in a beautiful home on St. Simons Island, off the coast of North Carolina.

When the anointing of God was poured out in the sixties and seventies this couple took young people into their home to bring salvation and set the captive free. Bible studies worship and praise were heard continually throughout the home.

Then the unthinkable but predictable happened; a young lady set about to seduce the man of God. She would pry and question to find out what he liked to eat what was his favorite this or that until she stole him away.

Ella and the man of God were riding in a car when a horrible accident occurred. Ella was thrown through the window; her face ripped off and landed paralyzed on the ground. As Ella lay in critical condition her husband would bring her paperwork to sign having to do with the home finances and the accident, unaware and trusting her husband she signed away all proceeds from the home, accident and finances to him. He left town with the money and the young lady leaving her scarred, paralyzed, broke, no home and children to care for. Thus began her journey in the desert circling the mountain.

When Ella got out of the hospital she attended a Home gathering of saints in her wheelchair. The spirit of the Lord came mightily pouring out upon her, her face was healed and she jumped out of the wheelchair totally healed!

During this time her husband was also being dealt with; he was in a hardware store walking down the aisles when suddenly he went blind. Horrified he cried out to the Lord and the Lord told him to return to his wife, he agreed and the Lord in his mercy restored his sight.

As he returned to his Ella he insisted to her he had to go to the young lady’s house and get his things; Ella was not happy with this idea but couldn’t talk him out of it. Sure enough when he returned to the young lady he never returned to his wife! You would have though fear of the Lord would have taken over but it didn’t.

He stayed with this woman the rest of his life and the presence of the Lord lifted from him. In later years he had cried out to the Lord for the anointing and presence but to no avail. Unaware of these details at the time the Lord sent me with a word for him out of Leviticus about returning what was taken plus fifteen percent. This of course was rejected; it amounted to quite a bit of money, I was attacked and I left. At this point in time the man has been diagnosed with cancer and not expected to live long.

Ella’s life as an anointed wife was stolen, her ministry with him was stolen, her home the security for her and her children all stolen, her union in Christ. Thus began years of deep struggles and suffering, where oh where are you Lord her heart cried.

The Lord still used her she moved around place to place looking without knowing what she was looking for; that union in Christ she once had; going in this and that direction as the world does; seeking, making mistakes but searching for what was lost.

Most of us have similar stories, that one thing that caused us to search for what we felt in the beginning, that union with Christ now seemingly lost; That one thing that sent us to the desert.

The Hebrews wandered in the desert forty years, searching for that city made by God: that place God has for each one of us; the land he has promised that is filled with milk and honey; the land of abundance that land of fullness, the land of peace, our inheritance.

The Lord was with them, showing himself faithful, showing himself strong, showing himself a provider for his sheep, a protector of the helpless, showing himself a loving father. Yes he kept his sheep in the desert; the strangest of places for sheep.

The Lord poured out in the sixties and the seventies, we reveled in our new found relationship and power seemingly unaware of our pride and fleshly strength, but then He took us to the desert. We lived and were used by the Lord in a small degree and our Father began our journey round and round the mountain; the mountain of God! Come to my mountain He cried but the Hebrews said no you go Moses. Come to my mountain cries God.

We have found out who he is; with some he has been a high tower to many a lifter of our head and still more a loving Father. Yes we have been in the desert to learn who our Father is, the great warrior the tender lover…..

Moses was chosen to lead Gods people and in his pride and the strength of his own hand he struck and killed the Egyptian.

Moses ran to the desert to hide. All the years in the desert broke him of the flesh and mans’ prideful strength until Moses said who am I Lord I can’t do that! Yes we have been in the desert being sifted and broken becoming one with our God even though it doesn’t feel that way.

We have learned who our God is, we feel weak and lost because we are no longer walking in our strength. We feel we can no longer fight or no longer want to.

He has not forgotten us he has come to our desert he is calling once again but now, as Moses, we have no strength of our own.

As I come to the end of this article I began worshiping to Robin Marks song “All is Well”

I’m held firmly in his grasp the rock of all ages
All is well with my soul
He is God in Control
I know not all his plans
But I know I’m in his hands

Weeping before the Lord soooo grateful being washed in his presence I saw John the Baptist standing in the desert proclaiming “make straight the way of the Lord” then as I could see the pathway through the desert I heard John say ”can you see him, look he’s coming.”