"For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3

Our Lord is incredibly good and gracious! I recently came across this verse and realized that I could substitute my own name for the word Zion. "For the Lord shall comfort Ann.” For many years I felt that my life was like a waste place and a wilderness with the deepest desires of my heart going unanswered. I believed God was faithful but his response to my cry seemed like a carrot on a stick being forever held in front of me and never grasped. I drew encouragement from the Old Testament story of Joseph, (Gen. 30 through 50) who spent many years waiting for God to fulfill His word. He never gave up his trust in God no matter how adverse his circumstances, and at the end he was able to say, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Gen. 50:20

For me, when it seemed I had nothing left, when life as I had known it ended, when all my dreams seemed dashed, the Lord came and brought comfort to my waste places. He brought me out of my personal wilderness into the Promised Land. He made my life grow and blossom like a garden. He filled me with joy and gladness and thanksgiving by giving me a life partner who shared my desire to minister to others in teaching and in hospitality.

How can I ever thank Him for His faithfulness and goodness to me? One way is to tell everyone about Him. He is the great and awesome God who always keeps His promises to His children! "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Eph. 3:20-21