BREADCRUMBS OF FAITH DEVOTIONAL 37: From The Wilderness to Breakthrough

Life's seasons change in the blink of an eye—summer fades to fall, and suddenly we find ourselves navigating new challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities. These transitions mirror our spiritual journeys in profound ways.

Have you ever wondered why you seem stuck in a challenging season far longer than expected? Drawing from the Israelites' wilderness experience—an eleven-day journey that stretched into forty years—we explore how certain mindsets keep us trapped in difficult seasons. Through Isaiah 43:19, we discover God's urgent invitation to recognize the new pathways He's creating: "See, I have already begun! Don't you see it?" This powerful question challenges us to examine whether we're carrying old perspectives into new seasons.

What season are you currently experiencing? Is it possible you've "been on this mountain for way too long"? Through prayerful self-examination, you can discern whether you're aligned with God's timing or lingering in a season past its purpose. Share your journey with us and discover how embracing seasonal change with spiritual awareness transforms every transition into an opportunity for growth.

Transcript

Welcome and Season Transition

Speaker 1 0:02

Hey, there you're tuned into another episode of All Things Skin Wellness and Faith, a podcast where you'll learn simple ways to implement skincare and wellness techniques from a holistic approach. On this podcast, we'll explore practical ways to address skin health and overall holistic spiritual well-being, while deepening your faith. I'm your host, natasha Diaz, a licensed holistic esthetician, day spa owner and a faithful believer and follower of Christ. And it's time. Welcome back to All Things Skin Wellness and Faith. Bright Clumbs of Faith Another encouraging episode for you. Good morning or good afternoon or good evening, whatever time of day you are listening to this, natasha here with another episode for you.

The Holy Spirit as Our Helper

Speaker 1 1:03

I apologize, I do owe you guys a full wellness episode for the month of August. However, the time has just completely gotten away from me. We have gone through in the blink of an eye, a whole entire summer in which now we are embarking on fall. I can't even believe it. Temperatures, in my area at least, are starting to cool down a little bit and we are preparing for fall and seasonal change and time to get back together for back to school and things of that nature. I myself personally have a journey ahead of me as I prepare to go on to a full-time homeschooling journey with my kiddos. So, yes, that is where the delay lies. Pretty much in the month of August, I've just really been trying to get things together as far as you know, being balanced for the school year, being balanced within my household, within all of my roles as a wife, a mother, a wellness consultant, an esthetician, all the hats. Time just gets away from you. So I do apologize, we did not have a wellness episode for the month of August, but I assure you we will have one for the month of September. And so right now I'm just going to continue on with a word of encouragement, with a breadcrumb for what the Lord has given me to deliver to you guys today.

Speaker 1 2:28

Like I said, I want to start off just talking about seasonal change, especially as we are transitioning into a seasonal change, from a time of going into summer and to, all of a sudden, into fall. Like I said, the cool temperatures are here and the transition is just, I feel like, fast upon us, and that is pretty much how life goes. All of a sudden, you just go from one move to another and you have to, just as they say, roll with the punches and kind of go with the flow and, as life throws different seasons and different things at you abundantly. You have to be able to hold on and to grasp those different seasons, and that is why we have the Lord, that is why we have the Holy Spirit. The word says that the Holy Spirit is our friend, is our comforter, is our teacher, our guide, our lead, and I like to remind folks, just to remember, that the Holy Spirit is not a thing, it's just not. You know this, you know who thing, you know that's in the sky or in our atmosphere. The Holy Spirit is actually the third person of the Godhead and he is there to help us. The Bible says that he is our helper, he is our wonderful counselor and he is there to certainly help us in these times of transition.

Wilderness Mentality and Seasonal Growth

Speaker 1 3:46

So what I want to start out to you today is a scripture from Isaiah. It is Isaiah 43, 19,. And this is one that you know we're probably all familiar with, but I just want to dive into it anyways, because it's a very staple, a very staple scripture that I think you know we need to reflect back to quite often. And, as we know that the Bible is alive and living, I mean we may read the same scriptures over and over again. But the thing is that, with the word being alive, each time we grasp something different. Each time we may grasp something deeper. Each time the Lord may have something that you know he wants us to reflect on or to hone in on. That's different from the last time we combed over that scripture. So today I'm going to start off, at least, with Isaiah 43, 19 in the NLT, which reads for I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun, don't you see it? I will make a new pathway through the wilderness. So this is a very interesting scripture for multiple reasons.

Speaker 1 4:58

As most of you know or maybe you don't know, I don't talk about it a lot, but I am in ministry school and school has just reconvened as well Another reason for the busyness. But as we have just reconvened school, we are actually talking about wilderness mentalities and we're talking about things that can pretty much keep you trapped, as a leader or just as a believer in general, in the wilderness, wilderness mindset. And sometimes we have these mindsets where we look at the Israelites and we go all the way back to Exodus on how they were complaining. We have these mentalities that kind of keep us struck, not struck, sorry, stuck, excuse me in a wilderness season longer than we need to. As we all know the story of the Israelites, it took them 40 days to get through what should have been an 11-day journey. So, with that being said, sometimes we go through things that are longer than the season should have been.

Speaker 1 6:07

Sometimes we go through seasons that you know should have been a shorter period of time, had we applied the word, had we adjust our mindsets, had we tried to look at it from a more godly perspective. And in this scripture, pretty much what the Lord is saying is and it says it actually, you know, with an exclamation point excuse me with the pronunciations today, but with an exclamation point he says see, I'm doing a new thing, don't you see it? It actually has a question mark, but you can hear that he is exclaiming. You know, don't you see it Like? Wake up, look at this in a new, different way.

Examining Maturity Levels

Speaker 1 6:47

And as I talk to you about going through seasons and going through transitions and going through different things, sometimes we hold on to things from the previous season as we're going forth into a new season, which reminds me of the scripture, where the Bible talks about the old wine and the new wineskins, not being able to pour old wine into new wine I'm sorry into the old wineskins for the new wineskin. The old wineskins were burst from the new wine and sometimes we are carrying baggage from an old season into a new season which prevents us from truly being able to flourish in the new season. So we have different seasons and the Lord will have us in those seasons for different reasons. Either there's, most of the times it's something that we need to grow on, something that we need to reflect on to prepare us for the new season, but, like I said, often, more than often we stay there longer than we need to. So, as this scripture just really highlights to me, to put on our spiritual glasses and to put on, you know, that new vision and that new mindset so that we can see what the Lord is walking us into Now, being kept in a wilderness mentality sometimes, really, we are in the wilderness for a season of growth, but to be there longer than we need to means that we may have things like complaining, grumbling, bitterness, unforgiveness, all those things that the Lord needs to work out of us before we can go forth and prosper into the new season.

Speaker 1 8:26

Jeremiah 29, 11 tells us, and this is a scripture that we also hold on to and we'd like to hold on to and we'd like to claim it as we should. But Jeremiah 29, 11 tells us I know the plans that I have for you, the plans to prosper you, and we hold on to that and we get excited about it. But then we get discouraged when we don't see it and we say, well, the Bible says all these wonderful things and I just don't see it. Well, guess what? There's a maturity level that comes with that and you have to re-examine yourself. Often it's like you want to give your child all the wonderful things, but do you give a 12-year-old a brand new Ferrari, a BMW or any car whatsoever? No, because they're not at a level of maturity to receive it. Even you could give that to a 16-year-old. You may be able to give that to a 16 or 17-year-old, whereas you may not be able to give it to another one, because one 16-year-old may be more mature then the other 16-year-old and the other 16-year-old may not be ready for it. So what we need to do is we need to examine ourselves. Sometimes there are things that you know. This is just a season which just not for right now there are things that need to be matured in us and we have to grow through some things, and sometimes that's still the case. But we are just sitting there in that season because we are not doing the work that we need to do to grow and to move forth. But the good news is, and the Bible is filled with good news. This is why I love the word so much as should you.

Finding Blessings After Endurance

Speaker 1 10:06

Another scripture I wanted to reflect on is in Jeremiah 31. It's Jeremiah 31, jeremiah 31.1. Those who survive the coming destruction will find blessings, even in the barren land, for I will give rest to the people of Israel. That is a scripture that I love as well, because it ties alongside with the other one. Even though you've been in destruction for a little bit, those who survived the destructions will find the blessings. So those who endure which brings me to another scripture in James that I don't have in front of me, but it just talks about after you endure for a while, then you will begin to see the fruits, then you will begin to see the things that the Lord has for you. So, after you've gone through this journey for a little bit, after you've gone in the wilderness, after you've been pruned, matured or whatever it is that the Lord needs to take off of you, remove off of you or grow you into. Then you will see victory.

Closing Encouragement

Speaker 1 11:11

So this is just an encouragement for whatever season you're in, whatever wilderness season you may be in, whatever season or growth is to examine yourself and to examine that season well, because, like I said, sometimes if we find ourselves in a situation where we feel stuck, we may be like the children of Israel, where we're just, you know, in one place for way too long. That's another scripture that goes back to Deuteronomy, and I apologize because I don't have all the scriptural references for these off the top of my head, because these are things that the Lord's just downloading to me. You know, right now, as I speak to you, but in Deuteronomy you know, it speaks about you have been on this mountain for way too long. It's time for you to move on. So I just want to encourage you today to be encouraged in what area, whatever area you may be in, whether it's, you know, the Lord is teaching you something, whether you've been there for too long, I invite you to seek him in prayer to find out just where exactly you are on your journey, so that you can make sure that you are in full alignment with where he needs you to be, so that you can experience the growth that he wants you to experience in a timely manner and not just stay stuck in the situation longer than you need to. Well, that is going to wrap it up today, for today's break home.

Speaker 1 12:35

I pray that you are encouraged. I hope that you are enjoying whatever stage you are in in this life, whether you're someone that has children or someone that is just adjusting to a seasonal change. We are all in some sort of transition. So I just invite you to embrace whatever transition you're going into or going through right now, and I pray that whatever transition, whatever phase that you're in right now in your life, that you're going through it prayerfully, you're diving in deeper and you're just being encouraged by the word of God, and deeper, and you're just being encouraged by the word of God. All right, thank you so much for lending me your ears for this brief breadcrumb, and I pray that you are all blessed and we will see you back on the next episode. Bye for now. Remember, be blessed and be a blessing.