Sometimes as followers of Jesus we fall into the belief that our lives should go easily if we are trusting in him. We think that if things go wrong, it’s down to us messing up or that we’re not doing it right; maybe we are not trying hard enough. But the truth is that all of us, like every human on earth, face seasons of suffering – some more than others. That’s why I love Rachel Yarworth’s brand new devotional book, Finding Jesus in the Wilderness – Rachel takes us right into the middle of a lonely, dry wasteland and is not afraid to name it as it is: a place of pain, suffering, and somewhere we’d prefer to get out of. This book is real from the start, and the author shares of her own journey with honesty and vulnerability – in fact, she says, this whole book was written while she was experiencing a ‘wilderness season’ of her own. I think all of us can probably relate to that – times when God seems far, when we are hungry and thirsty but never filled, when the days drag and the nights are too dark. We all have them, and we all wonder why we go through them.
While this devotional doesn’t pretend to answer the question of why we go through these kinds of seasons, it does point us towards great hope and the unexpected benefits we can find when we are walking through them. I love this, because we all need to take hold of that kind of hope while admitting to the painful reality; it keeps us walking forwards. Rachel reminds us that Jesus walked his own wilderness, and so is with us in ours, always beautifully present even when we feel nothing. I’d recommend this book as a great Lent study, but suitable for any time of the year. It will particularly speak to those who feel dry and worn out in their life and faith.
I am delighted that Rachel is here on the blog today, answering a few of my questions!
Tell us a bit about yourself and your writing.
I am a home educating mum of three from Worcestershire, and I have been blogging in my spare time for the past 13 years. In 2022 I wrote and published my first book, a memoir called “Friend of God” about my own relationship with God, including some of the miracles that I have seen in my life (and some of the miracles I prayed for and didn’t see). I wrote it to encourage people that friendship with God is available to everyone. Since then, I have written and published other resources, including compiling The Jesse Tree Anthology – an Advent devotional. Everything I write is done with the aim of helping people get to know God better.
What’s your new book, Finding Jesus in the Wilderness, about, and what inspired you to write it?
Finding Jesus in the Wilderness is a book that looks at examples of the dry and difficult wilderness as experienced by characters from the Bible as well as my own lived experience. It’s presented in 40 chapters, making it an effective Lent devotional for those wanting to connect more deeply with Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness. But it is also appropriate for people experiencing their own wilderness season at any time of the year and does not have to be read in 40 days straight – readers can take as long to read it as they find helpful.
I was inspired to write it while experiencing my own ‘wilderness’ time of feeling spiritually barren. As I came towards the end of that season, I felt that God prompted me to write the book while I was still living it, so readers would benefit from the companionship of an authentic voice, rather than struggle to connect with the rose-tinted voice of hindsight that had forgotten many of the very real difficulties there.
Many of us understand the idea of a ‘wilderness experience’. What would you say are some ways to both keep going and even thrive when we are living with suffering, pain or lack of hope?
Having lived through a couple of wilderness seasons of my own, I think it is vital to be gentle and non-condemning towards ourselves. Throughout the Bible there are countless examples of people who went through similar seasons – some as a result of their own choices, while others were through no fault of their own. But regardless of what took them there, in every circumstance God met them there and drew them closer to Himself.
When we stop blaming ourselves or thinking we have done something wrong and just learn to accept where we are and trust that God will work through it for our good, it all becomes more bearable and grace filled.
And once we start to discover the many treasures that can only be discovered in the wilderness, we stop seeing it as a place to be feared or resisted and start to receive the blessings that God has hidden for us there. It is my deep hope that people who use this book as a wilderness guide will find many of these treasures for themselves.
What one key message would you like a reader to take away when reading the book?
That the wilderness, even in all its discomfort and difficulties, is a place where God wants to meet with you to bless you with a deeper relationship with Him
How can we get hold of a copy?
Copies can be purchased from my website – rachelyarworthwriter.uk. If anyone is interested in also purchasing the Prayer Journal that was written to accompany it, I’m running an offer on my website where both can be bought together with free p&p.
Both can also be bought from Amazon, or by order from any good bookshop.