God's hand may be upon us in our wilderness

In today's blog post entitled "Lent 3C Sermon - Beyond the Wilderness", Rev. Peter M. Carey of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood, Virginia mentions the writings of Thomas Moore. Carey writes about wilderness in:
Exodus 3: 1-15
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

"Going beyond the wilderness is sometimes, in retrospect, where we see that God’s hand was upon us. I know in my own life. When I look now to at a time when I found myself far from home, feeling alone after a significant relationship ended, I see that God was working to open me up to experience more of the Spirit, to experience greater things than my paltry imagination could dream up on its best day. When I look now to that time of mourning for the life that I thought I would have, I see that in the midst of that sadness, depression, and loneliness, God was bringing me beyond the wilderness. Though excruciatingly difficult, it was a soulful time. The modern writer, Thomas Moore (not "a man for all seasons") has written several books on the soul. In Care of the Soul, he writes of the surprising gifts that can be given to us even in these difficult times, and the ways that the life of the soul may be deepened as we move beyond the wilderness. Of course, it helps to have the 20/20 vision of hindsight. If I were now talking to myself then , my then self would tell my now self to get lost, in far more colorful language."

This post includes Thomas Merton's "Thoughts in Solitude."