My mental health problems left me in the middle of a barren wasteland with no relief and no hope. Any thought of relief at the time was only a mirage, which would soon dissipate. I had no idea where I was or where I should go and I constantly felt defeated.

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It’s a strange realization when you find that the life you wanted to live is not reality. Had you asked me if I wanted to be partially hospitalized for OCD, I would have emphatically declined. But, there I was. That was my life. Why had that happened?

Not sure. Still not totally sure. But, I saw something I am sure of. I saw healing from the life I so dreaded. Water in the desert that wasn’t a mirage. A river in the wasteland.

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For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

God promised this to the nation of Israel. But, the imagery rang true in my life as well. I began to see just how many ways I had been divinely provided for in my mental health struggle.

I had financial provision to afford treatment. A family who dearly loved and cared for me. A mom who is a saint of saints and prayed for me like a warrior (She needs a whole blog dedicated to what she did for me). A hospital in Florida specializing in OCD treatment 15 minutes from my aunt and uncle’s house. Extended family who loved me. Friends who fought for me. The list is endless.

These things facilitated a healing that I can barely even describe. I have never felt more like myself than I do now. The divine providence culminated in a river in the wasteland.

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I can’t shut up about what I have seen and heard. What I’ve seen is a God who will go to any length to display that he loves me. He will remain faithful when I am faithless. He will give and give and give and keep giving of himself because He is love. He changed my life forever and I will never be ashamed to say that.

If he can do that with an OCD enslaved guy like me, he can change you as well. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep asking, searching, knocking. You will find a river in the wasteland.