Abandoned in the Desert

In nature a lion outside the pride will sometimes come into a territory and kill the cubs of a lioness. He does this in hopes of the lioness bearing his young and not those from another male. Sadly the same has happened to some in mankind. It’s unethical and murderous but it’s not unheard of.

My parents were both teens when they married with my mother being the youngest of the two. Dad quit school at 12 years to work full time because his father was absent during a period while in prison. Dad felt the responsibility to step up and help his mother and essentially be the man of the house.

By the time Dad married Mom he was a man although still a teen. The Korean War started and he was drafted and went off to a foreign land like so many young men had. Mom for whatever reason decided she wanted someone else after he returned from Korea.

Mother wasn’t your ordinary young woman but she was strikingly beautiful. Beautiful enough to be a star in the movies. But having not finished High School and far from Hollywood that opportunity would never happen. As with all beauties comes temptations and there were temptations.

Mom divorced my Dad. With divorce comes upheaval and emotional distress. Dad lost everything. He lost his wife and his two children, my older sister and myself who was a toddler. Mom ended up marring a military man and moved us from East Texas to an Air Force Base in Glendale Arizona.

As a pastime my Stepfather would sometimes drive us into the Sonoran Desert near Glendale Arizona just to see the desert. It was a dangerous trek looking back because there was always a possibility of getting lost, stuck or having a breakdown.

He didn’t carry any kind of survival supplies like water or signal devices. Nor would he tell anyone where we were going because he didn’t know himself.

On this one trek he decided to make a play on my Mother’s emotions. He stopped in the desert. Removed me from the car. He got back in the with my Mother and Sister then drove off leaving me alone in the desert.

I guess I was 4 years old. I had been abandoned in the Sonoran Desert. In the daytime temperatures can reach above 120f and freezing at night. I didn’t know God or even heard of him.

Something spoke to me as I stood there in the desert. It said, “Be still and don’t move.” I obeyed but after a while I started turning my head looking for some shade. That voice within me spoke a second time, “Don’t move, stand still.” I obeyed it because it spoke a warning to me.

You’ve seen soldiers stand at attention. That was how I was standing in the sand with my feet close together. That desert had scorpions, tarantulas and poisonous snakes along with other apex predators. Just the climate itself would been lethal without shelter and water.

Honestly I don’t remember how long I stood there alone at attention but they were nowhere in sight. I was always an insecure child. Afraid of the dark and just about everything. Including afraid of being alone at that age. Here I was a young child standing alone in an inhospitable environment that was known to claim adult lives much less children.

They came back and my Stepfather was laughing at me standing there at attention like a soldier. He retrieved me and placed me back in the car. I was in a state of shock. I don’t think I spoke for several days after that.

In his jokingly way by his actions told my Mother he wanted her but he didn’t want me. For a child to feel rejected and unwanted is a horrible feeling. I not only was rejected but I was abandoned and I was well aware of it.

Later in life after I reached adulthood I forgave this man in my heart. I never mentioned it to him, my mother or ever said anything to my Sister. I had two half Brothers from my Stepdad. I never mentioned it to them even to this day. They never knew it happened.

Even though I was a helpless child abandoned alone in the desert God was with me. I know he was because he spoke to me that day authoritatively. He has been with me my whole life.

There’s a scripture in the Bible that says stand. Sometimes that’s all you can do is just stand.

Ephesians 6:14

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,”

I don’t know why I’m writing this today. There may be someone out there that feels abandoned. Like you are all alone and no one knows or cares. God is with you. He’s unseen but he’s there. Call unto him and say, “Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me.”

Helen Keller the great American Author who was blind and deaf. Wrote somehow she knew God was there. Because she could feel his presence.

God Bless…..