{"id":11991,"date":"2025-04-15T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T18:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wonderink.org\/?p=11991"},"modified":"2025-06-04T09:19:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T15:19:18","slug":"easter-stepping-out-of-the-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wonderink.org\/easter-stepping-out-of-the-wilderness\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter: Stepping Out of the Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was fourteen, I went on a week-long canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of northeastern Minnesota. There was a small group of us from our church, mostly dads and their teenage kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything we needed for the entire week we carried on our backs\u2014tents, freeze-dried food, empty water jugs, sleeping bags, cookware, and a couple changes of clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We even carried the canoes on our shoulders as we portaged from lake to lake. We set up camp along a serene shore where the gentle lapping of lake water lulled us to sleep each night, and the morning symphony of birds was our only alarm clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was bliss. Until it wasn\u2019t. By day seven, I had reached my limit as a teenage girl. My unwashed hair matted beneath my sweat-stained baseball cap. I looked and smelled \u2026 well \u2026 like I had been living in dirt and hadn\u2019t showered in a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the only thing more glorious than the serenity of nature is the feeling of stepping out of the wilderness and enjoying once again the simple luxuries of civilization: a warm shower, dinner at Sven and Ole\u2019s Pizza, and the feeling of curling up between clean sheets. I still remember it vividly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I delight greatly in the\u00a0LORD;
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0my soul rejoices\u00a0in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness \u2026<\/em><\/p>\u2014Isaiah 61:10<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going from Lent to Easter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The season of Lent<\/a> is meant to reflect the 40 lonely days Jesus spent in the wilderness. And Easter? It\u2019s a worldwide coming-out-of-the-wilderness party!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that this year you\u2019re stepping out of Lent\u2019s wilderness with a skip in your step and extra gas in your tank. But maybe that\u2019s not your story. Maybe it feels like you\u2019ve been dragging your exhausted self through Lent into Good Friday<\/a>, and Easter feels more like a daunting task than a celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What personal wilderness have you been trudging through? Fatigue, relational strain, financial uncertainty? A season of profound disappointment or loss? An especially intense spiritual battle or a time when it just feels like you\u2019re going through the motions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let Easter be your stepping-out-of-the wilderness party. The One who journeyed the wilderness before you\u2014and for <\/em>you\u2014has already won! You get to join in the victory<\/a> parade. You get to shower and eat pizza and curl up between clean sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Easter is SO MUCH BETTERthan that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fullness of Easter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The resurrection of Jesus represents a present and a future more glorious than any luxuries modern civilization can offer. During a stormy time in Judah\u2019s history, God spoke to His people through Isaiah, promising that instead of ashes and mourning and shame, \u201cYou will rejoice in your inheritance \u2026 and everlasting joy will be yours\u201d (Isaiah 61:7 NIV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the resurrected Jesus, WE too are His people, and His promise is for us. On Easter, we remember and celebrate that our waiting is over. Our wilderness time has ended. Everlasting joy is ours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Easter marks the miracle moment when what was broken at the fall was mended. From old to new, sick to well, lost to found, dead to alive, wilderness wandering to promised land inheritance. You are new. You are whole. You are alive. You are His. You are heir to the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What awaits on Easter is just a foreshadow of the glorious future that is ours in Christ!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does this mean practically for us as children\u2019s and family ministry leaders? We don\u2019t know what situations kids step out of when they enter our rooms. We don\u2019t know what wilderness they are trudging through\u2014a backseat spat with a sibling on the way to church or a home life marred by much deeper pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Easter, we get to journey with kids as they step out of the wilderness and into the glorious riches of life with Jesus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"group
Credit:Getty Images\/DigitalVision\/Flashpop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Practical Ideas for Your Ministry<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So, what can you do to help make your ministry an out-of-the-wilderness celebration for kids this Easter? Here are a just few ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n