Opinion Column Unexpected blessings in the wilderness journey Carol Holmes explains some of the blessings she has discovered during the lockdown wilderness of the last year. This is not a path I would have chosen - to live alone, to feel estranged from family, to be restricted socially and unable to travel, to have all distractions removed, to have lots of time for reflection.
But this season has brought me closer to God, and to myself, than I’ve ever been; and this probably wouldn’t have happened unless it had been forced!
I have sought God earnestly through Scripture, using Lectio Devina. I have lived in Psalm 139, verse by verse, in contemplation. I continue on the ‘life-journey’ of deconstructing and reconstructing myself, with the help of the Enneagram. I have found a new and enriching contemplative path, studying the Christian Mystics with James Finley, which has led to intimacy with God in solitude that I’ve not encountered previously.