FREETHE WANDERING LAKE: INTO THE HEART OF ASIA EBOOK Sven Hedin,John Hare | 312 pages | 02 Feb 2010 | I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd | 9781848850224 | English | London, United Kingdom A Wandering Naturalist: China: Jiuzhaigou National Park (Part 2) Not a day goes by that we're not in need of God's huge grace and peace. Every morning we need his Spirit to fill us again, to strengthen us for what's ahead. Every day we need a fresh word that he speaks to our hearts, to keep our focus on what's most important. Trying to run this race of life without him will do nothing but drain us dry. They were oppressed, abused, mistreated people. They needed rescue, they needed a way of escape. Miracle after miracle God performed, leading them straight out of slavery, away from the cruel hand of the Egyptians. He set them free. Free from oppression. Free from captivity. Free from bondage. And the adventure was just getting started. The people of Israel spent 40 years in The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia desert. The days must have been intense, hot, dry, I'm sure they got weary. But God met them where they were, he made sure they had what they needed. They learned through every hard and grueling step, The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia much they had to rely on Him. We see it over and over in his word. Stories that prove how God never leaves us fending for ourselves when problems arise or seem too big. Miracles that remind us when we leave the battles in his hands, he can do what would be impossible for us to ever accomplish on our own. So He led them around the desert road over towards the Red Sea. Hot, dry, barren wasteland, the sea looming off in the distance. We can almost hear the grumblings starting then. Feel the fear rising. And that was just the beginning The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia their journey. God had promised his people a land that would be full of blessing, it was worth fighting for, it was worth going the distance. Be assured again today that God is faithful and he will use all things to strengthen our faith and bring goodness to his people. Stay strong, keep pressing through. As the Israelites got closer that sea must have looked bigger and deeper. An obstacle that seemed too difficult to overcome. Their eyes focused on the problem. They forgot about the bigness of their God. He split the sea in two so that his people walked through on dry ground. The enemy in hot pursuit had no idea what they were up against. They lost the battle that day and were swallowed up in the waves. He knows our way. He sees the big picture. He has good in store. And though it may not have been what we would have chosen, or how we would accomplished things, we can thank Him for His Sovereignty, His care over us, and His powerful leadership. God never left his people alone in their journey. As a pillar of cloud in the day and fire by night, He guided them, giving them shade from the fierceness of the desert sun, and a light in the darkest of nights. God will not leave us to fend for ourselves, struggling to find our way. He will lead us. He promises to be faithful. We may not see him in a pillar of cloud or fire these days, but we have his Word, and the Holy Spirit to give guidance to our days. He is with us, he gives wisdom, he provides direction, so we never have to fear being left on our own to figure things out. He goes ahead of us, he walks with us, and he guards our way from behind. His Word gives truth and life, it shows us the way to walk in this world. Even when the Israelites faced cruel attacks from the enemies surrounding them, God was faithful to deliver them. He works in miraculous ways and the toughest of battles are never too hard for God to work through. Still today, God will send his angels to fight for us and guard us. He Himself will fight for us and guard us. He will hem us in from all sides and keep us under His care. They were hungry. God sent manna. They were thirsty. God sent water gushing from a rock. Every day a miracle was right before their eyes. They just had to pick up the manna, drink the water, accept the blessing. Another time he made the bitter waters sweet again, so they could drink. Over and over, God provided for their needs. And just like the people of Israel had to look to God to meet their needs, to be refreshed by what he offered, and gather the manna every morning in the wilderness, so it is with us. They couldn't store it up, they had to look for it daily. And God always provided, each morning it was there, waiting for them. Every day he made sure it met their needs, they were satisfied, they were nourished, they were cared for. And they never lacked, for God's resources never run dry. Sometimes we miss the miracles of his provision, out of busyness The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia stress. We try to get things going too fast all on our own, spinning around, trying to get it all done. Or other times we might start to forget what matters most. The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia even for those days, there's His grace. He waits for us. His provision and blessing, they never run dry. Every day, his miracles lie right before our eyes. We just have to choose to look for them and stay close in his presence. Grumbling, complaining, sin, hearts far away from God — these things were far too common for the Israelites in these desert wandering years. And often like us, they lost sight of how far sin could carry them down the road we never wished to go. God had great mercy over them for all those years, they tested him even after he graciously provided for all their needs and offered them protection and strength. In Exodus 32 we read the story of how the people turned away from God when Moses seemed too long in coming back down from the mountain. How easily we often forget. Sin gets ahold of our minds and hearts. But God, in his mercy, forgives and sets free. He redeems us from the pit that far too many of us have wandered into and been stuck in. He lifts us out and places our feet on solid ground. He The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia us fresh purpose and hope. It is never dependent on how good we are, he is faithful even in our hardest struggles. Only in him can true rest and peace be found. The years of desert wanderings must have been difficult to endure. And he saw them through to the end. He never abandoned his people. They kept pressing through and God continued to be with them, and he The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia with us as well. We often face battles and problems that The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia hard. We feel forgotten, all alone. And yet the hardest struggles we face have the greatest potential to teach us patience and endurance, like nothing else can. Should Christians Celebrate Halloween? Here's What You Need to Know. How to Find Relief in a Time of Hurting. Where Is God in a Broken Marriage? All rights reserved. The Wandering Lake Chang is best known for her video work from the s in which she used her own body to explore depictions of Asian identity, testing the limits of social acceptability. More recently, she has moved behind the camera, turning into an explorer of exotic locales. In The Wandering Lakeshe combines both tactics, achieving a powerful and The Wandering Lake: Into the Heart of Asia statement on the impact of manmade disasters and the effect of her own aging process. InChang attempted to travel to the lake but was prevented by recent riots and the lack of transportation to the remote site. Instead, she uses two other locations as a metaphor for Lake Lop-nor. In the video installation, Invocation for a Wandering Lake, Part Ishe is seen tenderly bathing the corpse of a beached whale off the coast of Fogo Island in Newfoundland, Canada, a historic fishing village where cod fishing, its life source, is now forbidden. In Invocation for a Wandering Lake, Part IIChang washes the hull of a stationary boat, isolated in the middle of a desert, the result of a massive irrigation project that stole water away from the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. Mesmerizing and mournful, these videos brought to mind the recent calamities caused by global warming and the futility of individual action on this issue. As documented in Configurations, a three-channel video, the artist decided to collect her urine in plastic water bottles along the route, standing to pee while ruminating on the Yellow River. Glass models of the 32 various receptacles she employed for this task lined the walls of the gallery like delicate sculptures. Throughout this exhibition, Chang casts herself as a global explorer, but in contrast to adventurers of the past—male, European, colonialist—she is humbled and saddened by her discoveries.