Exactly one month ago, on September 7th, I had a pre-faith test encounter with God to get me ready for the extreme difficulties that I would go through, much like trying to survive the barren wilderness. The encounter started with the Lord giving me a big book, and inside the book was a teaching about illusions. 

Then, He told me that the appearance of intense lack that I would see were illusions, and not the true reality. As I was looking at this ancient book, I was suddenly transported to a vision on top of a green tree canopy. 

The tree was majestic and very large, full of vibrant green leaves, with plentiful clusters all around. On the ground was hot, scorching sand. It was the sand of lack…hunger, thirst…death…of survival. 

As I stood upon the tree, the tree held me up, and it would move from one side to another, in a very graceful, yet powerful way. Through that encounter, the Lord made me a promise to hold us up in the wilderness time with the support of His promise. 

After that, the scene shifted again and the Lord revealed a promise that would come out fast, and unexpected….like a cheetah. However, this would be an ambush of promise, an ambush of blessings. 

Not long after that visual training encounter with the Lord, I entered into a very severe faith test that lasted two weeks. We were still in the Airbnb, on our final last two weeks. 

I was trusting God to deliver the promised support for us to go to the next place, and to cover our food needs for each day. It looked and felt like I was suddenly in the wilderness with no food and no water. 

Each day was terrifying. I would wake up with my heart racing inside, as though I was being chased and hunted by predators of famine and thirst. It never looked like we would get through each day, and yet God would show up each day with just enough food, and drink support to survive the day. 

When I was in my pre-test training, God had told me that the miracle I needed would come when I put to death the fears and doubts that I had. He was encouraging me to release, and He even told me to do an emotional, raw release as a poem that would be shared. That is when I wrote about the ‘Whale’. 

I was in so much pain from the fear of not surviving or feeding my family, that I got to the point that I couldn’t take the pressure anymore. So I poured out my heart in a lamentation to the Lord, and the whale poem was born. 

Oddly, though, after I put to death my fears by pouring out my soul and giving every ounce of doubt to God, I felt FREE. I still didn’t know where the food and need support would come from each day, but I just had peace to know that God would be the tree to hold us up and support us with His promise. 

Just before it was time to leave the Airbnb, the Lord came through with emergency hotel funds for us, and we took the next leap of faith back to the suburbs to a hotel with a nice, clean kitchen and cozy beds. 

We booked for two weeks. Today, we started the (final) second week. 

Round and round again, like a merry-go-round, I have entered another faith test for the next room rescue that is due in a week, and another week of trusting God to be the tree of support for all our food needs. 

I have broken down once, because I was tired, and was not ready to go through another round of testing. However, perseverance took over, and God helped me to stand on the tree of His promise again. The first testing was so intense, I was exhausted. It was at the end of myself, that God’s power came through. However, every time we face something difficult, we are able to see a miracle encounter. 

Because miracles never come from places that are easy or comfortable. No, never…miracles come in times of intense discomfort, trouble, problems, needs, desperate situations. Miracles come when they look and seem utterly impossible. God takes us out to the wilderness to fulfill promises, to bring miracles. So that we can encounter His intentional love. But by holding onto fear and doubt, I was being unfaithful to God. It matters what we think about…

I love this, Hosea 2:14-15,  But once she has nothing, I’ll be able to get through to her. I’ll entice her and lead her out into the wilderness where we can be alone, and I’ll speak right to her heart and try to win her back. And then I’ll give her back her vineyards; I’ll turn the valley of Achor, that “Valley of Trouble,” into a gateway of hope.

First, I had to make God first in my heart, and put to death the doubts and fear of not trusting Him to provide. When I realized that I was in the perfect set up for a miracle, I saw everything from a new perspective. Just before a promise is fulfilled, everything will look upside down and backwards before the promise emerges from the inside to the outer world. 

The best part about having a promise from God in our situations is that promise is the assured victory of how it will be. I love to see promises as God revealing what is going to happen. It’s already done, it’s already established. 

Our faith will always be tested in the opposite environment of a promise. If your promise is for healing, then there will be illusions of illness. If your promise is for wealth, then there will be illusions of lack and need. It will feel at times like there is no way to survive. 

Yet, God will show up with a hidden ambush of fulfillment, like a cheetah sinking his feet into the sand and launching at us from behind. Even though you are looking for it….aching for it….watching for it….it will be a surprise. ♡

I love you. 

I’ll talk to you again soon to finish the story. Until the next page is published…

May you be hunted by promises catching you by surprise and sneak attacks of blessings hidden in plain sight. ♡♡

Dannette 

The Whale Poem: https://diamondsfromthedust.com/2025/09/25/sinking-deep/

The Cheetah Promise Love Letter: https://diamondsfromthedust.com/2025/09/07/it-will-sneak-up-on-you/

https://diamondsfromthedust.com/