A Year in The Wilderness: What happened when I left it all behind.
- Mar 30
- 10 min read
Trading my house in the city for a camper with no water
One year ago today I handed over the keys to my house after selling and giving away around 90% of my possessions.
Most people in my life at the time thought I was crazy and advised against selling everything in a rush to travel into the unknown.
But it’s what I felt God calling me to do.
So I turned to them and boldly quoted Jesus speaking to Peter:
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
Thankfully I had faith to stand on that had already been tested by fire. You see, God had previously called me to something that went against wisdom in a worldly sense—something the people in my life would have advised against—had I fully shared what I was doing at the time.
The Previous Call
The previous call was to put my coaching business aside and open up my home into a community space, offering four free fitness classes each week to start.
But there was a kicker—actually two:
I was already multiple mortgage payments behind along with hydro and water
Canada was in a state of emergency due to COVID and restrictions were in place that you could not have more than one person over to your home, even in your yard
So what did I do?
What any sensible person would do who was sure the God of the universe just requested this of them. I put my business aside, quickly built a website with a class schedule, and in a matter of days publicly made the announcement.
You’ll notice I left a few parts out of the announcement—such as receiving a call from God or disclosing my financial situation.
I imagine most people thought I was financially well off alongside having a great deal of free time due to my online coaching business.
Now if I had given full disclosure from the beginning, most people would have advised me not to go through with it—rooted in what seems like love—but often shaped by fear.
They would have made statements like:
“What about your daughter?”
“How will you provide?”
“How will you survive?”
What followed was the most beautiful, nourishing, and fruitful time of my life—not just for me, but for my daughter, hundreds of people who visited my home, thousands of people who joined in-city events I helped organize, and hundreds of thousands of people across the world who witnessed this journey unfold online.
God told me He would guide me, and He did. God told me He would provide, and He did.
God asked me to trust Him, and I am so thankful I’m not living the life where I said no and turned the other way.
Leave & Go Into The Land I Will Show You
Looking back on the last journey, I knew I could trust Him, I knew He would provide, and I knew this would be the adventure of a lifetime.
I also knew this time would be different. It would be harder, it would cost me more, and it would take longer to reap a harvest for those around me to enjoy.
What I didn’t know is how much it would cost me, how much it would test me, how much it would break me, and how much new life it would give me.
I felt God call me just like Abram in Genesis 12:1: “The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’”
So days later I listed the home for sale that had been such a beautiful place of comfort for so many.
Seven days later it sold.
Possession date was seven weeks away.
I was ready and fully expected God to have me out of the house, my belongings packed in storage, sitting at a park bench with my two dogs and cat before He told me where I was going.
That’s not how it went.
The Ark on Wheels
Thankfully, the night I accepted the offer to purchase, I felt God speak to me what He wanted me to do next:
“You will camp out while you convert a school bus into an off-grid home, then travel where I guide you—to share your story, to help others turn to Me, to help them turn away from their fears, and to help them turn to faith.”
Now the journey of finding the school bus and bringing it back from California to Winnipeg is a story of God’s glory that deserves its own separate post—stay tuned for that saga.
Letting Go
First order of business was to get rid of most of my possessions.
It seems the walk with God continually increases the call of letting go. Can you relate to that?
Just about everything I owned was either given away or sold on Facebook Marketplace, other than a few items of clothing, some dishes, a few personal items, and the majority of my tools.
This is where I first felt something new that I never expected.
I can best describe it as a weight being lifted off my mind—off my entire being—that I was completely unaware I had been carrying until it was removed.
A new sense of freedom that felt foreign.
As I write about it now, it brings me back to my favourite verse: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Little children are present in the moment—not worried about tomorrow.
Little children don’t care about status.
Little children are dependent.
Little children imitate their parents
Little children want nothing more than presence and relationship.
Little children carry no baggage.
I remember watching a documentary on minimalism years prior, and they were speaking about this exact kind of freedom with excitement—but at the time I didn’t understand it.
Now I do.
God Provides
I once operated as a lone wolf for decades. Between fear of trusting people, control issues, and lack of self-worth, it was difficult to allow others to help.
While running my home as a community center, I was forced into learning dependence on others as events grew too large to carry alone.
And it was through a stranger in another country that God used to keep me financially afloat so the bank couldn’t foreclose on the house—but that too is a story for another post.
In short, God was preparing me for the body of Christ.
Unity is the call—united we stand, divided we fall.
This was not the only place next to building my faith where God prepared me for the coming wilderness journey…
The Body of Christ
The next step was finding a camper for my daughter and dogs.
It is here with this camper where the lesson on the body of Christ really begins, it is also the most relevant lesson in my journey today as I write this blog.
I estimate the bus build out is going to cost around $80,000 in materials. I was left with around $20,000 after selling the home.
The camper needed to be cheap, I didn’t need anything fancy—I was good camping in a tent, the camper was more for my daughter and the dogs.
I found what I thought was a suitable camper on Facebook marketplace for $3000. It was tiny, looked rough on the outside, but the inside was clean, had 2 beds, a toilet, and a table to eat at—good enough for what I needed.
I agreed on the asking price and arranged with the seller a pickup time. Cash in hand and about to hit the road for our set meeting, the seller contacts me saying she might have someone interested in the camper.
This was strange, I agreed to pay full asking price and she knew I was just about on my way with cash in hand…
So I began my search for a camper again, but this time frustrated as nothing else similar was available. For 3 days I scoured the internet in frustration, attached to the idea of finding a similar deal.
Then I felt God speak to me
“Don’t forget to let go, you’re not supposed to do this alone, call on the body—I have a camper waiting for you.”
So I posted:
Minutes later, a couple responded—people who had previously been to my home.
They offered me their camper free of charge.
Just like that, I went from being frustrated as I was attached to my own idea of finding another small camper for around $3,000 to a peaceful and joyful state receiving a camper three times the size, 20 years newer, for zero dollars.
“So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’” -Genesis 22:14
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5-6
There were only two issues: no hot water and no furnace.
Ironically, I had already been living with inconsistent heat and no hot water for the year prior.
Now the next step was to find out where I would be setting up camp. My daughter’s grandfather (her mother’s dad) Greg instantly came to mind.
Greg owns an old hobby farm not far from the city, a few minutes from his personal home, where he operates his garbage business out of—Greg and I have always had a pretty good relationship and he is the only person I knew who had a shop big enough to fit a 40ft bus, where I could do the 20” roof raise.
So I asked Greg roughly a month before my move out date and Greg responded saying he would think about it.
It was the most logical place I knew of, but I also learnt not to assume thats where God wanted me, so I stayed unattached, trusting God would provide in the time of need.
This posture kept me in His peace.
I didn’t receive confirmation from Greg until a few days before the possession date of my home.
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 4:19
Into the Wilderness
March 30th, 2025—one year ago today—I spent my first night at camp.
It was a cold one.
📍 -15°C
No internet.
No running water.
No hot water.
No furnace.
No fridge.
Very limited electricity.
No problem. I was already used to all of it.
A Year in The Wilderness
A book could be written from what unfolded over the last year. For now, I want to highlight a few key lessons that may help you—or someone you know—on the road ahead.
You may be hearing a similar call from the Lord in one way or another. Your cost to obey may be higher than mine, or it may be less. What I do know is this: there is always something being asked of us to release, so we can step further into what He has prepared.
For me, the choice was simple:
Option 1: Rely on my own understanding, and find a different way on my own terms.
Option 2: Go all in and trust God, doing my best to follow what He says, no matter the cost.
In the end, it came down to one question:
Looking back on my life, what would I regret more?
When I lay this out to you, knowing where some readers stand in discerning Gods direction—I’m reminded of the active obedience step-by-step that led up to this.
All the smaller requests to let go.
All the worldly things I was guided to move away from.
All the sin I was convicted to repent from.
Everything that helped reduce the noise so I could hear.
While I’ve learnt the hard way that my salvation is not dependent on my works as I detailed in my last blog (My 6-year journey from atheism to New Age to Jesus Christ)—I’ve also learnt that God does call us to work faithfully in building His kingdom.
“We are not saved by works, but saving faith produces works.”
Freedom from the system
What I didn’t expect was how much freedom would come through this level of letting go.
Downsizing wasn’t just physical—it was mental and spiritual.
Less ownership meant less fear.
Less fear of bills.
Less fear of loss.
Less fear of survival.
When you reduce what you need from the system, you reduce what the system has power over in your mind.
Realizing just how little you need to survive while you walk with the Lord is shocking—more accurately defined for me: it was exhilarating!
After a life of chasing more—less became the winning score.
Now I had already spent years trusting on God to provide, but this was different.
Daily dependence on God took on an entirely new level.
Not theoretical dependence. Real dependence.
“Give us this day our daily bread.”
The Lord’s Prayer stopped being repetition and became reality. I stopped praying in fear and began praying with excitement.
Because when you actually live without backup systems, “daily bread” stops being poetic language—it becomes trust in motion.
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer is not just a ritual—it is formation.
It reorders the heart:
•God first (“Hallowed be Your name”)
•His kingdom first (“Your kingdom come”)
•His will first (“Your will be done”)
•Daily dependence (“Give us this day…”)
•Forgiveness and humility (“forgive us…”)
•Protection and guidance (“lead us not into temptation…”)
It is about alignment.
It is a daily return to surrender.
The Hardest Part
As this journey continued, I faced my hardest obstacle yet.
Not everyone is called to walk the same road, and not everyone who is called will follow it.
Some people choose security.
Some choose comfort.
Some choose the world as it is structured.
And when you begin to step away from that system, you also begin to notice distance forming between you and those still rooted in it.
That part is not easy. For me it was the hardest.
Because obedience to God sometimes means leaving things behind that you swore you would never leave behind.
I won’t go into all of that here—but I will in a future post.
Remember what Jesus said:
“Let the dead bury their own dead.” —Matthew 8:22
And “Remember Lot’s wife.” — Luke 17:32
Closing
The wilderness is not absence of purpose.
In the wilderness, preparation is more than work; it is surrender. It is the quiet undoing of our need to control outcomes, timelines, and certainty. What feels like delay is often God’s refinement—where He strips away what is unnecessary, not to diminish us, but to purify us.
“See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” -Isaiah 48:10
It is learning to release the grip on our own understanding and choosing instead to trust His leading, even when the direction is not fully visible. In that place, noise fades and discernment sharpens.
The wilderness is where listening becomes essential. Not just hearing words, but becoming attuned to His voice in conviction, in Scripture, in peace that doesn’t always make sense. It is where obedience is formed in small steps, often before the full picture is revealed.
And in that space, readiness is being shaped. Not passive waiting, but active yielding—where the heart is being aligned so that when the next instruction comes, there is no hesitation. The wilderness prepares not just the assignment ahead, but the person who must carry it.
It is where comfort is stripped away so clarity can remain.
And looking back now, I can say with certainty:
God was not just leading me somewhere.
He was shaping who I needed to become to carry what was next.
I used to think leaving everything I had left behind was the greatest test of faith.
But just like Abraham, the real test wasn’t leaving the land…
It was what I would be asked to let go of next.
Once again, you inspire me. I have been at a cross road since 2022 with so many changes in perspective on most things if not all. I try to keep the "WWJD" is my mind when change is in my view but I have yet to learn how to surrender. Thank you for sharing your journey and I have always been grateful to have met you and in your presense. Sharon (MB 5)