![]() In Nomadland, Fern dwells among others who have survived the sword, both literal and proverbial - some have survived cancer or depression, others simply escaped the grind of the corporate world. Something He spoke to my heart came from Jeremiah: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness” (Jer 31:2-3). Knowing that the path behind was filled with sorrow, God helped me look back and still find grace, and look forward toward grace to come. What God gave me in that desert season was not a message, but hope, and a vision of the path ahead. But in the depths of despair, we don’t need explanations. I thought what I needed was explanations, logic to make sense of all the sadness. The circumstances surrounding these feelings aren’t important these feelings are universal to all of us. Hosea says God would speak “tenderly” or “kindly.” Another translation says He would “speak to her heart.”Ī few months ago, my heart was wracked with disappointment and discouragement. But the desert wasn’t about what God was saying (He wasn’t saying all that much) it was more about how He was saying it. For me, it felt like God was doing the same. Yet Nomadland says a lot without saying much. It seems that God has a purpose for leading his people into the desert: He has something to say. A friend showed me this verse in Hosea, where God says of Israel, “Therefore I am now going to allure her I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her” (Hos 2:14). I began exploring stories of the desert in the Bible, searching for comfort from the faithful generations who wandered the wilderness before me. Yet there was something He wanted me to hear. ![]() I felt like the Lord was leading me into a desert - barren, empty, and desolate. Like Fern, I withdrew into myself, into that inner wilderness. In the past I would have never opted for separation from friends and community during a time of spiritual confusion yet there were places that I was going with the Lord that needed to be explored alone. Though I didn’t jump on the road in an RV, I was drawn into a season of spiritual isolation and remoteness. I too found myself in a wilderness a few months ago. There, she seeks beauty, connection, and perhaps healing. The death of her husband is the final blow that sends her into the wilderness. ![]() We learn at the beginning that her town of Empire, NV, has disappeared, essentially erased after the manufacturing plant at its center shuts down. She often opts for the seclusion of her van rather than the company of others or the comfort of a roof over her head. Throughout the film, Fern seems drawn toward the isolation and remoteness of the desert. She spends the rest of the year driving through the desertscapes and rocky terrain of the Dakotas and Nevada, gathering with fellow van-dwellers and chasing various jobs in greasy diners or at RV campgrounds. As the movie unfolds, we discover that Fern is part of Amazon’s “camperforce,” a seasonal fleet of nomadic workers who staff Amazon’s warehouses through the winter holiday months. In Nomadland, a woman takes her refurbished van into the desert of the American West, chasing employment after the manufacturing plant she once worked at shuts down. Refurbishing a van was a foreign concept a few years ago but since the pandemic has limited air travel, RVs and vans have become increasingly popular forms of travel and recreation. I thought campers and RVs were for retirees and cross-country vacationers. It wasn’t glamorous, but it was an adventure, and I admired him for chasing that dream.īefore that, I had never heard of anyone intentionally living out of a van. He drove his refurbished van across the country when my sister moved to Denver, and he slept in the back on his lofted bed. Before he married my sister, my brother-in-law Will fulfilled a dream of his: living out of a van.
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