J, Hang in there brother. You are absolutely correct; sometimes the Lord calls us out into a desert where we feel like we are just wandering around. However, just like the lady said, he typically ONLY does this when he is preparing us for something. It is when we rush this process that we can end up missing it completely. The Israelites never got this and had to spend 40 years wandering around for a trip that should have taken, what, 2 weeks maybe? Of course, when you're rolling a million deep, maybe a week longer but who knows. Anyway, the bottom line is, God does his best work on us when he calls us out into the desert and we must wait on him.
Hang in there, and just don't start worshiping some golden cow. Man oh man...