In her prayer image, she placed herself on the bottom of that river, all alone, when a sudden current eradicated all sense of direction. In other words, she was in the wilderness. We get the metaphor of wilderness times from the Hebrews' wanderings in the desert after being delivered from Egypt. Like the Hebrews crossing over the Red Sea, we often enter wilderness when we pass some new boundary in our own lives. Like them, we find that freedom is more than an event.
Freedom requires transformation, and transformation hurts.
For the Hebrews after the Red Sea, life as they knew it came to an abrupt end. The new land they thought was close at hand required new people to enter into it. They wandered until the transformation was complete. We do, too. Jesus was driven into the wilderness after hearing a call from God to be Messiah.