The Blog
The Blog
She Prepares
Some of us ask God for a word for the year. A word to refocus our attentions upon when we drift.
I’ve received such words over the years. Last year I received the word “flourish”. Who wouldn’t want their life to flourish in the year ahead. My life always flourishes under the kingship of the Sovereign One. My part is to be in agreement with Him. Then I flourish.
Some of us get a word or two from a prophet – they’d received a word from Holy Spirit for us on that particular day. A few months ago, a seer and prophet spoke the word “attainability” over me. Ah, all things are possible with God. If I remain in God, He will remain in me and then all things are possible. All things are attainable. I love this word. It’s been useful in times of doubt, especially in writing the new book He has me writing.
So, earlier this year, I asked Jesus if he had a word for me for the year 2024. And he did. He whispered Bride. Oh yes! Bride.
Another way the body of Christ is described in Scripture is that we are his “Bride”. We, individually, are also known as His bride.
I sat with the word “bride” for a while and asked questions. Father, what does it mean to be a bride? What does a bride do?
I pondered a bride in the physical world. She’s getting ready to walk down the aisle, meet her bridegroom at the alter and say I will.
As a follower of Jesus, we say “I will” way before we walk down the aisle to the alter.
We say “I will” when we are lost, shattered, and far away from a beautiful alter scene.
We say “I will” when we are the most broken hearted we’ll ever be. A far reach from being a beautiful bride.
We cry out in our desperation “Yes, I will follow you. I have nothing else to lose. I’ve lost it all. I believe in you.” At that moment, we become His Bride. A bride preparing for the day when we will meet our bridegroom face-to-face.
In my pondering, Jesus whispered a few things to me that his bride has that nobody else does (ooh, there are many!):
First, she is confident in who she is marrying. Even in the times when she has the wedding jitters, she is undeniably confident in who He is to her.
And, she is completely sure in her choice. He’s the One! He is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
Further, she is completely blown away and filled with joy that He has chosen her to be his bride. He picked me! What a celebration it is going to be. I’ll follow Him to the very end of the ages.
Father, tell me then – what does a bride do while she waits?
She prepares.
Hmm, it could be a while. How?
- She keeps her eyes on her bridegroom – her source of love.
- She doesn’t stray or wander off – her safe resting place.
- She stays alert and awake – her joy overflows.
- She rests in the truth why she is his bride in the first place – her source of peace.
Our Father gently pointed out to me: Search and meditate on the Scripture verses that point to these promises. See them in My Light. Love.
Here are a few verses to meditate on – written in God’s love for His Bride:
- “God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.” 1Jo 4:16 tPt
- “Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” Deut 33:12 NIV
- “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” John 15:11 NLT
- “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.” Col 3:15 NLT
A bride-in-waiting prepares for her bridegroom.
Salt
“You are the salt of the earth.” Mat 5:13 NIV
Do you feel valuable? Precious? Worthy? If not, read on and see what Jesus says about you.
Typically, when we describe somebody as the “salt of the earth”, we’re saying they are genuine and trustworthy. Level-headed. Nothing phoney about them. They carry a good measure of common sense. You can count on them. These qualities are admirable, but I’d like to suggest Jesus is saying something more.
Here’s a few fun facts about salt before we dive in:
- its official name is sodium chloride
- its chemical compound is NaCI
- our bodies can’t make it, but we can’t live without it
- we’d eventually die if we stopped ingesting it
- our muscles need it to work
- it balances our water and mineral intake.
What is salt used for practically? It’s used to enhance the flavour of food. Most food needs a dash of it to bring out its true flavour. But too much salt and the food is ruined. Imagine a batch of cookies where a cup of salt has been mistaken for a cup of sugar. The cookies may look delicious but the minute we take a bite, yuck, we spit it out. The cookies are ruined.
Salt is used as a preservative especially in the ancient times when there was no refrigeration – food decayed and ended up in the garbage heap. Salt was it! It helped prolong the decay.
In the ancient world salt was rare, which made it valuable – so valuable that Roman soldiers were partially paid their wages with it. It’s hard to imagine salt being rare because it’s so abundant in our kitchens today. One more use for salt in those days was as a disinfectant – cleaning wounds etc. and we probably still use it as a disinfectant today to some degree.
So, in the natural, salt is an enhancer, a disinfectant, a preservative, and long, long ago – a currency.
That’s all fine and dandy, but I want to know what salt means in the spiritual because this is where Jesus is speaking from.
I went digging and soon discovered in the Old Testament that God made a “covenant of salt” with the priests of the Israelites (Nu 18:19) and with King David (2Ch 13:5). His covenant with the priests was they would receive a portion of the holy offering; and His covenant with David was that his throne would rule forever. Why a salt covenant? It’s a covenant meant to endure forever and is divinely sustained through faithfulness and friendship.
I also discovered salt was used in the temple during worship – it was poured over offerings to God (Ezra 6:9) and was a key component in the incense used during worship to God (Ex 30:34 & 35). Therefore, salt had a spiritual quality and became sacred and holy.
In the New Testament, salt stood for “goodness” (Lu 14:34 & 35); “graciousness” (Col 4:6); “peace” (Ma 9:50) and was a metaphor for wisdom among the rabbinic circles in Jesus’ time (Talmud: Tractate Soferim 15:8).
In the final book of the Bible, God gives us a beautiful picture of our prayers to him: “golden bowls brimming full of sweet fragrant incense – which are the prayers of God’s holy lovers.” Rev 5:8 (TPT).
Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 5:13 that “you are the salt of the earth.” He doesn’t say they are like salt or resemble salt or getting to be like salt – He says they “are” salt. That means, in His eyes, they are valuable, precious, genuine, trustworthy, and furthermore, that they are holy and sacred, filled with peace, goodness, grace and wisdom.
He’s saying this of all who follow Him. That’s me and you!
But wait! Salt serves no purpose stored away in the saltshaker. Only when it is sprinkled out of the shaker does its purpose take effect. Has Jesus sprinkled us out like valuable salt into a dark fallen world? I’d say yes.
What if we lose our saltiness? What happens if we become too salty? He asks us to strike a balance by sprinkling just enough salt into our conversations to make people thirsty for God but not too salty (pushy and annoying) so that what we share about Him isn’t spit out. Rejected.
I love that Jesus sees us as “the salt of the earth”. Valuable and precious. Worthy to be sprinkled out of the shaker to make a difference in a chaotic world where division, war and hatred is running rampant, where truth and love don’t seem to matter anymore. We are salt sprinkling out the truth of His good news to a decaying world through our one voice and our consistent acts of kindness, love, and peace to wherever and whomever He calls us.
One voice.
Find the Beauty of the Moment
Today I’m reminded of beauty. Have you ever thought what life would be like if we didn’t have beauty in our midst?
Recently, a friend asked me how it was going with my photography practice. I rolled my eyes and gave a lame answer “okay” but that I was thinking to quit it altogether. I entertained thoughts like “why does it even matter”. Then she said, “But you can’t stop. We all need beauty. You have to keep going. We all need to see beauty in our lives.”
What does it mean to have beauty in our lives? What does it mean to you?
I don’t think it is just that we have nice stuff, pretty baubles, and a nice wardrobe. Or a well-manicured yard. Designer this and that. I believe beauty is much deeper than that. I believe this because it is something I yearn for. I yearn to see beauty, to smell it, to touch it and to taste it. I also yearn to hear beauty. Yes, to hear beauty. Jesus said over and over again while He taught His disciples, “He who has ears, let him hear.” I think He was saying “Let him hear the beauty I am about to say.”
In the times we are living in full of global unrest, destruction and death, beauty is needed more than ever. We need to have our senses blasted with something that is in opposition to what we are experiencing and witnessing in the world today. And I am not talking about burying our heads in the sand and ignoring what is going on around us and in the world (really, we get enough of that bombardment on a daily basis), but of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, tasting what is good. What is true. What is bold. What is authentic. What is admirable. What is worthy. What is gentle. What is kind. All these things point to Jesus. If anything is beauty it is Jesus. Because He is all these things.
I believe Beauty is the creative side of God and I want that. When I think of beauty in the sense of what I see – walking along the seashore or wondering through the forest – beauty is always present. He is always with me there. I can observe His presence because He created it all. And He is still creating it, day by day, minute by minute. The rain falls in the forest and suddenly a new wild pink geranium begins to bloom. The waves crash on the shore, and I hear God playing the piano on the beach pebbles. An owl flies past me in the woods and I feel her wings flap the air into a slight breeze and I can observe a crystal gleam in her eye. Wondering through the woods, I can smell the aroma of God – it’s Him! I can smell the ferns and the flowers and the leaves – all mixed together in the beauty of it all. The aroma of a Father who loves us so much He continues to create for us a stunning world to live in.
Yes, there is much destruction taking place. There is tremendous broken heartedness taking place. There is so much sadness. But if we dwell there too long, we lose the beauty of the day.
Can I encourage you dear friend, to find another way to live today? Even for a moment, seek for the beauty that surrounds you.
It could mean gazing out your backyard window at the mountains set before you. It could mean making a tasty meal for your family. It could mean strumming your guitar in worship to the One created it all. It might mean taking a nature walk. It might mean being in silence for a few minutes, resting, and listening.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:35 NIV
Nobody Is Left Behind
“Nobody is left behind who wants to know Me.”
This is a powerful message the Lord spoke to me recently. Can it be true that Almighty God – Yahweh – is reassuring me one more time I will not be left behind? And that you won’t be left behind.
Hallelujah!
In a world where so many of us are left behind because we don’t measure up. Don’t have the right look. We don’t fit in. Aren’t good enough. On and on. This is Good News then, right?
Oh, my Father of Heavenly Lights, you won’t forget me. Messed up me. Me – who gets it wrong almost daily and who ignores You just as often. And still, You set my heart on fire for You. How do You do it? How do You cause my heart to burn for You so much that even on days I’m stubbornly doing my own thing, You’re working to change it one more time.
It’s a lofty mystery to me!
Did you notice the caveat in the message He spoke to me? He didn’t say nobody is left behind, period. He said “…who wants to know Me.” A major key point.
Do you want to know God? Sad, not everybody wants to know Him. If you don’t want to know God, He isn’t going to twist your arm. He’s a gentleman and doesn’t do anything without your permission. You’ve probably heard or read stories about how Jesus rescued women who were at their wit’s end. How He seemed to pop into their lives and literally heal their broken hearts and ways with a word or a touch. Oh, Jesus. That’s not the whole story though. They wanted and invited.
Jesus is sitting close to all broken-hearted and damaged women, near them and waiting, like He did with me. I see Him sitting at a kitchen table waiting for a woman to crawl up off the floor where she’s passed out from too much stuff in her veins, her blood filled with painkilling stuff (also killing her joy and love at the same time). Yes, He’s there! Waiting! What is He waiting for?
You say, why is He letting this woman suffer for one more minute? It’s because with our want we give Him our permission. He cannot enter your body, soul or spirit without it! And then finally the woman on the kitchen floor utters her words, “Oh God, help me.” That’s the invitation! Jesus immediately acts but not before. He requires your legal invitation to come in.
And when you invite Him in, wonderful things begin to happen.
You might discover your craving for alcohol is completely gone. You might find prescription drugs no longer have a hold on you. You may realize that the very spouse you’ve been cheating on isn’t that bad after all and you want reconciliation. You might discover a love for yourself that you’ve never felt before. You might receive physical healing.
And you might find that you aren’t anxious or depressed anymore. Feelings of not belonging and isolation dry up. Somehow you don’t feel lonely anymore. You never have been.
That is the power of inviting Christ Jesus into your life.
“Nobody is left behind who wants to be with Me.” Oh, I love this message so much because it carries such powerful hope.
The key again is wanting to know and be known by God.
If you aren’t interested in a loving relationship with a Heavenly Father, you’re probably not even reading this post and this message will be meaningless to you.
However, if you are interested in knowing Jesus, please invite Him into your life. There’s no fancy way to invite Him into your life. It’s not complicated. Just ask.
He’s been waiting.
Do you ever think about God?
“Do you believe in God?”
My mom asked me this question when I was the most distant from her (and God). “Of course, I don’t believe in God,” was my answer.
And I can live just fine without Him, thank you very much. And look at me. I’m doing it. I’m working, feeding myself and living in the big city. I’m filling my empty heart with lots of great stuff – Harvey Wallbangers, new shoes, shiny jewelry, fancy wine glasses and trips to exotic places where, guess what, I can drink more alcohol. But now with the little umbrellas perched. It seems all so sophisticated when there is an umbrella perched.
Then, I’m a married woman. In chaos. In destruction. Nothing feels right or good or loving. Dreams rise up in me at night – huge monstrous things clawing outwards and screaming for escape. Endless nightmares of turmoil, dark, yelling chaos tormenting me. Is this normal? I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m afraid of these dreams.
Next, I am living in a basement, dark cement walls, spider-webbed ceilings, cluttered with junk. I hate this place. This is where I end up after a divorce with no place to go. In this place, I am the most alone I have ever been. Can I save myself from all this mess? They taught me to rely upon myself, to be independent and strong, to walk it off and stop that crying already. So, it’s in times like this when I am at my lowest and relying completely upon myself, as any super-woman would, I’m actually the walking dead.
Through all this madness God doesn’t even enter my mind. Not even once. In all this trying to fill the relentless hunger in my gaping empty black hole of a heart – not once did I think of God.
Yet, He was thinking of me.
Mysteriously, I was led into a place I didn’t want to go – a church! I’d sworn off church since childhood. Why was I being led there?
When the music started to play in that church, I began to sing the worship songs along with everyone else. A sense of peace flowed into me. It felt like I had been singing those songs all my life. I knew then, that somehow, mysteriously, I had made it back home.
When I ask you today, “Do you believe in God?” I ask you from a place of deep desire that you will get to know Him way sooner than I did.
I wondered around in the wilderness for 40 years. That’s way too long! Too many wasted years of living. I was never ever meant to live a small life. God didn’t create me after His own image so I would live a small pathetic life. No!
And it’s the same for you. God created you in His own image so you could live an incredible, love-filled and adventuresome life.
By saying yes to Jesus, you are saying yes to the best plan ever for your life.
That’s worth a big Amen.
You Are Mine.
I am confident there is a Scripture verse that says that I am His. The verse that the Lord God announces to the world that “You are mine!” I’ll keep searching because I know it is there.
Hey wait! Do I need to search for the exact verse? My heart opened just now as I write this that the whole Bible is shouting: “You are mine!” and “I want you back!”
If I don’t write anything else today but that cry from the Father’s heart – I don’t need to write anything else. Because this is the cry of The Father who has lost His kids and He wants them all back. Every single one of us.
Isn’t that good news to you today? This is astounding news.
It is not without pain that the Father watches the world and its goings-on right now and is grieved. It grieves Him so much and that is why it is His most urgent desire to bring every one of His kids back into relationship with Him.
Sisters and brothers, He wants you back. I know He has not abandoned me and He has not abandoned you either. I would love you to know this too.
This is what He says to us all:
Please know Me. Please hear my whispers in the middle of your dark night. Please hear my desires in the beating of the crashing waves upon the stormy shore. I’m whispering to those who want a quiet approach; I am shouting to those who need a hammer approach. Look for me, listen for me and you will find Me. I am not hiding from you. I am not making you jump over hurdles, like some ask you to do. I am not asking you to be sparkling clean before I come in and meet with you. I will wash you sparkling clean with my Son. There is no prep work. I want you just exactly as you are right now.! Remember, I made you this way, I will never ever reject what I have made because I’ve made what I’ve made with and from my love.
Hallelujah, I belong to the Father. I am His. I can rest in this today and tomorrow and into eternity. I can find comfort in the fact that there is nothing I can do to make Him love me. He simply does! And there is nothing I need to do to make Him love me even more than right now. He can’t love me any more than He already does. That’s a resting place.
Here is another comforting truth: I don’t have to earn my Father’s love because it’s freely given. And, by the way, how would I know when I’ve earned enough to receive His love anyways? Many of us grew up to parents who gave conditional love – when you achieve this, I’ll love you – except the achievements were never enough. The B on the report card stuck out like a beacon of failure amidst the many A’s. Not good enough, try harder and then I’ll hug you. This is the world, isn’t it?
His love is freely given. Messy life and all. Simply by seeking and asking.
God is love. He loves you and me as much as He loves Jesus.
Is There No Balm In Gilead?
Is There No Balm In Gilead?
Apparently, there is balm in Gilead. I just read up about it!
Gilead was famous for its spices and medicinal herbs in ancient times. There was a special balm created by the spice merchants, herbalists and apothecaries who proclaimed healing to the body for all kinds of sicknesses and diseases.
Does this sound familiar to us today? Anti-aging serums and the like?
“Is there no balm in Gilead?” is a rhetorical question spoken by God through Jeremiah, a prophet in the Old Testament. Here is the full verse:
Since my people are crushed, I am crushed.
I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Jeremiah 8:21 & 22 (NIV)
The people in Gilead had turned away from God and were trying to heal themselves. Like them, we can’t heal ourselves. And it’s even more difficult to heal our hearts and our spirits. I tried to mend my shattered heart using all sorts of methods. I wanted the black emptiness to go away. And what better way than to stuff it with things of the world – booze, drugs, sex, shopping.
God is saying in these verses – Couldn’t you heal yourself? Think you don’t need me? So why aren’t you healed then?
With these questions, He’s opening our eyes to what we are doing. He wants us to see Him. And aren’t His questions even more stinging for us Marlboro women who think we can do it on our own? Got the power to heal yourself, have you? How’s that going for you? Are you healed yet?
I was in the new age movement. I went to all the seminars to train myself to grab hold of the power in my own life, to bash through my walls, walk on hot coals, smash through my giants and be like my very own little god. I was pigeonholed into their quadrants informing me who I am and what I was made for. I learned the buzz words and tried to live them out. I tried my darndest to get it right. Why, then, did I not feel accepted there either? Why did I still feel I wasn’t good enough? I couldn’t smash through those giant walls no matter how big my imaginary hammer was. I wanted to feel loved and accepted and live a life that mattered. I wanted to belong. But more than anything, I wanted to know the truth.
The self-help books and new age seminars helped in tying those knots just a little bit tighter. You see, none of it was working so I absorbed this – “What’s wrong with me, why isn’t this working for me? Why can’t I heal my own shattered heart?” More lies were heaped on top of the ones already living there.
I don’t self-help anymore. Can you save yourself from the mess you’ve made of your life? I certainly couldn’t.
I am grateful to God my Heavenly Father for healing my sick heart and troubled mind.
I couldn’t do it on my own, as much as I wanted. I was stubborn and had a hard heart full of steel knots and junk. Why and how did I tie those bloodied knots in my heart?
At a young age through certain events, I learned to tie knots so my heart wouldn’t bleed. Molestation. Death. Shame. Physical abuse. Being ignored. Unkind words spoken. Rejection. Abandonment. All these and more. What can be done to dissolve the knots and bring about healing? I needed more than a balm made by other people in the world.
I needed a divine balm. One that lasts forever and one that didn’t make me feel more horrible than I already did.
Can you hear God’s question and see His offer as the solution to our earthly dilemma?
“With all you have on earth, can you heal yourself?”
It takes God to do our healing. There is only One balm I know of – it’s the One He gives to us freely.
His Son Jesus.
Give Your Gifts Away
Give Your Gifts Away
There is a short passage in the Bible about Peter’s mother-in-law which appears in three of the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke. A small story with a loving message.
She lay on her bed unable to move. She was physically under attack, dizzy, nauseous, and sweating with a high fever. She lay motionless with no energy or motivation to do anything.
She may have been having thoughts like this:
I really should get up and help my daughter cook dinner, but this fever is sucking the life right out of me today. I wish I felt better so I could help her.
Maybe her head was so muddled she couldn’t think straight. Or worse, perhaps she felt the victim in her own story:
My life is a disaster, I feel so horrible I wish I was dead. Nobody cares about me at all. Nobody loves me. And I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. Will my life ever improve? I feel so weak and insignificant. My life sucks.
Do you have thoughts like this? I used to.
As soon as Jesus arrives at Peter’s house with James and John, they pipe right up and tell him about the mother-in-law. How sick she is laying there on her bed unable to do anything but moan. Was she incessantly complaining to everyone how sick she was? Maybe. Perhaps she had been laying there for so long in here sickly state that they couldn’t stand to hear her moaning for one more minute. Whatever the case is, they beg Jesus to heal her. (Luke 4:38)
It says in Matthew 4, Jesus had been through the countryside witnessing and healing the sick, the demon-possessed, the poor, the marginalized, widows and orphans. His heart must have been breaking for all of them. So, when he gets to Peter’s house and sees her lying on her bed sick and motionless, what do you think his thoughts were? We’ll never know exactly but I think they were something like – “No, not another one of My precious daughters.”
Jesus leans over her, takes her sweaty fragile hand and a miracle occurs – the fever immediately leaves her. I noticed in this miracle story, Jesus doesn’t say a word, His touch is enough.
What happens next is breathtaking. She gets up off her bed and begins to wait on him. Yes, for the first time in days, she has the energy and strength to create, she cooks food and serves. I’ve always said cooking is one of the most creative forms of work and a special gift to others and so here’s the proof from Biblical times.
Peter’s mother-in-law had changed so quickly from a sickly state and victim disposition that she wanted to give thanks for what He had done. The story goes on to say that on that very evening many people suffering from demon-possession and other forms of illnesses arrived at Peter’s house to be healed – “he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” (Mt. 8:16).
What do you think Peter’s mother-in-law was doing that night? I think she was cooking up a storm, feeding the hungry and thirsty people in her town. I believe this because if I’m thankful for what somebody has done for me; I want to reciprocate and give them thanks. She honours God by serving.
Why is this small story recorded at all in the three Gospels? This could be a primary reason, because she mattered to Jesus, and she played an important role in what God was going to do that night. You see, it’s no mistake or fluke that she was healed by Jesus that day; she was meant to help Him tend to the hurt, sick and needy that night.
We don’t know what happened to her afterwards, all we know is what Jesus did for her right then – He touched her life and everything for her changed. She happily and joyfully gave her own heart away after being touched by his. She waited on him and others with an open heart of thanksgiving and freely gave back with some of her love gifts – cooking and serving.
Now, I know, not everyone likes to cook, that’s cool. You have other gifts you can give away. As I do. Share those gifts instead! Give love-gifts to somebody today because when you give one of your gifts away to someone, you are thanking, honouring, and praising God for them.
We are never meant to keep our gifts or our love – both are meant to be given away to others.
What are we all looking for?
What are we all looking for?
Something or someone to make you and me feel better. To make us feel we belong. Someone to keep us from feeling so sad inside all the time. Empty. Many of us aren’t all that thrilled with how we’ve turned out or where we are in our lives right now.
Why?
We have a house with a nice back yard. A car or two in the garage. Pretty clothes falling off their hangers in our closets. More shoes stacked in the shoe tree than we could possibly wear in a month.
Even more.
We get to go on fancy vacations. Spend the summer at the lake and the winter in Mexico. We can go horseback riding, scuba diving and skiing at the drop of a hat. Hop in the car and off we go to do that thing of our heart’s desire. We are rich in our experiences and so the advertisements say – “If you dream it, you can do it!” It only takes a credit card.
Let’s talk about cravings. We can eat anything we want. The stores are crammed full of all kinds of food types. A whole aisle dedicated to breakfast cereal alone. Wow! No wonder I walk into the grocery store and come out frustrated when they don’t have my very own special cereal – especially for me. The whole aisle is cereal – where is mine?
Our world has exploded with a “foodie” culture. And here too, whatever you can dream, you can have it. Grapefruit beer. Maple bacon donuts. Basil lavender ice-cream.
It’s all so intoxicating.
Why, then, are we so discontent?
Let’s look at a story of a discontent woman.
The story of the woman at the well is probably one of the most loved stories in the Bible. There are many hidden treasures in her story so most likely when I read it again, I’ll find another gem to write about. For today, I’m writing about her because she was looking for something like so many of us are.
The woman at the well could be any one of us and perhaps this is why we can relate to her so easily. When she leans over the well to dip her jug into the water, she sees her reflection looking back. Sad eyes. Downturned lips. Worry wrinkles gathering on her forehead. In my mind’s eye, I can imagine myself looking back from that pool of water. Have you ever looked in your own mirror at home and wondered who that woman is looking back at you? I have.
WHO IS SHE?
She was at the well mid-day, the hottest time. She was there alone. The other women had already come and gone – their water jugs filled for the day. Nobody wanted anything to do with her. Gossiped about and rejected by the other women in the village. She didn’t have a friend. She was an outcast. Unwelcome.
She’d been married five times. Five times she was dumped. Five times rejected. Five times given the message: – “You’re not good enough.” She was now living with the sixth man. In those ancient times, this wasn’t a good position to be in because it went against the laws and the societal norm. She was an outcast.
Here’s a thought – perhaps our friend at the well had left five times. Maybe she was the one who wanted out. Maybe she’d had enough of her husbands – all five of them. Whatever the case may be, she was constantly looking for the next guy to validate her and to see and hear her. Many of us women don’t feel seen or heard either.
So is this what she thought…
Maybe this new man will make me feel better about myself?
Do you put that kind of pressure on the people you are in relationship with? Your spouse? Children? Parents? Your best girlfriend?
A CONVERSATION
“Will you give me a drink?” John 4:7 NIV
There’s a man at the well that day. A man who shouldn’t have been there.
“Will you give me a drink?” He asks.
He shouldn’t have asked her for this favour either. Why?
She set him straight. She told the man exactly the situation between her tribe and his tribe. “We don’t mingle.” The history between the two nations had separated them with no reconciliation in sight. Jews and Samaritans were opposed to each other.
But this man talked to her – a lowly woman and a foreign enemy. And so, a conversation began between her and Jesus over something as basic as a cup of water.
She led the conversation away from herself every time he brought up something uncomfortable. Now, that’s something I do when conversations get too intimate. I’m a private person so I don’t like everybody knowing everything about me. Now, hasn’t God put me in an interesting position – I’m writing books revealing the goriest details of my life and, me being so private.
He will use the weakest…
After she skirted the issue of the five husbands and her sinful life of living with a sixth, Jesus says to her that he is what she is looking for.
“…but if anyone drinks the living water I give them, they will never be thirsty again.” John 4:13 & 14 tPt
When Jesus said this to her, He revealed for the first time that He is the Messiah everyone had been waiting for. Even more, He revealed to her He was her very own personal Messiah. He was standing in front of her, tired and thirsty, speaking with her, and drinking water. His message was even more profound than I’ve believed for in the past. He was making Himself real to her.
He wasn’t a highfaluting, religious type looking down upon her with judgement and loathing. No, no, no! He was standing right there in front of her with dusty feet and a sweaty brow announcing He is the Messiah that everyone is waiting for and more importantly:
“… I am the One you’re looking for.” John 4:26 tPt
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
She believed in Jesus and with such deep delight that she left her water jug behind and ran into the village to tell everyone about Him. She became the first person – an outcast woman – to spread the news that The Messiah had come. Her countenance had changed so dramatically that the villagers ran to the well to see for themselves. Now, after seeing her changed, they gave her the time of day, when previously they couldn’t stand the sight of her. What a miracle she was! Many villagers believed in Him that day and began to follow Him. They convinced Him to stay for two more days and many more became followers. It seems to me she was the first person to win a whole city (Sychar) to Christ.
Can you believe it is possible to be loved by Jesus? Because He is real and Available to you right now.
I am living water. Drink of me. I’ll take away your thirst forever. No longer will you need to look to others to give you what they can’t give you. They were never meant to give you the love that I give to you – they simply can’t do it. With my love, you’ll never be thirsty again.
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