Living Water

My family is one of millions impacted by Hurricane Matthew this past week. Although we may have a tree through our house, a cracked chimney, more trees down than we can count and the lingering effects of power and water outage for 5 days, we are safe, provided for and loved. We have a cloud of witnesses that have reached out and cared for our children, washed our clothes, fed us, housed us, removed trees from our house and greenhouse and roads. We are thankful! We have also seen how hard the men and women in our communities work to rebuild and restore. In the midst and aftermath of storms, we are able to focus and see how God reveals his grace and mercy without end... daily.  His grace and goodness surrounds me and is surrounding those who are suffering in almost unimaginable and far greater ways. For those who are hurting and perishing, we pray. 

As I try to wrap my brain around the last few days, I constantly come back to WATER. It is probably safe to say that the loss of electricity, modern conveniences and darkness is quite challenging to my normal routine; however, nothing impacted me as greatly as the loss of water. Forget the shower, I just wanted to wash my hands and flush the potty.  I became the great water hoarder, and scavaged for water bottles and buckets and ways to refill them constantly. A family of 6 with 4 pets consumes a lot of water! I remembered my Daddy always having bottles saved at the back of our shelter for a "storm" and wished I had listened to his warnings. My filled bathtubs were just not cutting it. My panic, anxiety and nervousness of living without water was alarming to me. I had moments of extreme restlessness that what my family needed more than anything was not available and out of my control. I thought of Hagar in the wilderness with her son Ishmael, crying because they would die without water.  To say I desired, yearned, or longed for water to flow out of my faucets is an understatement.

In the midst of my search for water, I kept thinking of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Jesus told her the water that she drew from the well that day would not satisfy her. He said, 

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the 

water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become 

in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Every time I told myself the water would be back on in a few days and everything will be fine, God reminded me I would be thirsty again. I would ache again. I would panic again. My physical body will always search and long for flowing water. I drink. I thirst. I drink again. I thirst again.  But Jesus tells me the searching and longing in my soul, the needs within the deepest parts of who I am can be quenched. In Isaiah 55:1-3, the prophet says, "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come and buy and eat."  He tells me to come and my thirst will satisfied.  The psalmist in Psalm 63 states, 

"You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; 

I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, 

in a dry and parched land where there is no water."

If we truly understood who God is, his love, his goodness, his faithfulness, his forgiveness, his GRACE, we would earnestly seek him with our whole beings as though we were searching for water in a dry and parched land.  What holds us back from seeking God wholeheartedly? Only through Christ can we be satisfied. We will only find contentment and peace in this fallen world through Him. Without the promises of God and understanding his character from Scripture, how could I ever make sense of massive destruction and death caused by a hurricane? 

 Because of the damage from my not-friend Matthew, it seems I will be able to remodel my living room. It will be great when its finished. I will be happy and satisfied, but it won't be long before I will want more. I know myself too well. I am never really satisfied. For many reasons, I always want MORE ....when I should want MORE of GOD.  I am praying that my thirst for him will grow stronger and more fervent each day. I want to ache for Him as I do physical water. 

Jesus told the woman at the well, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you LIVING WATER."  Living water brings peace beyond human understanding. Living water brings Life! Life to the fullest-Life that is everlasting- Life that goes beyond the surface-Life that overflows and springs forth the goodness of God into our life and the lives of others. The gift of God is there for all of us. Take and Drink.