EVERY NOW AND THEN, I read something that totally changes me.
Today is an “EVERY NOW AND THEN” kind of day!
I'm reading about a Samaritan woman who after coming to Jacob’s well discovered, Jesus, the Son of God.
Jesus, knowing who she was,
and, all that she had done...
Saw her.
All. Of. Her.
Head. To. Toe.
Inside. Out.
Because...you see, Friend: THE TRUTH sees the TRUTH.
Jesus, the TRUTH, saw the truthful value of an overlooked, avoided, pushed-by-the-wayside, woman. And, from heaven's perspective, she was worth waiting for.
And, so are you!
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “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.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our Father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
“I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
Then, leaving her jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah? They came out of the town and made their way toward him. _John 4:7-29
Perhaps you woke up feeling devalued, disrespected, or unacknowledged. If so, I want to remind you:
You are a woman valued by God.
You are a woman worth waiting for.
God wants you to see your value through the truth of the gospel.
The truth of the gospel is the only power capable of transforming minds, hearts, nations, and political agendas. And, the truth of the gospel lives inside of women who choose to place their faith in Christ. Imagine the transformation that would take place in the world around us if we realized the power waiting for us to come.
My well?
My little kitchen coffee area.
The place where I push aside the madness of living to bring my depleted self into His life-giving truth. My spirit relishes in the discovery of truth about whose I am and i find myself letting go of my concern about who I am. My conversations with the Truth-giver, Jesus, are sweet, and honest, and sometimes stretching to the limits. Pushing away my old ideas and false truths, I find myself embracing the Spirit's whispers of a truth i know is real. A truth I trust and choose to live by.
In moments like these, Jesus washes away my sinful nature with His powerful, truth-filled presence. And, oh how I need his truth when lies pursue!
Because, sometimes, watching the news leaves me feeling the weight of uncontrollable pain caused to others because of evil in the world in which we are living. And, i find myself sensing my need, our need, for a spirit of truth infusion. A life-giving, full to the brim, streams of living water kind of infusion where Jesus invites us to be filled with all that He is.
Perhaps you thought Jesus would turn away from a girl like you?
Not a chance, Dear-Heart!
He sees all that you are becoming. As you snuggle into conversations with Jesus, he will reveal how far you've come, from where you've been, and show you how he's been there all along. Reshaping your willing heart into a story that will be the voice of reason for someone else, soon!
Throughout history, women have been transformed by the truth of the gospel and have become the voice of reason, the strong posts for others to lean against when life was hard. It was a woman who found the tomb empty, and it was a woman who shared the first exciting news of the resurrection day. And, it was a sinful, adulterous woman Jesus spoke truth and love into at the well who would run to share the good news of the gospel with the other Samaritans as the first evangelist, saying:
“he told me everything I ever did.”
Because of one willing woman, whose life was transformed by TRUTH, many Samaritans came to faith in Christ.
How I love God's heart for transforming broken, sinful women into faith-filled powerhouses, in two seconds flat! Through the virtuous acts of willing women who pleased God greatly, He placed stories, like this, as part of the actual body of the inspired text of the Bible. And, Jesus loves talking to women like me, and you, including us in continuing the story of the gospel, still today!
One truth-filled woman (me), and one truth-filled woman (you), can change households, communities, churches, and nations. Let's go to the well, for daily truth in love. Let's go, courageously! Just as we are!
Jesus:
At. All. Times.
In. All. Places.
With Truth, in love, for Everyone!
Jesus:
Lie remover
Thirst quencher
Truth filler
The Gospel personified
LaTan
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To read more about the Samaritan woman, read Chapter 7 in my recent book: Courageous Women of The Bible, Leaving Behind Fear and Insecurity For A Life of Confidence and Freedom
https://www.amazon.com/Courageous-Women-Bible-Insecurity-Confidence/dp/0764230522