“Lord, I feel like a wash cloth that has been soaked in vinegar and wrung out and twisted in an attempt to dry me completely and after being wrung out, I feel like I’ve been tossed to the side to dry up stiff as a board.”
This was my journal entry recently. My first words in my prayer journal weren’t “thank you” or “forgive me” or I love you” but, a complaint…honestly, that’s all I felt I had to offer at that time.
Life is sometimes hard. Just. Hard.
Although scripture says “do not be anxious about anything…” that’s sometimes always (at least for me lol) easier said than done, can I get an “Amen”?!
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters…”
Isaiah 55:1a
He is our source of hydration and He calls us to drink up.
As I was digging in to scripture for some encouragement and help with this dry, crusty, stiff, depleted body (and mind) of mine, I found just what I needed.
Hydration.
“The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.”
Isaiah 58:11
Following Him leads to satisfaction, strength and healthy growth.
Maybe I had not tapped into the source of this strength as I knew I should be doing. Perhaps I’d let anxiety and worry overtake my mind so much that I’d left no room for even a small stream to flow through and offer me a cupped hand full of fresh water.
I was allowing my thoughts and these hard things in life to crowd out the only nourishment I needed.
Like throwing dirt onto the slightest trickle of water, I was creating a barrier between myself and my only hope during this time of hurt and heartache. I was letting my circumstances and thought life stand between me and a gushing, continuous flow of living water.
Have you ever let life just pick you up and toss you around? Ever let your circumstances push you here and there…even the good ones?
A deadline at work or school
An event that needs planning
A drive towards success that pushes you somewhere you shouldn’t be
Pressure you place on yourself that you shouldn’t
Burdens you sincerely carry for others that overwhelm you
What’s overtaking you now, drying you up, sucking the moisture out of your mind, body and soul?
There’s a story in John chapter 4 that is told. A woman goes to the well to draw water for her family and encounters Jesus there. She is drawing tangible water from below to quench her thirst, but Jesus offers a different kind of refreshment. If ingested, it creates a never ending source of water for her.
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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.”
John 4:13-14
Inviting Jesus Christ into our lives creates a continual flow of refreshing hydration even beyond our earthly existence.
Although I felt a little guilty that I had let myself get so dry…so wrung out…I was encouraged when I read the scriptures. God is so full of grace, He wasn’t interested in laying a guilt trip on me, He was interested in rehydrating me. In pointing me back to His direction. In reminding me of the resource that I have inside of my own spirit. I sensed that He was eager to dip me back into the living waters that only He can offer. These waters don’t offer temporary relief or refreshment. They are permanent. Eternal.
17 “For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7
Even if we feel we’ve lost touch with the living water, He is waiting to lead us back to it.
They say when we are down, or struggling with our own circumstances, one of the best ways to get out of that funk is to go and be a blessing to someone else.
I think it’s so easy to get caught up in ourselves that we can lose sight of those around us who may need us. Or, it can cause us to simply forget how it feels when someone encourages us. Everyone can use a pat on the back or an uplifting word.
Maybe it’s not that, maybe it’s preparing a meal for someone or baking a cake and delivering it over. Buy someone a meal. Surprise a friend with their favorite coffee (DD small, cream & sugar with a vanilla swirl would be my suggestion, if you’re clueless about that sorta thing!). Put a note on someone’s windshield at school, at work, or even at home.
I read a book years ago called “Splash the Living Water”. It was a call to take the streams of living water that live inside of believers and share!
Our stream will never dry up, it is eternal, and it continually flows. Not my words, but His.
Ever felt like a worn, wrung out rag that’s dried out stiff? We don’t have to wait on someone to throw us in the wash. We have the resource inside of us to rehydrate. To become so soaked that we are literally dripping with a water that refreshes and quenches thirst in a way that tangible streams never can.
Let’s don’t be selfish with that. If you’re dry, tap into the scriptures, remind yourself what God has placed inside of you if you are a believer. Once you’re rehydrated, go and bless someone else.
You will come back to life…you will feel refreshed…you will witness what it’s like to offer someone who is parched a glass of cold water. You never know who is dry on the inside.
Go…splash!!
Simple Faith 