Have you ever been thirsty?  So thirsty that your mouth starts to dry out and you can’t think of anything else but water?  Ice, cold, refreshing water…and lot’s of it?

I’ve been thirsty before when I’ve forgotten to bring my water to the gym, or gone shopping without taking my water bottle along…but with all of those times I could simply find a drinking fountain and remedy the situation fast.  But there was a time like no other when I felt I would DIE without water…okay, a little exaggerating, but seriously, I was THIRSTY!!

It was during the labor and delivery of our first daughter.  While my precious husband was busy with things like telling me to breathe, to push, cutting an umbilical cord, and taking care of our soon to be born baby girl…my sweet mom was there in the room to basically take care of HER baby…me!  🙂  She was the one who stood by my head feeding me ice chips the whole time…an important job for sure!  I just couldn’t get enough!  “More, Mom!  I need MORE!!  Don’t even stop…just keep ’em coming!”

Finally, our daughter was born!  She was out!!   She was alive and healthy.  She was perfect in every way!  But, instantly, my head whipped back to my mom and I said two words to her with incredible clarity and intensity, so as not to be misunderstood in any way… “ICE CHIPS!”  (I think she thought I was going to say something about being a mom, or my beautiful daughter…but, I wanted to be alive to enjoy motherhood, right?).  Thirst.  It makes people crazy.

And the ice chips came.  🙂

Jesus meets a woman (in John 4) who has many “issues”.  She has a past and isn’t doing great in her personal life…at all.  She’s had five husbands, and the current one isn’t even hers!  She comes to the well to get water, and she meets Jesus there.  He asks her for a drink.  She feels ashamed of who she is, (he’s a Jew and she’s a Samaritan…and in those days, they did not get along very well), but Jesus doesn’t care about that…He looks at the heart!  So, He talks to her anyway.  LOVE that about Him!!

He tells her about the living water He can offer her.  He says to her, “Everyone who drinks this water (meaning the well water) will get thirsty again and again.  Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst…not ever.  The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”  Jesus knew she was going to be there.  He saw a “thirsty” woman, who needed grace, forgiveness, acceptance and love.  So He offered it to her.  And she accepted it.  Can you hear the cheering in Heaven?  If I had been there then, I totally would have been bawling my eyes out!!!  Cheering too!! 🙂

Jesus is the ONLY ONE who can quench our thirst.  There it is.  He’s like an abundance of refreshing, cool water in a barren, sun-scorched desert… when we are so weary and barely hanging on.  I’ve been in that desert.  He alone satisfies the longing soul. When we come to Him, he is not out to punish us, as some may think.  His desire is to LOVE us…in it’s most purest, truest, form.  All we need to do is ask for His water… 🙂

Our spirits going from dry thirsty desert, to thirst-quenching springs of water.  Never “thirsting” again. It’s all about Jesus.