Life looked so different then from now…
My mom was alive.
I didn’t have teenagers.
We were in a lazy river!!
I was happy
This picture was taken right around this time six years ago. Little did I know in just a few short months my mom would pass and my world would be turned upside down.
I lost that happiness. I found myself in a lonely dark and depressing place with no one to turn to and no plan for escape. I lost life. Just as quickly as I took this picture and posted it, I lost the joy that it represented. The waves begin to engulf me and I felt myself fading away. Yet, in that moment of weakness I truly felt His strength. The breath of life came and held my head above water. Slowly but surely He restored every part of me that was damaged by the pain and sorrow. And, He taught me to treasure memories but find happiness in Him alone.
I see others wandering in the desert sometimes looking for relief and I want to swoop in and rescue them. I want to tell them of the one that quenched my thirst and how He can do the same for them too. But then I remember my own story and how it wasn’t a matter of needing to know God. It was a matter of total reliance. Someone telling about Him would not have changed anything because I already knew. I needed Him… completely. In John 4:14, Jesus says He gives water that becomes a spring so one will never thirst again. Sometimes as a Christ-follower I forget my limitations. I think I am the way by sharing the truth and doing life with others. I think if I speak up enough, pray enough or even be there enough that I can quench their thirst for something more. Yet, had someone tried to do this for me, God would have lost that chance. As hard as it can be to see someone suffering, sometimes you just have to let them go thirsty in order to allow Jesus to step in and provide water from the living well.
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