Most of us have heard about the woman at the well. There is so very much to unpack in that small section of the Bible and there are mountains worth of truth in every verse.
The Lord has place those scriptures on my heart for what seems like a very long time. Diving deeper every time I read it. Every time I meditate on it. Even waking me up from my sleep with new revelation from those scriptures.
That’s where I want to start.
I was speaking with a group of people on a zoom recently, let’s start there. Let me explain the scene.
While we were in this zoom meeting my family and I had been living and working from our trailer while we had an extended stay at a local lake. We like to work with the crashing waves in the background and my husband is nice enough to commute straight from the lake.
Our trailer isn’t big and fancy like some. In fact it is an older trailer that my husband and I have remodeled over the last few years. We have one big open space that is the living room, dining room, kitchen and where our kiddos sleep on portable bunkbeds.
This particular morning was rather windy at the lake so I took shelter during our computer meet up at the table in our trailer. Half of my background was our where couch is situated, it was previously cleaned and fluffed with our “Beyond Blessed” pillow perfectly in place had our cute pictures hanging on the wall, and a cuddle blanket neatly thrown over the side of the couch. creating a nice backdrop from my table temporarily turned desk.
On the other half of the screen was our children’s disheveled portable bunkbeds. With pillows and blankets piled up and stuffed animals hanging over the sides of the bed ready to fall to the floor at a moment's notice. Not organized nicely. Not picture perfect. Messy.
During my zoom meeting I found myself constantly consciously and unconsciously leaning toward the right side of my computer screen trying to cover up the mess of the disheveled bunkbeds while displaying the left side background of the cute couch and photos. I was so busy trying to hide the mess, worried what others might think, that I never could get to far away from it for fear it would then be seen on the screen.
It was then that Holy Spirit began speaking to me. He reminded me of something He spoke to my spirit many years ago.
“When we water down our testimony, we water down our God.”
When we are focused on hiding our past, our mess, we can never move very far forward. We become so focused on obstructing the view of our past, trying to hide it, that we get stuck never able to take more than a few steps ahead. Sometimes we even take a few steps forward away from it and then step back. Because if we are not standing in front of it hiding it from people, who knows what people with think?
All the while the words "If they only knew what we did, said, were…" floating in our head.
Back when I received that word above my bubble burst.
It was almost as if Holy Spirit was saying to me "Sis, you ain’t special."
Don’t miss understand me. I am unique and divinely loved by a perfect Father. He calls me His Treasure. He was beaten, died, and rose again for me. I know that, I trust it and I live from it. AND… my situation is not unique. I am not the only person who has gone through hard times. I am not the only person who has had to deal with difficult situations, circumstances, consequences, and hurts. I am not the only person who has made terrible, damaging decisions.
I did not just magically appear in the position that I am in my life spiritually, physically, and emotionally. It is a result of a constant surrender and trust in what the Lord is doing in my life and the life of those that have gone before me that I learn from each and every day.
I am where I am at because I was willing to look at my mess and say, "I want something more. Lord will you help me?"
I am at where I am because those who have gone before me performing and receiving signs and miracles in their health, in their families, in their marriages. I am where I am at because of the testimonies of people that I know, people that I have seen, people that I have read about. I am at where I am at because if He could do it for them, He can do it for me.
That’s what I mean when I say if we water down our testimony, we water down our God. It does not mean that we control God. Far from it! It means when we try to hide our past, when we try to put those stained glass windows up around our life and make everything pretty and neat, we may be leaving those around us feeling hopeless and alone, not seeing a way out.
In John 4 we see that there is a Samaritan woman coming to Jacob’s well in the middle of the afternoon and it was there that she met Jesus. The scriptures go on to give us insight as to why the woman was going to draw water, a strenuous task, during the hottest part of the day. This woman had a past to hide from.
Jesus, of course, didn’t shy away. He met her right where she was. He didn’t tell her to "get her act together and then come talk to me." He didn’t say "you are too dirty" or "you're not good enough." He didn’t even define her by her past, but instead He told her who He was and invited her to worship Him!
John 4:28-30
All at once, the woman left her water jar and ran off to her village and told everyone, “Come and meet a man at the well who told me everything I’ve ever done! He could be the One we’ve been waiting for.” Hearing this, the people came streaming out of the village to go see Jesus.
Sis, let’s be woman who use our testimony to bring hope to the hopeless. Let’s step away from our past and into the healing future and Kingdom that God is calling us into. Let’s break that fear that has held us in captivity for so long, if they only knew…
Let’s extend that statement while we do that.
If they only knew…what God can do.
God is too big and too good for us to keep that to ourselves! There is a deeper healing in the openness. Step out. Step in. Trust.
Love you sis, really!
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