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Quiet Time
by Kasia Kedzia
I have been brought back to the well this past week. One of my favorite passages in John has always been the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4. Most people are more than familiar with this story but often I feel like we don’t live it out. I am faced with choices every day- the choice to chose the living water vs. the well water. Many times I can go back to the well instead of going to Jesus to the living water.
10Jesus 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."
Not only does Jesus offer us an alternate choice to our small one, he encourages us to desire. He fans the flames and asks me about what I want. At the well he skipped the superficial conversation and addressed this woman on a heart level. He addressed her desires.
15The 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."
16He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back."
17"I have no husband," she replied.
18Jesus 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."
28Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29"Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ F30 ?"
God exposed her deepest desire and practically dared her to ask for the real thing. Paula Rinehart, author of Strong Women Soft Heart, wrote, “She didn’t have to settle for the kind of water, the love of men, that would always evaporate and leave her more thirsty. Unless Christ exposed her desire, she would never find him.” (p22)
I think I have always desired certain things for my career and personal life but was afraid to voice them and if I was faced with the desires I didn't know how to handle them. I see how in many situations I simply return to my well for strength or try to reason from my source of understanding instead of going back to the living water.
As I look back on my journey this past few months I see victories and losses. I can see how things did not work out how I envisioned them (this not always being a bad thing). Yet in a way, some of these experiences left me a bit shell shocked and returning a bit afraid to dream and desire anything as a result of seeing how easily I could warp my desires. It was really sobering to read this passage of scripture from this perspective as it restored my courage to dream and desire again in a Godly way.
John Eldredge wrote, “Do you ever see Jesus accusing someone of wanting too much?” and the answer is of course NO! As I return home I am learning to dream and desire again, in a healthy way as I regain my perspective on who it is that calls me to desire.
Ish55:2,3 (NLT) …I will give you all the mercies and unfailing love that I promised David.
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Since those first days, I have made it out of the Projects, finished my Masters degree in International Development, and moved to DC to work in my field. As a young single Christian woman my struggles today are a little different than they were when I first came to know God, but who am I kidding, not much. It's the every day battle for my heart to be pure before God, to strive to please him, and help others to seek and know Him.
Over my years of a faithful walk with God I have received much grace and compassion and have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams. Through out it all one thing has stayed consistent: God's word. Through His word I have been inspired and it has kept me faithful even when faith seemed like a foreign concept and God seemed deaf to my prayers. I started emailing my Quiet Times which helped me stay accountable as I shared my struggles and fought for understanding. Some wrote back and said they too were inspired and could relate. I hope some of my times can help inspire others who are seeking and fighting just like I am, to get to heaven and take as many as possible with me along the way.
Like what your read? Check out my blog: http://stronggirlforlife.wordpress.com/
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