I am pleased to feature an extract from Tracy Williamson‘s soon-to-be-released devotional, “A Desert Transformed“, on my blog today. Tracy is one part of MBM ministries with Marilyn Baker.
This poem is part of Day 3’s Devotional on the woman at the well with Jesus (John 4:7, 27-28):
Please could you give me a drink?
Won’t you look into my face?
Let down your guard of distance,Look child, my beloved one,
Can you not see, I thirst.
I thirst for love of you.
You know your own pain
And shield your face from me,
Lest you be hurt yet again.
I gaze on you, see your heartache,
The scars that hurt you deep within, And my heart aches with love for you.
But child, will you not look
And see how, in my own scars,
I bear your every wound, every sin?Child, I love you,
Will you not come give me a drink?“What drink can I give you?”
I hear you cry.
Do you not know, child?
I thirst for you, for your love,
For you to be with me
As I love to be with you.
I thirst to share my heart with you, For you to share yours with me. To open wide the door of wonder
In your heart, mind and soul.
Child, it is I, who stands at that door,
Yes, I who speak to you am He.
And I long to be with you,
And for you to be with me.
I see a dawning of hope in your eyes
But then you cry “But what can I give you?
I am empty, my love is so small.
I’ve failed and I don’t know how to be.”
I reach out my arms to you,
Child, I know, I know all.
Give me the drink of your very emptiness
And I will give you my streams of love,
Love welling up to eternity.
I gaze at you with all the longing of my heart, as you will see I am the answer
To all the longing of yours.
Child, beloved one, will you give me a drink?
And with a joy that bursts from my very core
I see you come and sit at my knee
And there you offer your drink to me.
Whilst on Retreat at Ffald-y-Brenin, nearly 2 years ago, I came across an open spring on the path I was walking, and God reminded me of John 4:11,13-14 (The Bible, NLT):
Jesus replied, “If only you knew the gift God had for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me and I would give you living water,”…..”Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give them will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
To see a visual of this passage really brought home to me my need to be constantly filled with this Living Water, God’s Holy Spirit, at a time when I was spiritually feeling really depleted. Tracy’s poem nudges me to look to Him again for all I need, whether feeling exhausted and in the desert or fully of energy and hopeful of the way ahead.
Have you asked God for His Living Water today, for whatever circumstances you find yourself in? Why not spend a few minutes now inviting Him to be your source, equipping you for the path ahead, receiving whatever He wants to give you now?
Mental Health Awareness Trainer and Blogger 