Let The Waters Flow

So here we are in the final weeks of my stay here in Africa. We have transitioned to our new location in Nsoko. The scenery is breath taking and the feeling here is so different, but i love it. Before we transitioned we had a few days of relaxation in South Africa where i was able to have my first real shower in 2 months (gross i know). Along with this, one particular night we had a time of worship. There were three men from south africa that came over to our hostel and just sang songs. During this time we were asked to use our creative side and draw, if we wanted to, what God was putting on our hearts. Now lets rewind a month or so. Our team did a exercise where we pray and draw or write what the Lord told us, then we drew names out of a cup and that is who we gave our paper too. It sounds crazy and that it would be super random who got what. But not with God. I’ve been hearing this reoccurring phrase ‘living water’ and even seeing it written a bunch of different places around Africa. One of my teammates started reading her paper that night and it was all about being living water and hydrating the rehydrated. I knew as she was reading it, it was for me. Then she pulled out of the cup and sure enough my name was pulled. Now fast forward to worship night at debrief. Like I said we were asked to draw and again God laid on my heart this idea of being the living water. So I had this image of a big heart, Christ’s heart, with a huge stream flowing out of it to the bottom and into me. Then the verse in John 7:38 that says “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me; anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare: rivers of living water will flow from his heart.” So as I’m drawing this this one man is just crazy speaking in different languages and he just starts prophesizing over the team and really looking at people and calling them out and declaring what god has made them to be and their talents. At first i was pretty skeptical as most people would be. That changed very quickly. We continued worshiping and singing and as we were singing he just starts speaking saying something like ‘I feel that there is this need to be living water, to flow from christ’s heart.’ Something along those lines, i cant really remember exactly what he said because i was so in shock. As he continue to speak not only did he reference that same verse from John but he began to use a metaphor that described the exact drawing i had drew 20 minutes earlier. Coincidence? I think not. As the song ended i had to interrupt and asked to share what just happened. I held up my picture and explained that i had drew this at the beginning of the night long before he spoke. All we could do was sit in awe and laugh and say, ‘wow, god is crazy and so good.’ Since that night i really have been focusing on this idea God has been laying on my heart. On that piece of paper my teammate gave me she referenced a devotion called My Utmost for His Highest. This is another crazy thing because that is the devotional book i use and let her borrow everyday and it is kind of like our thing we bond over, and she had referenced it in that paper without even knowing it would go to me- but then again God knew it would so why wouldn’t it fit perfectly right? But anyways this certain day in the devotional spoke about living water. It talked bout that dehydration can be deadly but it only takes a little bit of water and you are rehydrated. On my paper my teammate wrote; ” this water, you are FULL of it.” God has really been showing me that this living water John speaks about in the gospels, i have it. It is flowing through me straight from the source-God. And this water is life giving, rejuvenating, filling, vitalizing, and healing. This water that I have flowing through me is not to be kept within but to be poured out and into those around me who are tired and dehydrated. My devotional says that “a river reaches places which its source never knows.” And that is what we are called to do as Christians. God doesn’t ask us to pour into people to seek results and growth, he asks us simply just to pour out without knowing exactly where your waters reach. We are called to be fountains of living water. A place where people can come and be filled, restored, rejuvenated by christ’s love flowing through us. Water is a powerful source. When it finds a obstacle it can choose to go around it, but most of the time it pushes through and breaks loose. I want to be this water in the world. I want to be a fountain that breaks through barriers and finds a ways to bring water to the other side. God’s love and grace is continuously being poured into us each and everyday, so why would we not be a continuous stream bringing these waters to other people. WE are the living water. We have it, this living water is within each and everyone of us, all we have to do is let if flow. When we acknowledge this water God has poured into us, and when we are willing to be people who flow and spread this water, the world is going to look a lot different- its going to be hydrated. We have the power to hydrate the world to bring life to dry and thirsty souls, all we have to do is flow. So….let the waters flow. AMEN 🙂