Be Thirsty! Be Satisfied!

Here is a beautiful truth expressed wonderfully by John Piper. Please be encouraged.

"God is a mountain spring, not a watering trough. A mountain spring is self-replenishing. It constantly overflows and supplies others. But a watering trough needs to be filled with a pump or bucket brigade.

If you want to glorify the worth of a watering trough you work hard to keep it full and useful. But if you want to glorify the worth of a spring you do it by getting down on your hands and knees and drinking to your heart’s satisfaction until you have the refreshment and strength to go back down in the valley and tell people what you’ve found.

My hope as a desperate sinner hangs on this biblical truth: that God is the kind of God who will be pleased with the one thing I have to offer — my thirst. That is why the sovereign freedom and self-sufficiency of God are so precious to me: they are the foundation of my hope that God is delighted not by the resourcefulness of bucket brigades, but by the bending down of broken sinners to drink at the fountain of grace."

But what I've found, as I am sure you have too, is that though I am satisfied when I drink, it isn't long before I am thirsty again. So, I come to drink, again and again.

Jesus said that if we embrace Him, He will be a spring of living water and we will never thirst again, which is true. We will have discovered what quenches our thirst - the thirst that made us run after a thousand watering troughs that we found empty and stagnant and that could not come close to satisfying our thirst. 

Now, we no longer thirst like that. We know the One Who satisfies. Yet we remain thirsty for Him, so we drink Him in over and over. We must, for we live in a lowly, barren land. But now we know where that Mountain Spring is and have become springs of water ourselves - Christ overflowing through us - to those around us who are still so desperately thirsty.

"...whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Be Thirsty! Be Satisfied!

on June 16, 2013 1 comments

A Ballad of the Soul

This poem tells the story of a bit of digging that the Lord did in my soul recently. First, a brief history. It is important but should also bring a bit of a smile to your face, as it did mine:

Some weeks ago, my dear husband and I were working in the yard together. I did not like an idea he had concerning an element that we were changing there. So what did I do? I defaulted to the flesh and criticized him. It was so unkind of me. 

Convicted of this immediately, I confessed it. But as I sat the next morning in prayer, the incident came back to my mind. I confessed it again, but what the Lord wanted was for me to see the depth of that "little" sin. So the digging began. 

He revealed that my harsh reaction indicated that the garden was way too important to me. My heart was still tied up with earthly things. Had this not been so, I would have responded kindly to Robert. After all, when things are not important to us, we have no problem letting go of them to prioritize what is eternal.

God opened my eyes to see that I had not yet counted all things loss as Paul had when he wrote in Philippians 3:8: Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ...

The word that Paul used for "rubbish" actually means "dung". I had not yet considered all things to be "dung" in comparison to knowing Jesus. And to show you how appropriate and timely it was for the Lord to convict me of this, I'll let you in on the fact that it was the compost bin that I criticized Robert about - the housing for the compost, which is just a pile, mostly of chicken dung (we keep chickens)! The Lord wanted me to count our garden dung as "dung" (as well as every other created thing) so that I would be freed up to have more intimacy with Christ, one result of which will be to display Him more authentically in my living. 

The Lord not only convicts us, but He does it in such creative ways! 

This Morning With the Lord in Prayer - 

A Ballad of the Soul

This morning with the Lord in prayer,

My soul was laid before Him there.

His tenderness brought to my mind

Some words I'd spoken - so unkind.

So I confessed my need for grace

And asked the Savior to replace

My harshness with His tender ways

So Christ would reign and Him be praised

With sin confessed, God then revealed

A problem that had been concealed

From my poor dull and careless heart.

"Please show me, Lord. Your light impart."

Then light He gave and to me showed

My treasure was still here below,

In this dark realm with things unworthy;

Not Christ above and His great mercy.

Just then Paul's words came to my head.

He yearned for Christ and this he said,

"The loss of all things I've sustained

So more of Christ will be my gain,"

On this I thought with new conviction.

And then I saw a ghastly vision - 

A life the opposite of Paul's:

No sacrifice for Christ at all!

No sacrifice for Him, I fear

Is not more earthly things revered,

But less of Christ and more of me...

If "things" I crave and to them cling. 

Oh dreadful thought, from me depart! 

Not more of my poor wandering heart.

No! Less of me, so often failing.

More of Christ, His grace availing.

More of Christ, my refuge here.

More of Christ, my heart to cheer. 

More of Jesus, precious friend;

More of Him to apprehend.

More of Christ, who loves the rebel;

Less of me, may I not wrestle

Against His grace so full and free.

Just give me Christ, my heart's one plea.

He is my joy, my strength, my song.

He paid my ransom. I belong

To Him, the One who loves my soul.

The Lamb, who died to make me whole.

If not for Jesus, life would be

Hopeless, heartless, dismal, bleak.

Sin would reign in days so grim.

My heart would follow every whim.

But give me Christ! His mind within;

And I will be much more like Him.

For He transforms my heart's desire.

His love is my consuming fire.

So let it all be sacrificed,

Since this will gain me more of Christ.

Yes, loss of all things, just like Paul;

My soul, with Jesus, be enthralled!

Yet this, my sacrifice is naught,

Compared to Christ's, with blood He bought

My forgiveness on the Cross.

Yes, it is nil, what I count loss.

So! Idols from my soul depart!

Please, more of Thee, Oh, Christ impart.

It's You I want, You are my life.

And death is gain, much more of Christ!

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

A Ballad of the Soul

on May 25, 2013 1 comments

The Living Water

The Story in Brief

This morning I read, again, the account of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well when she came to draw water (John 4:3-42). You know the story (if you don't, read it now). She was a Samaritan. The Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. They were the result of intermarriage between the Hebrew people and Gentiles. And now, centuries later, they were still considered impure, to put it mildly.

So hated were the Samaritans that normally Jews would not go through Samaria to get to Galilee. Though it was out of the way, they would go around Samaria to avoid these people, which made for a much longer trip. So it was unusual to see a Jew in Samaria.

But Jesus made a point of traveling through Samaria on His way to Galilee. He had an appointment there that only He knew about. So He and His disciples stopped on the outskirts of town by the well. The disciples left to go into town to find something to eat while Jesus remained at the well, waiting for the one He had come there to see.

Rembrandt's rendering of the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well.  

As He sat, wearied from the journey, a woman approached the well. It was late in the day to be drawing water, but because of her tarnished reputation, she avoided being there with other women from her city. Ashamed, she did not want to risk confrontation.

When she arrived at the well, Jesus asked her to give Him a drink. She was surprised that He spoke to her, Him being a Jew and a man at that. It was unheard of for Jews to speak to Samaritans, but it was even more unheard of for a man to speak to a woman publicly.

The conversation continued and Jesus revealed Himself to her as the long-awaited Messiah. They talked about worship, "living water" and her life. Well, Jesus talked about her life. She was surprised again when he laid out her biography to her, having never met her before. She had been married five times and now lived with a man that she was not married to. He knew everything about her. He knows everything about all of us. He is omniscient. There is nothing that He does not know.

After Jesus revealed Himself to her, she left Him to run into town to tell others that she had met the Messiah and she invited them all to come and see for themselves.

Then the woman left her water jar and went away to the town. And she began telling the people, "Come see a Man Who has told me everything I ever did! Must not this be the Messiah, the Anointed One?" (John 4:28-29)

An Odd Message

In proclaiming this message to the people of her village, this woman was basically saying, "Come see a man who knows what kind of woman I am, who knows how immoral I've been - five ruined marriages and now living with a man I am not married to. Come see this man who knows all about my lifestyle of sin and shame!"

This must have made the townspeople curious. For they immediately left everything they were doing and sprang up to go and see this man who had so graciously confronted her. She was so stunned by the Messiah: His gracious way of revealing His knowledge of her sad life and yet the LOVE He displayed toward her; His winsome heart for her; His offer of water that would satisfy eternally; and His claim to be the Messiah she had waited for. She was so taken aback, that she happily announced all of this to those who had previously shunned her for the very sins she was now openly admitting to. It's all so ironic and fascinating and even humorous.

Free, at Last!

She was not crushed that the Messiah knew all about her sin. She did not linger over her guilt, berating herself. She saw Jesus now. She knew in a moment that He loved her like no man ever had. Her eyes were on Him, not on her wasted life. She was not paralyzed in knowing that this compassionate man was completely aware of her deepest, darkest secrets. No!

Rather, she was repentant and joyful. She was humbled and honest. She was ecstatic that she had come face to face with such a Savior as Jesus - kind, offering hope, calling her to be His own, finally quenching her thirst, confronting her with the fact that He knows all about her sin, yet is so generous in grace that she did not feel destroyed. In fact, she was greatly enlivened, filled with wonder and jubilant of heart at the man and the message of hope that He had delivered to her open ears.

Changed in a Moment

She had now been changed in a moment by Jesus. She no longer had self-conceived ideas about God; but suddenly she knew and believed The Word of God made flesh. Transformed, she was no longer a rebel but had become the very worshiper Jesus had just told her that His Father was seeking. She would never again worship the Lord in a place - the mountain. Now worship sprung forth from her innermost being - in spirit and in truth.

Her motivation for living had turned from self-gratification to glorifying Christ. She was suddenly relating happily with the very people who had turned her away for what seemed like an eternity. In fact, without being told, she had begun a one-woman campaign of evangelism to these townsfolks. She witnessed to them of the Messiah.

She was brand new. She was joyful after having been downcast and derided by herself and others for as long as she could remember. She was free! A great burden had been removed from her. She was no longer thirsting for something elusive to her, working in vain for some created thing to quench her fierce longing. She was satisfied completely now in her Creator and Redeemer.

By drinking in the Living Water this woman had become a "spring of water welling up to eternal life"!

Who is Like You, Oh Lord?

Oh, who can do such wonders? Who else can quench the thirst of the sinner but the Living Water? Is it any mystery then why this woman so eagerly ran to the very people who had condemned her, to tell them of this wonderful and long-hoped-for Messiah?

After this, Jesus graciously stayed with these despised people. The result was that they came to love and embrace Him also. How could they not since He had revealed Himself to them? They told the woman, Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

My Longing and Prayer

Lord Jesus, You cannot be explained. I struggle to understand Your grace - it is so foreign to the human experience. Your love is nothing any of us mortals could ever have imagined on our own. Your mercy is beyond describing.

Thank You for coming to me and revealing Yourself to me, just as You did for this woman so harassed by her sin. You are precious, dear Savior. Oh thank You, Living Water, for quenching my thirsty soul.

Please show me more and more of Yourself day by day. I yearn to have more of You, to love You with a greater heart of love; to serve You with a passion that is fueled by that love. Only You can do this in me. I want to overflow with joy in You so that each day I am renewed by that joy (that only You can give). It is Your joy which so energizes me to do what pleases You, kind Lord - to do Your magnificent will and love You in return.

May it be so, Oh Lord, for this is Your will for me and I thank You.

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

The Living Water

on May 03, 2013 1 comments

Rising Above Food Wars

A question - "How do I keep the issue of personal food choices in godly perspective?"

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a young woman asking me how to avoid alienating people who choose not to eat a diet of whole foods. Here, in part, is her email to me:

"I wanted to know your thoughts about living a lifestyle of eating optimum whole foods and avoiding processed foods. I've been trying to refrain from telling people what I've learned from my research about nutrition, but sometimes the topic comes up amongst my peers. At times I get the impression from others that they think my hope is not fully in the Lord. I get offended by this."

"Isn't it considered a Christian liberty to have a lifestyle based on good nutrition principles? But even for me to mention anything about sprouted grains or pasteurization, people get sensitive and easily offended. I understand their sensitivity because I'm that way also."

"I don't want something like this to ruin my relationships with other believers, but at times I get to the point where I refrain from saying anything about what I know and have learned concerning nutrition. I want to avoid others feeling uncomfortable."

"What are your thoughts?"

My response:
Self-Examination - Am I judging others?

Eating very conscientiously is important to me also. It is a liberty that no one should judge you about. Yet it happens. But nutrition is also something that I personally never talk about unless someone asks me about it. In fact, I most often take a very light-hearted approach if the subject happens to come up and joke about it to ease the other person's discomfort.

I blog about my food choices and post recipes that are healthy, but I would not post on Facebook (or other social networks) about this topic. Anyone of my friends from church can read that and people just do not understand how such food choices could make a difference. They tend to become defensive and often offended. I used to be the same way.

It's important to me that I make no one feel like I am judging them based on their food choices. I just don't take it so seriously in front of others that they feel an intensity from me, like it's all-important, though it is. That is what I am more concerned about rather than others judging me.

Prioritize - unity, love, ministry and Christ's glory are crucial

There should be freedom for any woman to come to me for counsel (regarding any topic) or fellowship, so I don't want food standing in the way of that. I don't want anyone feeling intimidated by my food choices. Loving others has to be first. My food choices are hidden behind my love for others, so to speak.

It is important what we eat, but unity is more important. The unity of the church has everything to do with Christ's glory, the gospel message and eternity. Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).

"All people" - both in and out of the church - "will know that you are my disciples". If we, as the body of Christ, are constantly bickering over disputable matters (see note below)  like food, to outsiders we will look just like the world. As a result, the gospel message will be invalidated.

And inside the church, Christ will not be glorified either. Paul tells us in Romans 12:9a-10, "Let love be genuine...Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor."

In Philippians, Paul tells us to be of the same mind and same love. "Do nothing from rivalry...but in humility count others more important than yourselves" (Philippians 2:2-3). And of course, we all know the wonderful description of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. The church thrives when the love of Christ is the core motivation for all we do.

Understand that food choices are important for health but insignificant spiritually speaking

Consequently, I will not say a word about any food that is in front of me at church potlucks or when we are invited to someone's home. I eat everything I can get away with at those times. Yet, I will not eat anything that I know will cause me to be ill; however, I would never draw the host's or hostesses' attention to that food as an unhealthy choice.

There was a time when I could hardly crawl out of bed and ministry was impossible. But when I began eating whole foods my health greatly improved. For me to now intentionally eat foods that put me back in bed would be sin unless I had absolutely no other choice. People can ask if they'd like and I'd be happy to tell them that in whatever I do, even in what I eat or drink, I will do all for the glory of God (First Corinthians 10:31), both in showing love by not judging others and in not eating foods that keep me from ministering to others.

Though I am better off physically, however, regarding my food choices, I will never be better off spiritually speaking. Again the apostle Paul puts it well, "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do" (First Corinthians 8:8). God does not hand out spiritual "kudos" for the types of food we choose to eat.

Respond in the opposite Spirit

As for those people who think I look down on them because of the way I eat as opposed to the way they eat, I yearn that they would know how insignificant this important part of my life is compared to my love for them. Could they see my heart, they would drop all their defenses and just enjoy the fellowship we have in Christ.

One person, in particular, asks me on a regular basis why I won't eat sweets at church functions. I tell that person, "Because I like to sleep at night". I'm also asked by this dear saint why I would ever get sick (presently) if I eat such a healthy diet.

First off, in answering these questions, I don't get offended. I love this person, so I respond in the opposite spirit. In a light-hearted way, laughing, I say, "If you think I get sick often now, you should have seen me seven years ago." I don't lecture about why sprouted grains are a better choice for me than whole or refined grains. I don't discourse on why raw milk has helped me, etc. I just answer that I can now function and minister when I couldn't seven years ago and laugh when I say it.

When another saint was critical, I invited that family over for dinner and fed them the most delicious meal I could that was organic and locally grown, etc. Their taste buds were delighted and surprised I think, but the topic never came up in our conversation. We just had such a great time and the subject of food has ceased to be an issue. In fact, that family's love for us has grown and there is absolutely no tension regarding this subject now.

Never harbor a hidden agenda

It is also of the greatest importance that you not have a hidden agenda in your relationship to others. Are you ministering with the thought that you might be able to influence others as they get to see how loving you are? God forbid it! Love then takes a back seat to your agenda and Christ will not be honored, nor will you in the long run.

If it should happen that the ones you minister to ask you for information regarding nutrition, let it not be because you had an agenda, but because you didn't. Your agenda must be love alone or it's not love at all.

Pray about all of this

Ask God to give you the ability to let any judgmentalism just roll off your back like water off a duck's back. Ask Him to give you an intense love for the saints, even especially for those who judge you. Make it a reason to love them all the more.

This is also something you can pray for - that your love would far exceed any important lifestyle choice to the point that you felt that choice was totally insignificant compared to your love for others. Your food choices are important, but compared to your love for others, your relationship to that choice should feel like hatred.

Keep a God-honoring attitude and eat for health
It's really all about your attitude. Love always wins the day as does humility. Consistently take the low road and think of others as better than yourself, especially those who are critical.

Keep up the good work of feeding your family in a way that produces the best health. God will never fault you for that. But He will fault you when food's importance exceeds your love for others, though He will not require that you eat differently, just that you think differently - for His glory.

How have you shown love to those who are critical of you regarding your food choices (or other "disputable matters")? How have you, as a guest in another's home, lovingly opted out of eating foods that are detrimental to your health?

Note: "Disputable matters" are matters that are not essential to the Christian faith. We are not defined as Christians by such matters, nor do such matters make any difference in one's standing before God. As the apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians 8:8, "Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off (spiritually speaking) if we do not eat and no better off (spiritually speaking) it we do." (Parenthesis added are mine.)

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Rising Above Food Wars

on July 24, 2011 1 comments

Mother's Day and Other Days

Though this poem really should have been posted for Mother's Day, I figure that for those of us who are mothers, we're mothers every day of the year and so we need encouragement every day of the year as well as on our special day in May.


I found this poem in a little book about mothers when Robert and I went away for our anniversary last December and stayed in a very nice vacation house located in the midst of grape vineyards and cow pastures. We had a wonderful time. Finding this poem was just one of the little jewels that made the trip so special.

The one thing that stands out to me about the author of this poem, is that he obviously had a mother who prayed for him.

Here is Mothers and Others by Amos R. Wells:

Mothers and Others

Others weary of the noise,

Mothers play with girls and boys.

Others scold because we fell,

Mothers "kiss and make it well".

Other work with patient will,

Mothers labor later still.

Others' love is more or less,

Mothers love with steadiness.

Others pardon, hating yet,

Mothers pardon and forget.

Others keep the ancient score,

Mothers never close the door.

Others grow incredulous,

Mothers still believe in us.

Others throw their faith away,

Mothers pray and pray and pray. 

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

Mother's Day and Other Days

on May 24, 2011 0 comments

The Terrible Thirst of Depression

First, My Hesitancy

Depression is not only a dessert-tsunami of the soul that seems to sweep away everything good in one's life, it also carries such a stigma that, even after being resolved, it inflicts a great deal of shame upon its victim. For that reason, I have to admit that I've been hesitant about publishing this post.

We tend to keep depression hidden even from ourselves. It's uncomfortable to talk about or even admit, especially for a Christian. When I finally opened up, it was remotely, through a blog I contribute to once a month. So though this post was first published on Keeper of the Home back in January of this year, I have been tentative about putting it on my own blog. Many of the women who read this blog are from my own church and I've wondered how it would be taken. Fears about what they would think crop up and I shrink back.

However, what I'm beginning to realize is that every time I get up the nerve to share this story with women I'm close to, I see tears welling in their eyes and hear them say things like, "Sharon, you're describing my life."

So I'm putting myself out there. I pray that God can use the period of depression He allowed in my life to edify, minister to and encourage other women.

Here's my story...

An Unquenchable Thirst

Some months back, in a conversation over lunch, a younger woman (mid-thirties) confided to me how severely depressed she had been. I empathized with her, "I know what that feels like. I was depressed, until recently, for about four years." This woman - I'll call her Liz - responded, "YOU!? I never would have guessed it!"

She and many others never knew because I had covered it up. You know, Christians are not supposed to get depressed. As an older woman and leader among the women in my church, I was ashamed that such a thing could happen to me. I just kept smiling and saying things were fine. I wouldn't even admit the depression to myself, thinking of it, instead as "a time in the wilderness".

Like so many, I had experienced the terrible, unquenchable thirst of depression. I thirsted for God, but at the same time I wanted nothing to do with Him; I thirsted for joy, for the tears of sorrow that just wouldn’t come, for life, for death, for isolation, for comfort, for cleansing, for hope, for complacency, for passion, for sanity, for any kind of escape from the numbing prison of desolation I felt.

My friend, Liz, asked me, "How did you get better? Please tell me everything." The following is what I related to her and now to you, dear reader.

An Attempt to Resolve the Depression Through Diet, Sleep, Supplements, etc.

When I first began to realize that my melancholy wasn’t just a slump that would pass, I tried to treat it by adjusting my lifestyle. I recommitted to eating an optimum diet and faithfully took my supplements, which included, cod liver oil, vitamins D3, E, C, CO-Q10, magnesium and a once daily multi - all of which were high-quality pharmaceutical grade.

Sleep evaded me. Falling asleep was no problem. Staying asleep was, waking by 1 AM. I made changes to my schedule, consumed no caffeine, made sensible adjustments to the times we ate meals, etc., and of course consistently asked God to allow me to sleep. But it was not to be.

By dinnertime I was dead on my feet, "Surely", I would think, "I'll crash and sleep well tonight". But that was never the case. And taking a nap was an exercise in futility.

I read good books such as Tired of Being Tired implementing the suggestions for depression. But this approach was of no avail. Though I maintained the changes, I knew there was something deeper going on.

Thirsting For a Silent God

Worst of all was the alienation I felt from God. For many years, I had tasted of the goodness of the Lord on a daily basis - so connected to Him. I thought that nothing would ever change that. I so wanted that intimacy back.

When I read the Bible all I felt was the sting of a silent God. I thirsted for Him, but found no help for my parched soul. Guilt weighed heavy on me as a result of failing to connect with Him.At one point I decided to read John Piper's book When I Don't Desire God, How to Fight for Joy but I couldn't work up the desire. Sounds funny, but there I was caught in that spiritual-oxymoron. I wanted God, but I didn't. It was frustrating to me that He would not disclose Himself to me.

My Lifeline

During this four-year period, I continued to teach a women's Bible study, not by choice, but because the Lord simply would not allow me to step out of ministry. Though it was extremely difficult to stay put, it was definitely God's tool for keeping my head above water, so to speak.

I absolutely dreaded teaching and who knows what the women got out of it. But as I studied, God encouraged me just enough to not give up on life. He fed me for others, but He was silent in the times I sought Him for myself.

Ministry became my lifeline. I remained connected to God’s people and to His word. But there was no joy in it and I felt like such a phony, such a hypocrite, which added more guilt to the depression.

Things Got Worse – Distractions and Cynicism

As this all progressed I began to discover many "good distractions". Blogging, digital photography and scrapbooking were some. I actually preferred the distractions. I knew this was nothing short of idolatry, but there seemed to be no way out.

Like David, I cried, “How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death…” (Psalm 13:1-3).

An ugly cynicism swept over my mind and I doubted that I was even God's child.

What's Wrong Lord? 

That gave me a little hope. I knew I could look nowhere other than to Jesus. Like Peter, I told Him, “Lord, to whom shall we [I] go? You have the words of eternal life…”.

David's prayer became my own, “Search me, O God, and know my heart...see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

This was the prayer God had been waiting to hear. It became my continued cry and He began to expose my heart. Over a period of several years, He revealed to me what I had not seen in myself – attitudes of unforgiveness, bitterness and pride. These were slow-burning, subtle attitudes that had formed over a period of years, so none of it had been obvious to me.

Along with these revelations, God granted me repentance and restoration. As He peeled back the layers of my offenses, I thanked Him for His sanctifying work. But it seemed like joy would never return.

A Book, Childlikeness and Joy

Though I had been forgiven for harboring bitterness, etc., I had not been able to reconnect with the Lord. I yearned for sweet times of fellowship, but I just couldn't seem to make it happen. My mind wandered, distractions prevailed and guilt compounded.

Then, in the spring of last year, God directed me to a book during the time my husband was in Uganda on a short term preaching and teaching mission. A Praying Life – Connecting with God in a Distracting World by Paul Miller, caught my eye. Just the title ministered to me.

For the next two weeks, I cried and prayed my way through the book. God used it to release me from my prison of self-imposed guilt. With this book, He reminded me that I simply needed to come to Jesus messy, like a little child comes to his parents.
           

Image by usmcmorningstar

Miller writes, little children, "...come just as they are, totally self-absorbed. They seldom get it right...God cheers us when we come to Him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers...Don't try to get the prayer right; just tell God where you are and what's on your mind. That's what children do. They come as they are, runny noses and all. Like the disciples, they just say what is on their minds. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy...Jesus opens His arms to His needy children..."

So, with all my messiness, I ran to Jesus. And, O, how my soul soared. And the joy that came flooding in! I am now more tender toward the Lord than ever and He continues to make Himself known to me day by day in His word.

"If any man thirst, let him come

unto me and drink." (John 7:37)

There are no words to express my thanks to God for His goodness. Even in His silence, He was shepherding me, leading me in His paths of righteousness, drawing me unto Himself and beside the streams of Living Water whereby my thirst was finally quenched.

Spurgeon said, "Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul be utterly famished, Jesus can restore it."

Yes! He can and He does.

Posted by Sharon Kaufman

The Terrible Thirst of Depression

on May 17, 2011 4 comments