I just love how the Lord gets our attention. Someone coined the term, God-Winks, and I love that. It feels so much like I got a God-Wink this week that I would have had to work to miss. In the span of less than 24 hours this whole water theme emerged. Tuesday morning, what I would consider a very random question came from one of my client/friends. “Christine, what is your middle name?” Sigh…eye roll. I confess, I have never loved my middle name. I am good with my first name, Christine, but my middle name feels like it just goes off a cliff being one syllable after my two-syllable first name, there’s no flow. Reluctantly, I texted back. ‘Lynn. Why?’ (Sorry all you Lynn’s out there-it just doesn’t follow Christine well!). Silence for a while. About an hour later, after having consulted thebump.com, investigating baby names she reported back to me the meaning of my name. Suddenly, my whole perception of my middle name changed. I loved the meaning! It’s a French origin and means, ‘living near a lake, waterfall or pool.’ I am down with that! I love water. I love the sound of moving, rushing water-a waterfall.
Fast forward about 12 hours. Husband walks into the kitchen to grab a glass of water, turns the handle to the faucet and boom! No water. Not a good sign. Could be a very expensive sign, with less than a week to go before Christmas. We talked about the implications. Our well has been on fumes for about 18 months. We have been very conservative with our water to dodge the very expensive punching of a new hole in the ground. Was it the well gone dry? Was it the pump that finally gave up the ghost after a good 10 year run? Was it a power issue going to the pump? Those were the three most likely options. All three a range of expensive to super expensive. At 8:45 p.m. (not realizing how late it was) I jumped on the phone and shot a text over to Colton, our well guy at Excel Pump and Well. “Colton, we don’t have water. Can you put us on your list?” At 8:48 p.m. (an incredibly short 3 minutes later-YEAH COLTON!) he responds that he will huddle with his crew in the morning and figure out when they could squeeze us in for a diagnostic and game plan. Bless you Colton!
Here is what is interesting. Mike and I both slept peacefully that night. Upon waking, having no handy, convenient access to water reminded me of how unbelievably blessed (spoiled) we are in America. We just wander over to a water tap, turn it and voila! When we want to do laundry, we just throw a load in the washer and hit the start button and in roughly 45 minutes, we have a nicely washed load of clothes. We have water. We have electricity. In other parts of the world, people walk miles one way for water, and haul gallons back on top of their head or shoulder. Muddy, dirty water at that. It is scarce and that which is available will make you sick. It was a good reminder of what we can so easily take for granted. It was good that we had to walk over to the neighbors and fill our 5 gallon container. (Thank you Mike). It was good that I had to heat it on the stove to do dishes. (Yet again something we take for granted-electricity to relatively quickly heat the water.) It was good that we were ‘inconvenienced.’
I knew that yesterday morning I was experiencing a supernatural response by the grace of God to a super inconvenient and unexpected expense. I knew it was Jesus in my life-and not coming from my natural bent which would have been to freak out and get stressed. It reminded me of Jesus talking to the woman at the well. In John 4:13-14 it says, “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life’.” Could it be that the peace we experienced was an experience of us not thirsting for peace because Jesus quenched us?
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