Fears and Tears

The word of God is often called the living word. I have experienced this when praying with the scriptures. As part of a class I am taking, I am to spend time daily reading a scripture verse, meditating on it, letting God speak to me, and writing about the experience. Inviting the Holy Spirit to enter into my time. To practice lectio divina, which means “sacred reading” – 1. Lectio, reading scripture, 2. Meditatio, meditation on what God is saying to me now, 3. Oratio, prayer, what I say to God now and 4. Contemplatio, contemplation where I simply be with the Lord, in silence and peace.

The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

When I give God my time in the morning before I start my day, something incredible happens, He speaks to me and I am shown a scripture passage with new eyes. One such experience happened when I read the Samaritan woman at the well, a scripture verse that I am familiar with. I read the same passage for a week and everyday was a new experience with the same verse. I entered deep into The Word and below is an excerpt from my prayer journal.

It is noon. The sun is high in the sky. It is bright and the heat is felt on her face. She is face to face with Jesus, who speaks to her, “Give me a drink” – let me into your life. Share with me your thoughts, your dreams, your hurts. I seek you and I know you. She was isolated and alone and did not have a friend, she was an outcast.

He offered her living water where she would not thirst again. She desires this and asks Him for this gift. He goes to her wounds – “Go call your husband.” She replies with a half truth, but He already knows. Nothing is hidden from Him. He desires our truth. He desires us to be honest and to let Him into our brokenness, into our very depths. That is where He can heal our wounds.

To cast out the lies and drink of the Truth will well up in her the living water pointing to eternal life. She will then be the well of living water pouring her prayers up to the Father. Her stagnant water made fresh and new; a continuous pouring out of prayer from the Father to his daughter and back again to her Father; a springing forth from within her depths of pains and sorrows to a Father who loves her.

The hour is here. She leaves everything and goes back to town sharing her testimony and the people begin to believe because of her experience. The people invite Him to stay and believe in Him because of His spoken Word. He is truly the savior of the world, the One who comes to do the will of the Father.

We are His crops, which He is gathering up to Heaven. The Lord has planted the seed in our hearts, watered us with living water, shone His light upon us and has provided rich soil to feed our souls. He heals us by ridding us of the weeds and leaving the truth that blossoms within our souls. We grow towards Heaven stretching our leaves out to the Lord. Our roots are deep, at darkness we rest in Him. We are a field of believers offering the entire crop to the Father. He cares for us as He gathers us to himself forever.

After my week with scripture, I wanted to know more about the Samaritan woman. I found out she is later known as St. Photina – the luminous one, light. She was a woman of courage and died with the crown of martyrdom. May God draw you deeper into prayer this year and lead you into the depths of your soul where He resides. Blessings for your 2020.

“The holy martyr Photina (Svetlana) … was that Samaritan woman who had the rare fortune to speak with the Lord Christ Himself at Jacob’s Well in Sychar (John. 4). Coming to faith in the Lord, she then came to belief in His Gospel, together with her two sons, Victor and Josiah, and five sisters who were called Anatolia, Phota, Photida, Paraskeva and Kyriake. They went to Carthage in Africa. But they were arrested and taken to Rome in the time of the Emperor Nero, and thrown into prison. By the providence of God, Domnina, Nero’s daughter, came into contact with St. Photina and was brought by her to the Christian faith. After imprisonment, they all suffered for Christ. Photina, who first encountered the light of truth by a well, was thrown into a well, where she died and entered into the immortal Kingdom of Christ.” (Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, The Prolog from Ochrid / Ohridski Prolog)