[Jesus] said, “I am thirsty.” John 19:28
Growing up, I did not have a happy family. We were not well-off and I didn’t perform well in school. I always thought that if all external factors aligned, and if someone cared about me and gave me enough love, I would be happy.
Then I got married and entered into a good family. My husband treated me well, and my in-laws treated me like their own daughter. They opened a beauty salon for me, and everyone admired and liked me. Life was comfortable. But I was not happy! They could not understand why despite treating me so well, and I even began to doubt whether my happiness was real.
Upon reflection, I vaguely remembered a period of peace of mind and happiness. It was a time when I had nothing. My job was unstable and I had to move residences every few days. But I remember that it was a time when I fully depended on God. My burden was light each time after I prayed, and God blessed me soon after. However, when everything began to go well, I gradually forgot about Him and started to lose my joy.
In fact, I found myself far away from God. Then I came upon the book “How People Change” and read about how the real problem is not psychological (low self-esteem), social (bad relationships), historical (my past), or biological (my body). The real problem, the authors write, is spiritual: of a heart that doesn’t need God and that serves something other than Christ.
This impacted me greatly, as I thought about how since having a good husband and in-laws, I started to depend on them to solve my problems instead of going to God first. Moreover, running a beauty salon meant I became an entrepreneur who was constantly thinking about making money. I had been distracted from following the Lord, and that was the main cause of my unhappiness.
I remember a church sister telling me, “We should focus on God. If we focus on this world, all we get is pain.” That is so true and today I’m praying that God will help me refocus on Him and find true joy. Like the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), Christ’s living water is the only thing that can meet our deepest needs.
How is it that the best of family relations and material comforts do not fulfill our spiritual thirst? How have you responded to the offer of Jesus’ living water?
Weary from travel, Jesus sat down beside a well. After asking a woman there for water, He addressed her deeper need: “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14). Jesus offered her soul refreshment through a relationship with God.
To offer this living water to all people, Christ had to go through the anguish of thirst again. As He hung on the cross, He cried out, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28)—a sign that His life was ebbing away. He willingly suffered, enduring the pain of physical thirst, knowing that God would raise Him to life again. Like the woman at the well, we can have access to living water for our thirsty souls through faith in Jesus.
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