So this week I began another highly anticipated online Bible study through Proverbs 31 Ministries. This study is with Renee Swope's book "A Confident Heart." To know me from the outside would probably cause you to wonder why on earth would I feel the need for this study, but when you peel back my layers, it all becomes pretty clear. I have a myriad of issues that I am still working through, but thankfully I am not working through them alone.
In Chapter 2, Renee brings us back to the day at the well when Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman who approached the well alone at noon to draw water. I can so fully relate to this woman at the well. So many times in my life I approached Jesus alone, unsure and with little more than an empty vessel hoping somehow I could fill it on my own and not daring to ask Jesus for help because of my own shame. My past is also not terribly pretty.
What struck me as I read the Biblical account this time was how Jesus shared with Sam in such a way that she knew that He knew everything about her already. He spoke with her knowing full well that her past was far from pretty and in fact that her present was pretty rough as well. He was accepting of her as she was at that very moment and willing to spend time with her and offer her so much more than she had ever imagined. Her emptiness would be filled with what she needed. For the first time, true love and true acceptance from the living God were going to take place of the loneliness and the unloveliness that had seized Sam's heart and brought her to so many bad and sad choices.
Sam was struck by Jesus knowing all about her. It changed her perspective. It changed her so much that really she simply HAD to share about him with the people in her village. Because of that, Jesus stayed on for two more days, and many more became believers. It all started with Sam.
Who knows what will start with me?
