Thoughtful Thursday & Broken
Hello friends!
I have been thinking a lot about the story in the Bible of the woman at the well.
Jesus is leaving Judea and is heading to Galilee.
The scripture says, “And he must needs go through Samaria.”
This says to me that he deliberately went to Samaria.
This is in a time when every Jew would avoid Samaria.
Samaritans were considered dirty.
He went straight to Jacob’s well to get water and rest in the heat of the day.
There he meets the Samaritan woman who is coming to get water at that time.
She was even looked down upon by her fellow Samaritans, so she went when no one else would be there.
Jesus perceived that she had had five husbands and was not married to the man she was living with at the time.
He came into her story as she was.
She didn’t need to change.
She was not broken.
She was wounded.
Christ came to her to teach and minister unto her where she was.
This was also one of the first declarations that he gave that He was the Messiah.
It was to a woman who was feeling wounded and thought she was broken.
But He taught her she was not broken and He was there to heal her wounds if should would let Him.
She left that moment as a powerful witness of the Savior because He came into her story and she chose to believe Him and to believe in Him.
In speaking about this same story, Susan Porter shared the following, “Her past and present circumstances didn’t determine her future. Like her, we can choose to turn to the Savior today for the strength and healing that will enable us to fulfill all that we were sent here to do.”
But I think this begins by understanding this truth.
You are not broken.
You feel broken.
There is a difference.
Our most fundamental doctrine is that we are children of loving Heavenly Parents.
This relationship is powerful and divine.
And the Savior’s Atonement is an expression of Their love for each one of us.
We are Their joy and we are here on earth to experience joy.
The first great truth is you are loved by God.
You are not broken.
