Lead a Horse to Water…and He Will Drink

I’ve heard the saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” It may be true you can’t make him, but he will drink…if he is thirsty. Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.” We as believers are the salt. It’s our testimony, our lives, our love, our witness for Christ. No, we can’t make him drink, but if we give him salt, he will thirst. He will drink…not from the putrid water that the world gives, but the REAL, Living Water of Jesus Christ. This water will cause him to never thirst again.

I have spent some time thinking about this saying today. I have been asking myself, am I the salt the earth? Do they even know I’m a Christian? Am I living deeply for Him…the kind of living that would make the world thirsty? I paged through some testimonies that I had written down several years ago about this very thing. I realized as I read through these testimonies, with tears in my eyes, I have lost my flavor. I have lost that flavor for Him and my bones ache to go back to the place of being full of “salt” for Jesus. Full of “salt” that makes people thirsty for Him, full of the “Living Water” that would bring life changing salvation to the world that would cause them to never thirst again. I long to go back to this place and I pray that you would join me in my journey back to being “salty.”

October 3, 2005

As I reset the IV pump, it was then that she noticed it. It was the rainbow reflection that shone from it…my beautiful diamond ring my husband picked out for me. She was a 20 year old woman named “Amy” that I was taking care of for stomach problems. I smiled as I lifted up my hand to show her my “rock.” Within minutes, I was sharing with her how the Lord had used eHarmony and how I met my wonderful husband. She glowed with excitement when I shared with her what the Lord had done. I prayed in my heart as I left her room that I would have an opportunity to share more with her later about what Jesus had done in my life.

As I walked out the door of her room to notate the chart, a middle aged nurse walked up beside me. She smiled and introduced herself, saying, “My name is “Catherine,” and I overheard your story…how you met your husband on eHarmony.” She said, “I’d like to meet someone also but just for friendship.” As I listened to her, more of her life unfolded before me. She began sharing how her husband of several years had had several affairs and he had recently told her that he didn’t love her anymore and wanted a divorce. My heart sank in my chest as she shared her deepest feelings with me. They currently were living together, but not like husband and wife, but more like roommates.

I walked with Catherine down the hall and stood outside my next patient’s room. I finally said, “I don’t want to tell you what to do and I really don’t even know what your situation is, but the best thing you can do for your husband is to pray for him.” Catherine’s eyes looked up from the floor. She shared that for the first time in a very long time, she had gone to church. While sitting in church she started to pray for her husband. It wasn’t a prayer that she was used to praying for in fact, this one was from her heart. The very next day, her husband called her and asked her to go for a drive. During the drive, for the first time in months they did not have one argument. It was then as I listened to Catherine, out of my heart, came that “Living Water.” I was just so compelled to tell her what Jesus had done in my life. I couldn’t contain it. I just had to tell her. She smiled after I shared my testimony with her and said that it had been the best news she had heard in such a long time.

I looked at my watch and apologized. I just had to get my medications delivered to my next patient, but promised that we would talk again. She glowed as she walked away. This “salt” made her thirsty for the Living Water.

“Please forgive me, ‘Jan.’ I am so sorry that I am late getting your medications to you,” I said as I frantically pulled apart the pill packages to get the multiple pills into her med cup. I didn’t even look up at her until I heard her soft, frail voice. “I overheard what you said to the woman outside my door…about the hope that you have. I really needed to hear that today.” She was holding back her tears as the hopelessness in her life was evident. Jan was a retired nurse in her 50s with extensive problems with depression. She was on multiple psychiatric medications for her mental illness. As I handed her the cup full of pills, I sat down quietly next to her on her bed. I put my arm around her and gave her a little hug. I was about to deliver some very good news for Jan. “This hope I have, Jan, is available for you too. You see, without Christ, there is no hope.” Once again, I could not contain myself as the “Living Water” of Jesus Christ flowed. I shared with Jan what Jesus Christ had done in my life and how He had saved me from certain death. In the next few minutes, she was sitting on her hospital bed praying to accept Jesus Christ into her heart.

Just days earlier, Jan shared that she had had a dream where she was falling. She was falling and falling and falling into this black tunnel. She remembered thinking to herself, “This must be what it is like to die.” When she awoke she felt so plagued with the uncertainty about where she would go if she were to die. In this special moment, Jan’s hopelessness turned to hope. Jesus had given her peace.

As I listened to her share her life with me, I heard the crash of metal curtain rings hit together. From across the room, her roommate’s cream-colored curtain flew open with a mighty wind. Out of her mouth she said, “I just wanted you to know that I have been listening to everything that you have been telling my roommate and I believe every word you are saying! I want you to know that everything you told her has really helped me to be closer to God.” The “salt” was making them thirsty. They thirsted and they drank.

My heart was warmed as I stepped away from the room and on to my next patient. I arrived back into Amy’s room, the 20 year old woman who saw my ring...the room where this whole divine day had started. Within minutes, I was sharing the gospel with Amy. And then her mom arrived for a visit, and I shared Jesus with her too. And then her boyfriend arrived, and I shared Jesus with him. In a full circle, the Lord accomplished much and the “salt” made them thirsty. You see, I didn’t have to force them to drink…they just got thirsty and when they got thirsty, they drank. The “Salt” was so flavorful that they couldn’t help but drink.

I long for my Lord to bring back my flavor. I long to be “salty” again. I long to be the Salt of the earth and the Light of the world. I long to go back to that place and I pray that you make this journey with me.

**The names are changed for privacy

Heaven

As I spent the last hour scanning the internet for photos of flowers in Heaven, I came to realize there were no photos available to give you a glimpse of an idea what my son, Charlie, saw the night he went to Heaven. Honestly, there were no human words that could have fully wrapped themselves around this beautiful experience. Even Charlie himself, with his 8 year old mind, fought to give us details that even he could not express or comprehend. Our hearts burned with a longing to have been where he had been and to have experienced this face to face encounter with the One True God, Jesus Christ.

Charlie crept into my room at 4:00 am on October 21, 2007. I had checked on him several times through the night as he was recovering from the flu. I thought he may have been sick again. His little body looked frail as I saw him come into my room.

“Mom, I know you’re tired, but may I tell you about my dream?” he said. I rested on my pillow with my eyes closed wanting to drift off to sleep. But when the words came out of his mouth, immediately I was struck to the heart. I opened my eyes and looked down at my son lying on the floor next to my bed. Exodus 34:34-35 But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the` veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him. When I looked at Charlie, I could see something shining. He looked like a completely different child when I looked at his face. I saw this humble little boy with a bright and shining aura around him. I kept these things in my heart as I listened to him. I was so astounded by his detailed account that I took him directly to the computer and typed it word for word that we would never forget the details of this wondrous encounter with Jesus. This is his personal account of what he saw when he went to Heaven:



“I went to Heaven, mom. In a blink of an eye, I was there. Mom, you wouldn’t believe what I saw. I saw these beautiful flowers…red, blue, green, pink, and yellow. The flowers were so soft and full. There wasn’t any sign of the death in the flower. They were so beautiful. They were “fat” and soft and blooming. There were huge rose buds, big and blossoming. I saw poppies and roses and big blue bushes of flowers. I had never seen anything like them, mom. I can’t even describe to you the colors I saw because I had never seen the colors before.

I walked on the ground and when I walked it was bright and shiny like a light bulb. It was so shiny and clear. Revelation 21:21 And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. The sky was so bright. It was like a sun. It was like the sun all over. The sky wasn’t blue like it normally is. It was so, so bright. Revelation 22:4-5 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

I was there, mom. I was there with other people. I couldn’t see their faces. They were like angels. They had snow white robes on and their faces were bright. All of them had light brown ropes that came down from their shoulders down to their waists.

Jesus was there too. These brightly dressed people were on either side of Him. He was wearing a robe that was whiter than white. Mom, I had never seen anything so white. There was not one little stain or wrinkle or streak on this robe. It was whiter than snow or anything I have ever seen, ever. His face was like the sun. Matthew 17:2 His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. His hair was from his head to his shoulders and it was curly and golden. I can’t explain the gold color of his hair because I had never seen the color before. It was a color all its own. I couldn’t see his face because it was so bright, but I knew it was Him.

We stood at the end of Heaven. Nobody told me I was in Heaven. I just knew I was there. I saw a huge, clear, white hole. Inside the hole, it was something like a magnifying glass. It was moving in a circle. We looked through the hole and we saw all the people on the earth. We took pictures of all of the people on earth that we could see through the hole. The people were just walking around just living like normal. I saw people in a bank walking around and getting their money. They didn’t know we were watching them. I understood everything Jesus was saying, even though there were no words. Psalm 139:1-4 Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thoughts afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. Nobody spoke a word, not even me. I knew in my heart that Jesus knew who was going to heaven and who was not going.

Jesus came up to me and with his bright, shining face and gave me his camera. We started taking pictures of all of the people. Jesus knew who was good and who was not good. Jesus wanted to take a picture of me. The next thing I knew, I slipped through the magnifying glass-type hole. I felt my body being forced out of the hole and pushed out of the wall into my room and back into my bed. I saw the camera flash and my eyes opened. I fully woke up and felt a force push me so hard that it almost pushed me off of my bed. I was out of breath and my breathing was heavy.

I sat in awe as he motioned with his hands and tried with all of his might to help me understand this experience he had with the Most High God. I couldn’t get over the glow on his face. It was so evident that he was really with Jesus. I had a great fear of the Lord.

In amazement by Charlie’s experience, the Lord brought to mind a friend’s Jewish grandfather who was 90+ years old. He was on his death bed. My friend had been fervently praying for him for years. I knew Charlie had been in the presence of the Lord. I knew by the evidence of his glowing appearance. He had indeed seen Jesus. I told Charlie that we were going to pray for my friend’s grandfather right there and I believed that the Lord would save him.

Days later we learned that my friend’s grandfather passed away, but not before he gave his life to Jesus on his death bed. Now he would experience so much more than the glimpse of Heaven Charlie had experienced. He would be in the presence of the Lord in all of its fullness. Words cannot describe all that the Lord has planned for those who love Him!