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
No comments:
Post a Comment