Don't Mom Aloneনমুনা

Day Two

When You Have Nothing Left to Give

Scripture: Psalm 23; John 4:1-26

God didn’t decide to rescue us in a moment. He sent His Son as a vulnerable human baby. One who grew on this planet and felt what you and I feel, familiar with suffering and pain. He doesn’t observe from a distance. That means that in our most difficult mom moments, we can be confident God doesn’t love us from afar but enters ours story. He intimately understands the challenges we face. 

If you feel weary, Jesus has felt weary. John 4:6 says, “Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.” Here we find Jesus with a woman who felt alone in her story. And Jesus asked her for a drink. She was shocked because of their different (and clashing) cultural groups: Jews vs. Samaritans. Before she could act and get Him what He asked for, she had to deal with the belief that she was disqualified. The first barrier being the location of her birth—something completely out of her control. 

Jesus kindly told her that if she had known who was asking her (the God of the universe, who places people in families), she could have asked Him and He would have given her living water. In fact, her past did not disqualify her, but it qualified her for even more than she could imagine. In exchange for her act of service, she would receive life-giving, never-ending provision. “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13–14). 

The same is true in my mothering. Jesus invites me to meet Him at the well. To be reminded of His limitless resources, outside of myself and my effort. Living water. 

Remember Psalm 23. David doesn’t write about how God gives him a nice tall glass of ice-cold water to restore his soul. He refers to being led beside “waters of rest” (see footnote on Psalm 23:2 in the ESV). Each one of us longs for more than just quick satisfaction, but lasting, life-giving nourishment—which is exactly what God longs to give.

Do you currently have a time in your day to remind yourself of God’s never-ending source of love? If you don’t, when could you add in a five-minute habit of remembering?