Jesus said, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." John 7:37-38.

We are a thirsty people.

• "I don't like church these days. It just doesn't fill me anymore." 
• "Parenting is frustrating. I don't know what I'm doing!"
• "My spouse doesn't understand me. I feel lonely in my marriage."
• "Our financial situation is bad. . . and still there are things I want to buy."
• "So many decisions to make. How do I know what is the right one?
• "Life is so busy, so stressful, there is no free time."

So, we try to quench it with other things: try a new church, parenting seminars, marriage books, financial training, calendar organizing . . . all, which are very good things. . .

But what would happen if we took Jesus up on His offer? What would happen if we truly addressed our thirst as a need that only Jesus could meet? What would that actually look like? It might sound something like this:

"Lord Jesus, I am thirsty. I feel embarrassed saying that to You because there are so many good things around me and I feel I 'should' not feel this way. But there are so many things that are lacking in my life and in the world around me. If I am honest, sometimes I feel lonely, misunderstood, rejected, frustrated, stressed, worried and fearful. I have ways of temporarily regaining control and fixing that thirsty feeling . . . but today, I will try something new.

I will come to You. You promise that You will create rivers of living water within me. That sounds good. That sounds like I would be thirsty no longer. That means that outward circumstances would not affect my thirst. Refreshment would come from within. So, today, I confess that I have been looking outward for refreshment instead...and it has left me thirsty. Here are the things and people I have been expecting or demanding to fulfill me:

I choose to ask You for water, living water. I choose to offer grace to those people and things whom cannot satisfy me. And I will wait and see. . . what Your living water does to my thirst. In faith, I will ask You to refresh me, and I will wait to receive . . . and I will not pursue a quick fix anywhere else. I will wait. . . in the quietness . . . through the external chaos . . . I will wait. "

May you have the courage to take Jesus up on His offer!