15 January 2020

I’m physically tired to the point that my shoulders and neck muscles are contracting and giving me a migraine. My fault actually.

Bruce and I drove in convoy to Brisbane for Christmas, so I could have Christmas – for the first time in 35 years – with my parents, my children, my brother and sisters and all their immediate families (well most of them anyway – 49 in total, another 19 of them could not make it.)

We took two cars from Sydney to Brisbane because we were loaning one car to my son and his wife and three children coming from Perth. That way, it saved them from hiring a car, which is expensive. 

The driving was fine, or so I thought. We left late in the day due to the warnings of fires and the advice to delay travel, if at all possible. So on the first day from Sydney we only drove for three hours. On the second day, a few hours into the eleven and a half hour drive, my shoulders started to feel sore, and as I drove my muscles began to stiffen. I had an ‘old injury’ from years ago that caused this stiffness and often contractions in the muscles occurred at different times or doing various activities.

And so, as the trek continued, I started doing stretches, muscle rolls and ingesting Panadol. At every stop, I tried to loosen the muscles as much as possible. I even put Dencorub heat patches on my neck and shoulder muscles to help with the stiffness and pain. 

On one of the stops near the end of our journey I mentioned to Bruce that the seatbelt was now irritating me, and asked if he knew what to do? He said, “You can adjust it. I’ll show you.” I did not know this. As he showed me how to adjust it so it did not go across my neck muscles, he said, “Aren’t you sitting a bit low?” “What do you mean?” I replied. He said, “You can adjust the chair up higher. I’ve been noticing in the rear vision mirror that you don’t seem to be seeing over the steering wheel very well.” And so he showed me how to adjust the chair.

He smiled at me and with ‘that look’ that went with it, I now knew why my shoulders had been cramping so badly.

The way I was sitting in the driver’s seat with my hands holding the steering wheel at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, meant my arms, and so, my shoulders and neck, were at a fixed uncomfortable angle for eleven and a half hours. No wonder they had been cramping! I had been sitting too low in the chair.

Oh, if only I had spoken up sooner. If only I had gone for advice, got the correct knowledge, or been informed before I realised something was wrong with my shoulders/arms/neck. And it was all due to my seating position. I felt a bit foolish.

Then I heard my spirit whisper, “You… people are often like this in other areas too.”

How foolish are we when we are doing life, living in our circumstances and taking the pain all by ourselves when we could have asked for help, advice, strength and knowledge from our God?

Was it pride? Not in this situation. 

I thought it was just the old injury playing up. I assumed I knew. This added to the situation but was not the cause of the problem. My pain would have been much less if I had sought out an answer from someone who knew who could help.

Was it that I did not want help? No, but I felt I was stuck. To be honest, with God, you are NEVER stuck. He is the God of the IMPOSSIBLE.

But in other areas of my life, where I’m not asking for help? Yes, it is possibly pride. Or maybe stubbornness. I tell myself I can do it myself.

In the past have I asked for help and been laughed at? Thought ‘never again am I going to allow that to happen to me. So, I’ll do it all myself.’

Have I asked for help and no one came? So, I’ll do it myself and that’s how I expect God to act as well. He won’t come. I’m not worth it. He only blesses His Saints. Those in the club.

We live in such a ‘do it yourself’ (DIY), ‘think of yourself’ world.

But did GOD not SEND His ONE and ONLY SON FOR ALL? God sent His Son to save All. We all were not worthy, but HE thought we were WORTH it. WORTH the exchange of (Death to us), replaced by (Death to His Son).

In John’s gospel, chapter 4, Jesus is travelling through Samaria and he’s tired and stops at Jacob’s well. It is noon. A woman comes out to the well to draw water. This chore was normally done in the early morning and not in the heat of the day, but this woman was trying to hide from people. 

But Jesus saw her. Jesus came to where she was at. Jesus knew he would find her there at this time. He asks her for a drink. 

She is shocked and states, “Why ask me? A woman?” (not a thing you do), and a Samaritan woman at that, (definitely not a thing you do), because Jesus was recognized by her as a Jew. These two cultures did not mix. 

None of this phases Jesus. But He states a truth that ALL of us need to hear. “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you Living Water.”

If only we saw Jesus in our lives. Saw the gift of God. Saw that God is ready and willing to help us with this free gift of Living Water.

This Samaritan woman knew there were problems in her life, but she either avoided thinking about them, rejected there was even a problem or was STUCK where she was and knew of no way out.

Jesus was her answer. He had this water that would quench all her thirst. Help all her problems.

Do you know what is amazing about this story in the bible? Jesus CAME to the woman. She did not invite Him. She had not even met Him before.

Jesus sees US just like He saw this woman. He will COME and meet us where we are at. He will interrupt our daily lives to bring us this Living Water that sustains, revives and renews us. 

Where are you STUCK? Let Jesus come. He is willing.

Where in your life do you need that Living Water? Be honest?

What has God whispered to you about this week that needs His fixing, helping?

What area(s) do you need prayer so that God would revive, renew and resolve?