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NIV is used unless otherwise noted.



Being Green In The Desert


“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” 
John 7:37-38


Looking out the window of the bus as we drove in the wilderness and barren desert area alongside the Dead Sea, I was suddenly jolted out of my amazement at the seeming endless, beige-colored wasteland.  There before my eyes, was a gorgeous orchard of trees bearing a bountiful crop of some kind of fruit.  Wow!  Green, productive, living, and fruitful!  How could that be?

Our tour guide informed us that the soil of this barren area had all the properties to be very fertile.  It had a great level of dolomite in the soil.  The soil only lacked ONE thing-----WATER.  The very fruitful crop we had just passed was an irrigated area.

My mind quickly scampered to the words in John 7 where Jesus, Himself, talked about living water. 

Oh my, how my life had been a barren wasteland before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  The very source of Living Water for that fruitless existence I was living.  My Source of Living Water has turned my desert into orchards of fruitfulness.  Given me love where there was no love, joy in serving, faith in the hard times, words to encourage others, and much more than I have space to enumerate.   I can count on this because God’s Word promises it to me and to you.

We can be a surprising oasis or fruitful orchard in the barren wasteland surrounding us, by just believing in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His provision of Living Water that will flow from us

Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, repent of sinfulness, and become a well-spring of Living Water to the thirsty world around you.

Claudia Jackson    

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