What is Your Samaria or Connection?
And I shall cause thee to have ministry among the sisters and I
shall give thee favor. But thou shalt also wait upon thy God and I will give
thee a tender heart and yea even more than thou dost even have this night. Thou
shalt be broken by My word and by My presence many times but not destroyed nor
cast down.
I shall fashion you again and again and each time that I mold and
touch thee thou shalt rise up in more of a new transformed creation than you
were before you came into the presence of your God. (Prophectic Word for Donna
1984)
Do you ever feel there is something in
your life that you must or need to do? The scripture in John 4:4 where Jesus
said, "And he must needs to go through Samaria." has been on my mind
lately. He needed to go there because He knew there was someone who had need of
Him. She didn't know it, at the time, but He knew well ahead of time what she
needed, and it came in the form of a reality check. It also was a needed
connection. She needed to connect with her creator in a way that she never had
before.
How many of
us need one of those connections? Can we handle them when they come in the
words of a friend or loved one? A proverb says, “Faithful are the wounds of a
friend.” Recently someone I know called me at the right time, the moment I felt
so down, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. THE LORD’S TIMING IS ALWAYS
RIGHT AND TRUE. Dealing with the “new
normal” of not feeling good or having energy because of a recent health
diagnosis, had gotten me down.
But my friend
had a good report on herself; the Lord had her call me before Christmas,
feeling that I had a connection for
her that she needed desperately that day. I didn’t know if I did have the
connection, but the Lord was faithful and she was able to get the help she
needed. It wasn’t me or my connection but it was JESUS ALL THE WAY. She was able to be revived and had what she
needed to get through the holidays which are very painful for her, a woman
alone, at this stage in her life.
The Lord is
so good! He gave back to me through her words; she was a revived and filled
with the SPIRIT, SISTER/MOM/DAUGHTER.
The minute she started talking to me on the phone, I started to weep as
I knew I needed what she had and what she was going to say to me. She had a
prayer and prophecy somewhat about me as Anna ministering to the Lord and God’s
people. Me, praying, being seen, being used of the Lord when frankly right then
I didn’t FEEL that and was so tired and down that I didn’t even want to go out
of the house. She said she saw me as intercessor not only for my own children
but for other’s children, too. May I be faithful to the call and the leading of
the Holy Spirit. I write this today knowing that many of you may feel “unseen”
yet the Lord does always see and He is very acquainted with our griefs and
sorrows. He is always here, so take heart if you feel down.
You, Lord,
will bring to remembrance the things I need to remember at the right time,
whether through YOUR WORD (Psalm 118) or through friends. You, Lord, have
gifted me with such kindness and love and MERCY by allowing me to partake of
prophecies given, groups that support me and friends and family who love me.
YOU ARE MY CHIEF LOVE, MY SAVIOR, MY DELIGHT AND STRONG FORTRESS OF HOPE! BE
THAT FOR ALL HERE WHO READ THESE WORDS.
But even
after the high of a wonderful phone call and connection by Sunday there was a
great hindrance to me even wanting to go to church. This is rarely ever the
case as worshipping the Lord revives me. I realize now it was the enemy trying
to keep me from bringing a connection to someone. When I first got to church I
was blessed by watching a sister worship the Lord even though less than a week
ago her husband passed away unexpectedly. The music began to revive my soul as
I begged the Lord to use me and reveal my purpose here on earth. Even at this
late stage and age, I’m still one of the few who most of the time feels
purposeless or that I’m just not really sure of the call. As I was leaving
church a sister came to me and asked “Don’t you have a prayer group?” I sat
with her and started talking about our Somebody’s Mother Online Prayer Support
Group but then as she started sharing her heartache, I thought, let’s not talk
about praying let’s just pray. It was my honor to hold her, pray for her and
her daughter, to be used in a small way by the Lord. I knew then the reason for
the hindrance, the enemy did not want me to connect or be part of someone’s
Samaria. But he did not win on that day.
The right connection
is always Jesus.
"And he
must needs to go through Samaria" Jesus not only needed to minister to
that woman, but He needed to give her a reality check. She needed something to
get herself out of the stupor of life where she just existed. She needed to
know that there was someone who knew her better than she knew herself and loved
her anyway. She needed to know that she was more than she had settled for,
trying to find herself in numerous relationships instead of the one
relationship that would bring her life, health and love.
"And he
must needs to go through Samaria" is such a beautiful phrase even though,
the wording at first sounds a bit strange. Jesus not only ministers but is
ministered to by doing what He needed to do, which in this case was bring life
where there was death and darkness. Where the woman normally tried to hide
herself from the community she went on to become a preacher of the good news of
God. The news that someone can know everything about you and still love, want
and desire you.
We can't
change our past, but we can make it work for us and the Lord as wonder and awe
forms, when others hear what we have gone through. We give glory to the Lord
who has helped us when we were too weak to help ourselves.
Many people
are going through tremendous trials at this moment. Prayer requests pour in
that would break your heart and the heart of the Lord. The only way we are
going to make it is to cling to the Lord and listen to that small voice that
tells us what we "need" to do. It might be something simple as giving
a dejected person a hug, sharing some time with someone when you don't really
have time of your own, calling up someone in ministry and telling them they are
doing a great job.
Look around
you; that person who is your "Samaria'" or connection may appear in a
way or form you didn't expect. But the heart of the Lord who loves us all
supremely will always go out of His way to go to your "Samaria."
Donna Collins Tinsley
A SISTER
AMONG YOU