The Woman at the Well - Was Me

For the longest time I have felt that I may as well have a sign on my forehead that read "loser" because I'd had several marriages and several divorces. I'd had so many last names in my life (five) that I could certainly never put them all on my facebook profile. Then one day I read about a certain woman in the bible - John chapter 4, who encountered Jesus when she was drawing water from a well just outside her village. He was thirsty and asked her to draw some water for him to drink. She was a Samaritan, a people despised and shunned by the Jews, and recognising that he was a Jew, she was astounded that he was talking to her. Jews did  not talk to Samaritans. She told him that if he knew who she really was he would not be talking to her. His reply was what melted my heart when I read it, he said, "I know well who you are and that you have had five husbands and the man you live with now is not your husband." He told her she had only to ask and he would give her living water (eternal life) that would satisfy her soul's thirst. In the next verses it tells how she was in awe of him and ran to her people to bring them to him so that they could meet this man who had no judgment for her, but truly offered her love beyond reason.  At that moment, while reading, I realized that woman at the well could've been me. And Jesus had no condemnation toward me. He really knew everything, every nuance of my life and yet he was concerned only that I receive his love, his water of life.  Sure I know the world will condemn and whisper and judge, but Jesus didn't with the Samaritan woman and he doesn't with me. I could never go back and change anything, any choices I made, but I didn't have to live with shame for my failures either. It was so freeing to read that story and see the true heart of God demonstrated to that woman who viewed herself as undeserving even to draw water for him. I knew that I could pick up my feet and go on for I was loved, failures known and yet loved, just as she was. Shame comes from the enemy of our souls not from our loving God. When we bow our hearts to him, he takes us by the hand and pulls us back up on our feet, letting us know we are precious to him. His love restores my self-esteem and I know that  many people struggle with feelings of guilt and shame and they wear them like heavy cloaks that weigh them down, keeping them from moving forward freely. Jesus came to set us free from sin, from failures, to take our burden of shame from us and let us know we needn't bear it any more. My life is his now, he steers the course and it's so much better now that I needn't walk around with my head down feeling like I had run out of chances to have a good life. I wish the same for you dear readers, I wish the same for you.