FROM THE PUBLISHER
GOT LIVING @lindashepherd WATER? F YOU WATCHED THE DESTRUCTIVE PATH OF OUR RECENT HURRICANES, INCLUDING HURRICANE HARVEY you thought a lot about the power
of wind and water—especially water.
Harvey blew into Rockport, Texas with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour, flattening homes and flipping big rigs. Still, the strength of its destructive power was not revealed until it parked over the cities of South East Texas and western Louisiana, releasing more than 24.5 trillion gallons of water. That’s enough water to fill a cube 3 miles wide and 3 miles deep. In my hometown of Beaumont, it will take weeks to dry out from the water that invaded homes and turned streets into rivers. And curiously, even with an abundance of floodwater, the residents were left parched for drinking water. I wrote one Beaumont friend, “So are you under water, out of water, or both?” It hurts my heart to think of loved ones trapped in floodwaters desperate with thirst. It reminds me of this descriptive prayer David sang to God describing his own spiritual thirst,
“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is
no water.” (Psalm 63:1 NIV) But Jesus made a way to quench our spiritual thirst. It was to a woman he first explained this mission when he sat at the town well.
“Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again. Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. The water that I will give him will become in him a well of life that lasts forever.” (John 4:1314 NLV) Even though there is enough living water to quench the spiritual thirst of every person living on the planet, many will go thirsty. Some will go thirsty by choice, and others because they never knew this water existed. But knowing Jesus can turn us into people filled with a river of his Holy Spirit. If you need someone to hope in, if you need to quench your spiritual thirst, look to Jesus. He loves you and opens his arms wide to you, no matter your past. Let Jesus quench your thirst. All you have to do is to say YES to Him. I hope this issue of Leading Hearts will give you the desire to pull down anything that separates you from filling up with Living Water —taking in the fullness of all Jesus has for YOU! S Love,
LINDA EVANS SHEPHERD PUBLISHER, LEADING HEARTS MAGAZINE
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