The Wateringwell has been created as a place for women to meet and be inspired through community support and the wisdom of God’s word. Although we focus primarily on divorced and single moms, who face so many daily struggles on their own, The Wateringwell is for any women who are in need of encouragement. Support is provided within our private Facebook group which you can access here.
There are many biblical truths relevant to the challenges we face and these form the basic source of our encouragement. For more on the background to The Wateringwell, see our About page here.
John 7:38 reads “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him”. We are all God’s vessels, unique in character and experiences, who partner with the Holy Spirit to share the good news of the living water He so readily gives us.
The Theme of Water
“The Wateringwell” is a representation of the ancient wells talked about in the Bible, which I will discuss a little further on. If the water in the wells was tainted or depleted, the whole community suffered. Water and wells, as discussed many times in scripture, were the perfect analogy for what I had in mind for my blog.
The theme of water is carried throughout the blog because of its calming, tranquil, and peaceful effects. Water is an essential and integral part of our lives, a resource for survival. The Bible mentions it at least 722 times in scripture, from the opening lines of Genesis to the final chapter in Revelations. The various forms of water are used many times as an analogy.
Song of Songs 4:15 “You are a garden fountain, a wall of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon”.
Purpose of Biblical Wells
Meeting Places
Wells or cisterns as they were sometimes called, are often mentioned in the Bible. In Biblical times, wells were a meeting place and the center of the community. It was the duty of the town’s women to go and collect water, the sustenance of life, for the household, a practice that is still carried out in some places today. The wells were a place for the women to gather, talk, and socialize, much like we do today when we meet our girlfriends at a coffee shop. My girlfriends sustained me through many tough times when I was a single mom raising two kids on my own.
I believe our friendships are so important, I dedicate an entire post to this topic in The Value of True Friendship. You can read the post here.
A place of learning
These gatherings were also a place of learning. Through their duties and interactions, young women were taught customs, manners, and responsibility from other women in the community. They were a source of support for one another.
Divine Revelation
There were some significant events that took place at or near a well. Abraham’s servant met Rebekah at the well when he was seeking a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24:15-18) And who could forget the encounter that Jesus had with a Samaritan woman at a well? (John 4:1-26) Here we see the well as a site for divine revelation too.
In Genesis 21:19, when Hagar had used the last of her water and was filled with despair, God opened her eyes so that she saw the well that was right next to her. The water saved her life. So consumed by her pain, she hadn’t seen it before. This often happens to us when we are depleted of energy and exhausted, we don’t see the solution even when it is right in front of us.
Landmarks and Hiding places
We read of instances where wells were used as landmarks to guide weary travelers or as hiding places, to provide safety.
Conflict
In fact, wells were so important, there was sometimes conflict and contention over them. See Genesis 21: 25-31 and Genesis 26:15-22. If you wanted to defeat your enemy, you blocked or poisoned his well. Abraham had to barter with Abimelech to get his well back and to this day the site at Beersheba is a tourist attraction. Similarly, in our lives, the enemy tries to hinder us by distracting us off from God and the things that sustain us.
Hopefully, we won’t have to contend with any of that!
Functions of Biblical water
Life-giving water:
In the Bible, God uses water as an analogy to describe the salvation He promises us, through His son Jesus. (John 4:5-15). Jesus, (the life-giving water) died so that we may be cleansed of our sins and saved into eternal life.
Restoration:
God restores our souls through His Holy Spirit. When we are parched and dry from the trials of life, He provides rejuvenating water in those barren and desolate places. Isaiah 43:19,20 “I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland…to give drink to my people, my chosen”.
When we feel overwhelmed, in trouble, and drowning in our circumstances, He reaches down from on high and rescues us. “He draws us out of deep waters”. 2 Samuel 22:17.
I talk of many such experiences in my blog posts, which combine true-life examples with biblical wisdom.
Refreshing:
The Bible tells us that we will be refreshed and renewed. We are refreshed through God’s word, prayer, and by spending time in His presence. This image is captured so beautifully in Psalm 23:2 “He leads me beside quiet waters”. I know when life gets too chaotic, I yearn to sit quietly beside a stream or pond. Don’t you?
Check out our Pinterest page and look for the board “Peaceful waters” to see some images of cool refreshing waterscapes.
There is little that both soothes and revitalizes quite like a fountain, waterfall, river or ocean.
Our Personal Wells
Our personal wells, in other words, the resources we draw our energy from, can be both physical and spiritual. The spiritual wells that replenish and fulfill us may be Church life, God’s word, prayer, family, friends or even our work depending on what it is. Physical wells are namely the food we eat, relaxation time, and a healthy lifestyle.
Of course, there are also the ‘bad wells’, which are areas of our lives that have become dry, tainted or poisoned and not good for our well being. They present in various forms and may even masquerade as something good, but at the end of the day leave us depleted and stressed out. It is important that we are mindful of where and what we are drawing from.
How is your well?
Jesus is the ultimate well from which we draw our strength. “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14. You may rest in that blessed promise. No matter how dry we are, He will always provide refreshment and the nourishment we need.
God warns us in Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns (wells), broken cisterns, that can hold no water”.
We are often responsible for getting ourselves into predicaments. The good news is that God does not hold it against us and is always there to give us a hand up and out of the miry pit.
Purpose of The Wateringwell
I counsel many exhausted women who struggle with everyday challenges. They are desperate to talk and seek advice but don’t have anybody they can share with. Everybody around them seems to be fighting their own battles, so instead of asking for help, they keep quiet and bottle it up. They may ‘manage’ the burden for a while but eventually, it becomes too much to bear.
We are facing a growing number of women who are barely functioning. Through conversations in the corridors of work, the counseling room and amongst friends, I have realized that women need a place where they can recharge. Here at The Wateringwell, we aim to do that by providing:
- Blog posts addressing everyday challenges to encourage and motivate.
- A Facebook page for inspiration and communication. You can follow the link here to follow us.
- Membership site and private FB group to share and support one another.
- Lifestyle courses
- One on one coaching
- Group coach facilitating
- Keep up to date with recent posts and happenings by subscribing to our newsletter.
The Wateringwell blog has 6 basic categories-or maybe we should call them wells :). They are loosely based on Zig Ziglar’s wellness wheel and include Spiritual, Health, Finance, Relationships, Leisure and Self. The tools and content we discuss on the blog will fall into these categories.
I would suggest you start with the Check Me Out Challenge post to establish which wells may require a bit of attention before they run dry.
Alternatively, you can download the questionnaires by filling out the subscription form below.
Make sure your wells are full before you hit crisis mode. Prepare in advance. Surround yourself with healthy wells and fill them with all that is good and pleasing to God.
Activity
Who/What are the wells in your life? In other words, where do you draw your energy from on a daily basis? Is it God, a person, group of people or activity? Ask for God’s help and list everything that comes to mind. Write good or bad in a column next to each answer. For clarity, you may want to use a different colored pen. Do you have more positive, healthy influences in your life? Or are they more negative and draining?
Prayer
Corner
If you would like prayer, somebody to chat to or advice, you are welcome to:
- Email me directly kerrys@thewateringwell.com
- Send me a private message on Facebook
- Post your request in the comments section below
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