Have harsh conditions caused you to put living on hold? Are you waiting for more favorable circumstances to show back up for your life? Is your plan to really start living this life of yours once the fires are put out and the smoke has cleared?

Girl, don’t you know you were made for this storm? You are built for tough times. You’re like a 4 wheel drive truck with big muddin’ tires … you can get through this honey because you were designed for times like this.

If you should choose to lay low and wait for another day, just know your life isn’t waiting for you. As the days pass, opportunities pass with them and they won’t come back around for you to grab them again. It’s now. Living is here. You don’t have to wait for more perfect days to show up and use what God has put in you.

But hard times cause us to let dreams go stale. Let talents go dormant. Let hopes fade. Have we forgotten we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus, and that means we are made for this battle. We are built for less than perfect conditions. You are fully equipped for the specific hardship you face.

Now is actually the perfect time for you to show up and live. Right here in the middle of this is the ideal setting for you to decide you are more than what happens to you because you have the power of God living inside of you. These ashes are the ones you’re supposed to rise from. Here, where it seems you’ve let things slip too far gone … Here, where life is freaking hard and you don’t know how you’re going to make it through this … Yes, right here is where you decide you’re going to live!

Why? Because girl you’re not some packaged science experiment. You’re not a sea monkey.

That’s right … I said sea monkey. Remember those miraculous little creatures in a packet that would come to life when you add water? Like for real, they go from dust to tiny little living sea creatures that grow? I always thought it was some kind of trick. How in the world is that even possible? Sea monkeys. That can’t be real.

BUT IT IS REAL! And yes, they come to life when you add water.

Sea monkeys are a breed of hybrid shrimp created in the 1950s by a scientist. This living creation is derived from crustaceans that undergo a process called “cryptobosis.” Cryptobosis is a physiological state where all activity is reduced to an undetectable level without disappearing completely. It’s life with a suspended life brought on by times of adverse conditions. Survival has been adapted to basically put life on hold until things get better.

And these sea monkeys can stay in this state of suspension indefinitely, waiting for better conditions. Is that you? Are you living in a suspended state going through what you’re going through? You’re here, but you’re barely here. You feel like you’re just disappearing.

Oh my sister, this is for you today. You don’t have to wait for conditions to improve to spring to life. You were designed to continue living right through this. How do you get through this? How do you face the reality of your life when things are unbelievably hard and incredibly uncertain? Just like the sea monkeys, you need water. LIVING WATER.

Better conditions for a sea monkey is water. The moment water is introduced, they spring to life, and begin eating and growing. That is our Jesus for our real, messy, hard lives.

Remember when Jesus met the woman at the well? A woman who was an outcast from society because of the choices she had made and the way she was living. A woman ashamed of who she had become. But Jesus knew exactly who she was and everything she had ever done. He met her there at the well that day as she was drawing water and asked her for a drink. She basically tells him to get his own water, SHE’S BUSY WITH HER HARD LIFE?

Girl, are you so busy with your hard life that you’re not seeing what God has for you?

Then Jesus says in John 4: 10-14 “‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.’ ‘But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,’ she said, ‘and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?’ Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who drinks this water will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.’”

Jesus is the living water we need. He is the answer for your drought, for your hardship, for your harsh conditions and unlivable circumstances. You’re right, you can’t do this. This is too much. It is too hard. How could you ever be expected to carry this heavy weight on your own?

Honey, you’re not alone. Jesus is right here with his living water to give you life in this hardship. Remember those sea monkeys? You don’t have to cease living while going through this. You don’t have to shrink back to minimal existence. You don’t have to wish this away or sleep it away. You don’t have to take that bottle of pills to numb out the reality of your life. God is offering you something so much better.

Just as water brings the sea monkeys to life again, Jesus is the living water offering you life right here today in the middle of this mess. Won’t you accept it? Won’t you let him fill you, strengthen you, renew you, and guide you?

You have a choice to make. You choose whether you melt back into minimal existence and wait for this to get better, or you choose to accept all Jesus is offering you and rise up and live your life. You CAN live well today. You CAN find strength today. You CAN be filled with joy and peace today.

But you could also can spend this day examining and categorizing all the reasons why this is insanely unfair, and you would be right. You can make a list and alphabetize the list of people who should have been there, but weren’t. Add to that list every bad thing that’s ever happened to you and all that could go wrong next. It’s a long list isn’t it? But remember this, as you do this, life is passing you by and the opportunities to live are limited. This isn’t living. This is a state of undetectable activity without disappearing completely. This is a waste.

Don’t waste what God has given you. He has given you life, but are you going to live it? Jesus has offered you living water and he is exactly what you need to keep living during this hard time and not go back into a state of non-existence.

Let’s go back to the woman at the well. The woman who’s life was a mess after going through 5 husbands and lining up the next one. Jesus offered her water and she questioned. Why would I need something you have? Who are you? How could you possibly have what I need? You don’t know me. But he proved he knew her by telling her everything she had ever done. However, what she had done did not disqualify her from what Jesus was offering her.

You are not disqualified from the offering of Jesus. Your sin isn’t too big. Your problem isn’t too far gone. GOD ACTUALLY DOES HAVE WHAT YOU NEED. LIKE EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED. This is all workable in the hands of the Almighty. I like to call it “work-out-able”.

Won’t you trust him here? Won’t you receive his living water and be strengthened? This is exactly what you need to get back to living here.

Take a drink. Jesus is offering you life right now, and this life is worth living!

Your song for today is “Always on Time” by Elevation. Listen to these words:

I remember how you provided
How you held me through the night
And I remember how you sustained me
When you stepped in to save my life
If I knew then what I know now
I would be still and let you work it out
Jesus
I was tossed in the water
But I never went under
You were always on time

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