Blessings to all of you !
Recently our family was blessed to go on a wonderful beach vacation. We enjoyed it, but as is the case with most vacations, there were comforts of home to be missed. Mine was drinking water. My taste has been a bit spoiled by the pure water source in our home. Other water just doesn’t compare and sometimes still leaves me thirsty.
In my thirst, I felt The Holy Spirit bring to my mind the story of our well. I would like to share this story of God’s goodness with you as we draw near to the Feast of Pentecost.
About a year ago our family moved to the country and we have been building a homestead. This has been a step by step process which has taken a lot of planning and discernment. As we have prayed, my husband and I both felt we should get a well.
There have been some challenges along the way in bringing this to fruition. We spent a long period on a waitlist for the drilling. After several months the well company finally came, only for us to discover the size and weight of their drilling vehicle was not conducive to our property. So we had to turn them away.
Thankfully we found another company with a better vehicle. This was followed by more waiting though, including weather delays. Ground conditions must be just right to drill for water.
Finally the day arrived.
There is a joy in fulfilling something you feel God is leading you to do. Because of our humanity, there is also some nervousness in the unknown. This is definitely the case with drilling for water.
When the drill begins, the end point is undetermined. You might reach water at 100 feet, 600 feet or more. The cost is also undetermined. It is based on how deep you drill. And although it is rare, there is the larger risk of not reaching water at all.
Drilling for water takes a leap of faith.
Before the workday arrived the contractor had showed us a map of the wells in our area and their depths. It seemed we had a good chance of hitting water quickly.
But, no guarantees.
Although we were saying yes to God in doing this our hope was for an inexpensive, shallow well.
The ground breaking was exciting.
Well drilling is a fascinating process.
Large drilling rods are loaded onto a rig and driven into the ground one by one until water is reached.
Then a metal casing is inserted to seal and protect the well from groundwater contaminates. This provides a clean and sturdy vessel for water to adequately flow through.
We watched them do this for awhile. 100 feet… 200 feet. A few hours into it they were still loading and drilling at 300 feet.
Each new pipe loaded onto the rig brought with it an anticipation and excitement of hitting water soon.
400 feet… now we could see this well was not going to be quite as shallow as we had thought.
Load, drill, repeat.
And so this went on throughout the day.
At the end of the day they had drilled to 500 feet and had not reached water yet. They told us they would need to come back the next day to continue.
I was not feeling as much excitement as before. Just how deep will they have to drill?
The pile of rock sediment in the yard was growing.
It’s a funny thing about our humanity. When we step forward do God’s will, sometimes we assign our own expectation to the outcome.
When the next day arrived we knew we needed grace for this walk in Trust, so we went to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. It was The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Afterwards, our pastor who had been praying for our well reassured us: “Today is Our Lady of Lourdes, you will hit water.”
When we returned home the rig was still at work.
Jesus, I trust in you.
By mid-day the depth was 600 feet and they were still drilling.
Load, drill, repeat.
Each new pipe loaded onto the rig brought with it a hope of the end.
I won’t mention what the pile of sediment in the yard was like now. And the fun the kids and dog were having in it.
Then the driller asked us an important question:
“Do you want us to keep going?”
There was a temptation to stop, but it didn’t make sense to. We knew God had a plan, a purpose and a mission to accomplish through this. So we gave them the ok to press forward.
The waiting and anticipation began to feel like thirst.
700 feet and no water yet.
This drill was going deeper than we wanted it to. We wanted to Trust in God’s plan, but this was hard when thinking about the cost.
I turned to the Blessed Mother in the Rosary and made a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. While we were at prayer, the drillers penetrated through a thick layer of bedrock that lies deep underground in our area. Through this rock flows a rich abundance of water.
Water from a rock
Drilling through this was the most pressing and laborious phase. In hindsight I can see how this paralleled our interior trial.
The contractor said as they drilled through this layer, the sediment coming out of the ground change to a beautiful blue color. Which is interesting, because this was the same time I was petitioning The Blessed Mother.
Then… it happened.
Water at 780 feet
I felt such relief and a deep sense of celebration. God finishes what He starts!
There are great advantages to having a deep well. Especially one that reaches into the bedrock. In the depths of this rock flows a rich supply of clear water, so abundant that it is unaffected by drought.
The disadvantage of a deep well is it is more work to extract water. There is physical labor in pumping by hand and a higher cost for an electric pump.
But it was evident God was already blessing us with an abundance of clear water, surely He will provide the means to retrieve it. So we prayed for God to bring water that could be drawn out easily.
Then something interesting happened.
A few days later our youngest son noticed a stream of water trickling from the well cap. We thought it was a leak. After inspection it was discovered to be not a leak, but instead a natural flow of water.
The inspector told us we have what is called an Artesian well, which is rare to come by. These wells have water that flows from natural pressure without a need for pumping.
This creates a continuous flow of water, like a spring.
God is so good. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow.
The name comes from Artois, France where historically the best known flowing wells were dug.
How remarkable to find water on Our Lady of Lourdes feast day, then discover the type of well is like a spring from a rock and has an origin in France. And all as an answer to prayer.
To me, this was the evidence of Our Lady’s hand .
In Lourdes she asked St Bernadette to drink from the water in the ground.
She was asked to step out in faith although it seemed crazy. And the result was a spring. A continuous flow of healing water still present today.
There were moments during this adventure we wondered if we were crazy. And questioned if we were doing the right thing, especially when the drill started running deep.
But there is an important thing I have learned in all of this.
God is so very big.
When we Trust in Him, He will do big things. It is no coincidence that when I gave greater surrender over in prayer, the flow of water came.
“Tell souls that from this fount of mercy souls draw graces solely with the vessel of trust. If their trust is great, there is no limit to My generosity. The torrents of grace inundate humble souls.”
Saint Faustina’s Diary entry No. 1602
When He asks something of us, we have to be All In. Which means accepting whatever comes with the yes we have given.
I can see how the drill through the bedrock symbolized our struggle in trusting His outcome.
Like the Israelites.
While in exodus God provided so much for them. But yet they became anxious and fearful, not trusting their needs would be met.
So He gave them water from a rock.
At the start of this project our hope was to have a simple shallow well. But He had a different plan.
It took time to recognize the blessings He was giving us in this, which surpassed the cost.
So often in our humanity we do not Trust what Our Heavenly Father wants to give us. Or we expect little.
But He has more.
In our trials and tribulation it is easy to get caught up in stress and fear, wondering when the end will come.
“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6
It is a challenge to trust when we don’t know what lies ahead, especially when we are walking through a trial. I wrote here about Trust while traveling on a bumpy road : https://hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2021/02/24/unpaved-road-ahead/
The weight of our trials can sometimes feel very pressing, like the labor of drilling through bedrock.
Or like the labor pains just before birth. Our well drilling experience felt very much like labor pains to me. The waiting , the unknown, the anticipation…the water.
I believe we are living in a time of labor pains leading up to a great birth of the Holy Spirit, which I wrote about here:https://hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2021/11/23/giving-birth/
I believe as God drills through the layers of evil and sinfulness in the world, we will be freed and He will pour His Spirit upon us, like water.
For us individually, if we are open, He will fill us.
Just as ground conditions must be just right to drill for water, the soil of our hearts must be just right to receive His Spirit. Our wills have to be open and ready for Him to do His work within us.
As disciples we need to be healed and freed of our wounds and sinfulness, the things that place a barrier between us and The Lord.
The bedrock.
When are open to The Holy Spirit He permeates us.
Boring through the layers of muck and hardness in our hearts, providing a firm casing so we can live in freedom as clean and strong vessels for Him to flow through.
Sometimes the work that God wants to do within us takes time. And He may go deeper than we want Him to.
But there are benefits to going deep. Through the layers you reach the rock: Jesus. Out of Him flows clear, abundant water, unaffected by drought. Water from the rock
“Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.’” John 7:38
The water is where we are healed, like at Lourdes.
Drilling through bedrock can be uncomfortable. But we have Our Dear Mother in heaven, the spouse of the Holy Spirit, to accompany us. As a good mother she is with us through the most difficult labor pains, helping us to give birth.
In Jesus the rock, is Our Lady who brings us to her son. Like the blue rock that came out of the bedrock during the drill. This happened near the end right before they reached water.
After the drill comes the blessing. The never ending stream of clear, good tasting water to drink from, which flows out to others from us.
Do you thirst for the good water that satisfies? Sometimes we grow accustomed to drinking the water that is not the most flavorful.
But God has more.
I’m talking about the Holy Spirit.
Now is the time for Catholics to boldly ask God for more.
Just as He told the woman at the well: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” John 4:10
He desires to fill us to overflowing with His Spirit. So like the artesian well, His love, mercy and grace will pour out of us continuously, reaching far and wide in our Church.
“Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14
We have been in a dry season in Our Church for a long time, which I wrote about here : hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/breath-in-the-valley/
I sense that God is calling His faithful in these times to discover their gifts and put them into action for His kingdom which I wrote about here : hisbreathfills.wordpress.com/2021/05/19/come-with-your-fire/
This Pentecost I invite you to drink of the water that gives life. Be open to The Holy Spirit! Be blessed, be filled .
Breath of God 