**The Women At The Well is a new series of lesson plans for single moms. I have gathered a community of other single moms, who meet regularly, enjoy a meal together, learn together and hold each other accountable. I have developed a curriculum to teach at our gatherings. You are invited to follow along as we journey onto higher ground, “the path to life”. **
Our Road Map
The Desert and The Road – Session 1
READ JOHN 4: 1-24, 39,41
Notes from Jesus meeting the woman at the well taken from “The Life Application Study Bible, NLT” and the notes in italic are my thoughts to you.
4: 7-9 “This woman (1) was a Samaritan, a member of the hated mixed race, (2) was known to be living in sin, and (3) was in a public place. No respectable Jewish man would talk to a woman under such circumstances. But Jesus did. The Good News is for every person, no matter what her race, social position, or past sins. Jesus crosses all barriers to share the Good News!!– we are this woman, broken, sinning, married, divorced, sleeping/living with our boyfriends. Jesus is stopping to speak to us!
4: 10 “What did Jesus mean by ‘living water’? In saying he would bring living water that could forever quench a person’s thirst for God, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. Only the Messiah could give this gift that satisfies the soul’s desire. – Are we so incredibly thirsty for something? For the hurting to stop? For attention? Love? Affection? Life?? Jesus is promising “living water” if we just follow him instead drinking our own water. ONLY He satisfies our SOULS desires!
4: 15 – “The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water Jesus offered, she would not have to return to the well each day. She was interested in Jesus’ message because she thought it would make her life easier. But if that were always the case, people would accept Christ’s message for the wrong reasons. Christ did not come to take away challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God’s perspective.”
4 :16-20 – “When this woman discovered that Jesus knew all about her private life, she quickly changed the subject. Often people become uncomfortable when the conversation is too close to home, and they try to talk about something else.” -How often when we are convicted, do we start change the subject and argue about another topic to make ourselves look right or justify our actions?
4: 20-24 – She may have thought she was steering him off topic, but Jesus took the teaching moment. She had to learn the truth about Jesus in order to accept the truth about Jesus. Jesus then revealed himself to her in a tender loving way. This news changed her life forever. He saved her life!
4: 39-42 – The once scorned and embarrassed woman quickly ran back to the village and told everyone about the messiah. Through her testimony people believed and flocked to Jesus who was still waiting at the well.
Point A – The Well at the edge of the desert: You are here. At the well. You’ve come back from another long journey in the desert thirsty and tired.
HOW DID YOU GET HERE?
(Divorce, affair, addiction, past abuse)
WHAT IS HERE? WHAT DOES TODAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
WRITE DOWN SOME WORDS TO DESCRIBE HERE.
The Desert is a wide open space of dry wasteland. I can do whatever, say whatever, be whatever, live my life in whatever way I choose. I have no rules, no bossy person telling me what to do, I’m free.
But are you really? When you have no rules, you also have no compass. When you have no compass you have no idea where you are heading. You wander from feeling to feeling. You are just following your own feelings. Feelings are deceptive, ever changing, unreliable. What if your feelings are anger, frustration, sexual desire, temptation, pleasing others, emptiness, un-forgiveness, codependency. The satisfaction of your desires and feelings become your compass.
WHAT FEELINGS AND DESIRES TO YOU FIND YOURSELF BEING LED BY?
WHAT TEMPTATIONS DO YOU STRUGGLE WITH?
In our everyday lives, what does the Desert look like? I have discovered five main areas of our lives we struggle with as single moms.
- Self-Worth: Because of hurt, rejection, abandonment, past abuse, we believe we aren’t worth anything more than what we’ve received up to this point. If I had any value, people wouldn’t treat me so poorly.
- Faith: We love God, but we question “obedience” and is what God says really true. Can we really trust that Jesus is who he says he is? What would it look like to follow Jesus?
- Purpose: We often wonder what we’re here on Earth for, questioning our purpose, dreams and goals. We ask ourselves, “what am I good at, how have I been gifted, what do I love to do?”
- Parenting: We want to be the best moms and yet we parent out of guilt and fear. We don’t often realize we are wondering around the desert with our children in tow.
- Relationships: We find ourselves in relationships to satisfy a desire or an emptiness. We are attracted to the men we know aren’t men of character and integrity. We making compromises we never thought we’d make to fill the empty, hurting, broken place, created by rejection, and abandonment.
If you believe the desert is all you are worth, the desert is where you’ll stay. You have to acknowledge where you are and have to decide you never want to be here again.
Point B – The Path: Take Jesus by the hand and follow Him up the path to life.
Jesus has greeted us at the well. He knows everything there is to know about us, the good, the bad, the ugly. He has extended us an invitation, to take in the living water.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO ACCEPT THE LIVING WATER?
Taking a drink of the living water immediately signals a declaration our souls are thirsty and in need. We will no longer be satisfied with the desert we’ve been wandering in and are choosing to change directions. We will now be following the path to life. The path to life leads to breaking generational curse, healing, and restoration, receiving and giving forgiveness, redemption. Being made new, being used by God in mighty ways, claiming God’s promises for you.
WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE GOD TO TAKE YOU?
WHAT ARE YOUR DREAMS AND DESIRES FOR PURPOSE? You have them, don’t be afraid to claim them!
WHAT ARE YOU DREAMS FOR YOUR KIDS?
Moment of truth, do I stay in the desert or do I follow Jesus up the path? My moment of truth sounded like this, “I will NEVER go back there again! I will NEVER put my children through another divorce, by God’s power. Jesus, my life is yours. You promise to protect, provide and never abandon me.”
THIS IS YOUR MOMENT OF TRUTH. WRITE YOUR DECLARATION HERE:
The Women At The Well has three foundational values. We are about Truth, Transformation and Community. You are here because you are ready to hear the Truth. Jesus says it time and again, “I tell you the truth.” Truth leads to Transformation. You desire to be transformed and made new. Truth and Transformation happen in a Community. Acceptance is influence. When you surround yourself with a community of sisters who demonstrate God’s love to each other, hold each other accountable, and rebuild trust in relationships through acceptance.
We will accomplish Truth, Transformation and Community through meeting regularly, sharing a meal together, teaching, discussion, putting into practice what we’ve learned and finally reading the bible and praying daily for transformation.
GO HOME AND PRAY ABOUT YOUR MOMENT OF TRUTH. WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS, QUESTIONS, FEARS:
