Running on Empty

Do you feel drained, wondering how you will be able to take the next step? Maybe you feel like you are running on empty. Me too!

A sigh escaped unintentionally as I negotiated the heavy traffic. Troubled at my inability to help a friend in a difficult situation, I did not know how to proceed.  Despite my best suggestions, the solution to her problem appeared unattainable.

Uncertainty of what to do next left me feeling frustrated and exhausted. Maybe you have felt like that too.

I received a reminder of hope in a very unlikely place.

Our local gas station, my favorite, closed a few weeks ago. The final stages of the dismantling of the station, removing the underground tanks, was underway. They caught my eye as I drove by. Caked in dirt, enormous and empty they were lying exposed in the parking lot.  

The sight jogged my memory. A few weeks earlier, in the sweltering summer heat of the Deep South, I had spotted the driver of the gas tanker truck sitting in a sliver of shade. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he filled the underground tanks. A lengthy but greatly appreciated process. Over years of filling my car up, I never found the pumps to be empty.

The picture danced across my mind as I drove. Just as gasoline filled the underground tanks, I believe that God’s love can fill me, and you.

 “Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, he should come to Me and drink! ³⁸ The one who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” John 37b-38 (HCSB)

Streams of living water, available to anyone! Refreshing us and those around us.

Believers can now get this living water directly from Jesus. We just need to realize that we are thirsty.

The Spirit will guide us. He will help us to understand the Bible and show us how we can use it to transform our lives.  

When we are feeling completely drained, just like those underground gas tanks, we can be re-filled!

We can understand, experience and enjoy Jesus’ love and guidance whenever we want. We can go back for more refreshment again and again with no sense of shame; even with the same question or need.

I realized that I was exhausted and thirsty, so, I went to Jesus and drank.

When I returned home, I prayed. How could I help my friend? I calmly read the Bible. I waited.

The answer that I received was to see her differently; to look at her with compassion.

Startled, I realized that in focusing on a solution to the problem, I had lost track of the pain that immersed my friend. Frustrated no more my sense of exhaustion slipped away. I picked up the phone and just listened. No solution was found, but our friendship grew.

We may not get an immediate answer to our problems, but refreshed, and with new insights, we will be able to take the next steps forward in our lives.

We no longer need to run on empty.