This photo has hung on the wall in my workroom for the past four years. I found it one day in a charity shop (that’s a ‘thrift shop’ for some readers). I hadn’t gone there with any intention of buying anything that day, I was with a friend who enjoys charity shops as much as I do. While she was in the queue at the checkout, my eyes casually scanned the shop. Suddenly the simple, black and white photograph caught my eye.

In a wooden frame, it was leaning against the wall, half obscured by other frames. But I could see it was something special and felt my heart start to beat a little faster as I cleared the other frames out of the way. I pulled the picture out, leant against the others and stood back to look at it properly. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.

Right there in the middle of the busy shop, noisy with the sound of chatter and passing traffic, I could hear that still, small voice of God, speaking right into my heart. I looked at how the water gushed over the outstretched, cupped hands, filling them and spilling over in an abundant flow. And in those few seconds, God reminded me that this is how He gives! It’s how He provides for His children and how He gives His love: not in a little trickle, but in a mighty, lavish, gushing abundance, that you cannot contain. It saturates, spills over, touches those around you.

Often, when I look at this photo now as it hangs on my wall, I’m reminded of the song ‘Pieces’ by Steffany Gretzinger; one of the lines says ‘you [Jesus] don’t give your heart in pieces’. More importantly though, I’m reminded of this, one of my favourite scriptures in Ephesians:

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
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Ephesians 3:18-19

That’s my prayer for you today, as you read this.

Jill💜