One day I was thumbing through one of my Bibles and praying, “Lord, how do you heal people who suffer from emotional illnesses? Is it the same way in which you heal people with physical illnesses?” The Holy Spirit led me to read about two different women in the Bible. 

One was the woman at the well (John 4:1-42). As I read this passage repeatedly, I learned something about this conversation Jesus was having with the Samaritan woman. He was discussing this “thirst” she had. And the Holy Spirit revealed to me that the thirst in our lives is the God-sized void in our hearts. Many of us try to fill that void or thirst with relationships, which all fail because of the pressure we are putting on them. No human being or relationship can fill a God-sized void in our lives. Jesus pointed out this woman’s issues with relationships—she had five husbands, and the man she was with was not even her husband! She obviously needed emotional healing. Jesus was constantly delivering people in the way they desperately needed deliverance. He was continually healing the physically sick and casting demons out of people. However, with this woman, I noticed that He ministered to her about her thirst, and living water. Water, in the Bible, is often used to symbolize God’s Word, and rivers of living of water also describe the Holy Spirit. John 7:38 says, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:39 defines this river in more detail, “But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed—trusted, had faith—in Him were afterward to receive” (Amplified Bible). 

Many times we just can’t seem to understand practically how the void within us can be filled by God. We may know that God fills us with part of Himself at the point of salvation, but we may be wondering how to tap into this continual divine connection that fills the void in our lives? How does God fill the void in our lives? I’ve discovered that the void in my life is filled once I am engaged in His presence, making a connection with Him through worship, praise, prayer, meditation, and Bible study. It is also when He heals and directs my emotions. In other words, He restores my soul (Psalm 23:3). The Apostle Paul prayed a powerful prayer for Christians in Ephesians 3:16. In the Amplified Bible it reads, “May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit [Himself]—indwelling your innermost being and personality.” Verse 19 says, “[That you may really come] to know—practically, through experience for yourselves—the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience); that you may be filled (through your being) unto all the fullness of God—[that is] may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!” When we take the time to meditate on this scripture, we understand that God does the filling all by Himself, not us. And finding true fulfillment within a relationship with Him is hard to explain. He deals with us on an individual basis. However, He does it all by His grace through our faith in Him.

But now I know from experience that Jesus heals the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18). I can also make a divine connection with Him, and that connection heals my soul. He is the manifested Word of God—the Word made flesh. And the Word is also health to all my flesh! (Proverbs 4:22).As I studied the story of this woman at the well, I saw that this encounter with Jesus changed her life. She began to tell her people, the Samaritans, to “come and see the man who gave me revelation about myself and my issues.” She asked, “Could this be the Messiah?” It appears that this woman longed to truly worship God. She wanted to truly know Him. And Jesus knew the deepest desire of her heart. Many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of her testimony (John 4:7-42).

*Excerpt from Bittersweet: Dealing with Our Emotional Issues