In many ways, this time of the year is both rejuvenating and exhausting!

Winter’s harshness has left its mark behind with the requisite maintenance needs. Yards and gardens come alive and need tending. There are a plethora of wonderful outdoor activities beckoning. And, of course, one’s everyday responsibilities do not disappear with the season’s change.

Needing a bit of a pause, we took several days to get away to the Upper Peninsula and simply “be.”

Though we’ve been to Tahquamenon Falls before, that natural wonder is always worth revisiting, which we did. Walking the peaceful woods, accompanied by the sounds of rushing waters tumbling over rocks, was both soothing and exhilarating. As so often happens, spiritual parallels floated gently into my mind while we traced the meandering river’s path.

There are many places in the Bible where God speaks of His Spirit flowing like a river to His people — what powerful imagery filled with eternal truths that are important to understand and apply.

A river flows without stopping and teams with life!

The Upper Tahquamenon Falls has a maximum water flow of more than 50,000 gallons per second. That is a lot of water and a lot of power. It is unending and continuous.

The Prophet Ezekiel was shown a vision of the life-giving spiritual river flowing from God’s Temple. Everything the water touched was made fresh and alive (Ezekiel 47). What had once been stagnant and lifeless was healed.

At one time, my life was spiritually stagnant and lifeless. I desperately needed to be healed and made alive within. I finally came to recognize that I could not change myself and that I needed to experience God’s River of Life.

A river provides thirst-quenching waters of refreshment!

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:2-3).”

We are all welcomed and invited to drink from the well of salvation. His name is Jesus, and he promised that, when we come to him, we will find living water that will satisfy our spiritual thirst.

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said; streams of living water will flow from within him. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believe in him were later to receive (John 7:37-39).”

In Jesus, my spiritual thirst is satisfied, and I can daily partake of his living water.

A river is a place of washing and cleansing!

A dear elderly friend shared stories her mother told of joining the neighborhood women in washing their dirty laundry in the river. She recalled how the woods rang with their laughter while they worked at the water’s edge, scrubbing and rinsing the clothing.

“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).”

I have been to the River. My life needed cleansing. I needed to be washed of my failures, my shame, my anger, and bitterness.

A river is also a place of opportunity!

The Lower Tahquamenon Falls consists of five smaller falls cascading around an island and can now be accessed via a recently constructed bridge. We crossed the bridge and were finally able to enjoy the view and explore the trails that we had never been able to reach before.

Spiritually, a river is often used to symbolize a place of crossing or moving beyond a boundary. It can represent new beginnings and moving into a new season to possess the promises and provisions of God.

Over the years, I’ve had to cross many “rivers” or obstacles in my life’s journey.

Sometimes, they appeared to be unfordable boundaries, but I could sense God showing me that they were instead challenges to be faced. As I stepped into the waters, allowing God to drown my fears, he empowered me to break their grip, and I found new freedom on the other side.

I can sincerely say that my most important life lesson has been realizing that only the River of Life can truly give me life and only the River of Life can truly quench my spiritual thirst and only the River of Life can truly cleanse and heal me.

Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well that “everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4).”

Michelle Smith serves alongside her husband, Gary, as part of the leadership team of New Life Christian Fellowship. She founded Purely Women Ministries with the purpose of helping women of all ages discover their true identity as women of God. She can be reached at michelle@newlifealpena.org.