Drink Deeply of the Savior’s Living Water, Sister Browning Encourages

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By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News

Imagine an ordinary day — mundane, filled with routines. But suppose that during the course of that ordinary day comes an encounter with Jesus Christ. 

“Can you imagine what that would mean for your life and for your eternal journey to have such an experience with the Savior?” asked Sister Tracy Y. Browning, Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, during an Ensign College devotional on Tuesday, November 18. 

In the New Testament, a woman of Samaria walks to a well in the heat of the day to draw water — an ordinary errand — and has such an encounter. The Savior asks the woman for a drink. She responds by articulating the factors that seemingly separated her and Him, including the strain that existed at the time between her people and His. 

The Savior, however, “did not demonstrate the least concern about perceived Jewish-Samaritan tension,” Sister Browning said. Instead, He speaks of quenching a deeper thirst, one that could not be satisfied by the water from the well, “but only with something infinitely greater” — living water. 

In addressing students and faculty gathered in the Conference Center Theater, Sister Browning shared insights and lessons gleaned from the account of the woman at the well found in John 4 and the blessing of the Savior’s gift of living water. 

Sister Browning told listeners, “In a complex world full of competing voices and lesser fountains, I pray that you drink deeply of the Savior’s living water and be blessed by the constant flow of nourishment that will come as you turn to Him.” 

Living Water in the Eternal Story 

The story of the woman at the well can be viewed as a reflection of each individual’s eternal story, said Sister Browning. 

“The woman’s journey to the well mirrors our journey into mortality. She came seeking water to sustain daily life. We came into this world to gain a body, to face opposition and to learn to rely on the Savior for true nourishment,” Sister Browning said. 

The world often divides by culture, by perspectives and by circumstance, she said. “Yet the Savior meets us beyond those boundaries. His living water crosses every line we draw and heals the fractures and divisions of humanity.” 

Individuals have the opportunity to encounter Jesus in ordinary daily moments: in prayer, study, reflection and remembering, and through seeking out the Holy Ghost. “Those moments thereby have an opportunity to be transformative, to be a place of meeting where we can have the Savior revealed to us and drink frequently from His living water,” said Sister Browning. 

At the well, the Savior offers the gift of living water, “which fills every hunger and quenches every thirst. His offering has sustaining power. It fills our empty vessels to the satisfaction of our souls, not just our bodies.” 

All must experience a spiritual awakening similar to the woman at the well, who comes to recognize the Lord’s true identity as the Christ. “The gift of the Holy Ghost can help us to see the Savior, His ministry and His mission more clearly,” Sister Browning said. 

John records that the woman “left her waterpot.“ In a similar way, individuals must “leave behind what once seemed essential but is no longer enough. Our covenants with God invite us to set down vessels of worldly reliance and begin to walk the covenant path that leads back to Him. We might consider what the Spirit is directing us to leave behind to come closer to the Savior,” Sister Browning said. 

After her encounter with the Savior, the woman runs to tell her people, Sister Browning continued. “In the same pattern, the plan of happiness calls each of us to love, share and invite others to partake of what we have received, to come unto Christ and partake of His goodness.” 

The story of the woman at the well shows discipleship is not separate from daily life. 

“It is found within it,” said Sister Browning. “Every effort we make to turn to Jesus Christ — the source of living water — is an expression of our relationship with God and an invitation for His sustaining power to flow into our lives. He really is there and will give us the help we need.” 

Sister Browning told the devotional’s listeners: “You are invited to come see the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who knows you perfectly, who loves you completely and who offers you living water freely. You can trust Him and continue to develop trust in Him. He has the power to fill your soul and quench your spiritual thirst.” 

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