Cheer UP! Podcast
Cheer UP! Podcast
Seen, Known, and Loved
The Woman at the Well was so transformed by her encounter with Jesus that she couldn't help but tell everyone—even those who had rejected her. What would happen if we shared our stories with the same boldness? New episode available now on all platforms. 🎧 #Hope #FaithStories
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Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, Kara R Hunt, and with me today, as always, is the beautiful and glamorous and fabulous Sherri Swalwell. How are you doing today, Sherri?
Speaker 2:I am doing great, and can you believe that we are? It is almost a month to the day well, not day of the week, but day of the calendar for Easter, so almost a month away. So we're right in the heart of Lent season and it's getting to where it's more sunny and warm out, at least kind of around our neck of the woods.
Speaker 2:And I just can't believe that we are almost at Easter of 2025. Can you believe it? A month from now, a month and a day, April 20th will be Easter, and today is March 19th Crazy.
Speaker 1:I know, like, can you just believe it? Like I don't know, I don't know. Time is just going by so, so fast. And speaking of time, we just want to take this time to thank all of our podcast listeners, whether you're new or whether you've been listening to us the past couple of seasons. We just want to take the time to just say hi, thank you for tuning in every week, thank you for joining us today if this is your first time, and thank all of you for taking the time out of your day, whether it's morning, afternoon or night, but just taking the time out of your day to listen to our podcast. Thank you so much. And thank you for all of you who have taken the time to like to leave a review, to subscribe, to download on the various podcasts and platforms excuse me on the various platforms that the podcasts are played on and uploaded to, and we just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1:I've heard it said many times in the past that time is when someone gives you their time that's so much more valuable than any type of money that they could give you, and I don't want anyone, any of our listeners, to ever think that we take that for granted and that we appreciate you. We love you all. We may not have met all of you, but we love you all. Our hearts are with you, and we know that we have global listeners as well as national ones, and we just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time out of your week, your day, to just sit and listen to the Cheer Up podcast. It blesses us more than you know, and we pray that, if you're blessed by it, that you would take the time to share it so that someone else may be too. Thank you so much. Okay, so, oh, sherry, wow, we're still talking about biblical figures from the New Testament, am I right?
Speaker 2:Yes, and I am loving it. Right, yes, and I am loving it. I just it's so neat because we and I know you and I did not talk about Josiah a king who was eight years old when he became king, by the way, and this was in the Old Testament but one of our pastors did a sermon on Josiah and because God started me reading through the Bible before you and I decided to do this so that I actually was more prepared. So he was giving me homework for the podcast long before you and I decided that we were going to do biblical figures on the podcast.
Speaker 2:But, as God gave me homework for that, I learned all about Josiah, so that when I heard the sermon I wasn't like Josiah. Who in the world is Josiah? I have known nothing about this guy, josiah, and he was eight years old to boot. Like, seriously, like I had some context and it just made the sermon that much richer. And that, I think, is why we continue to do Old Testament and New Testament biblical figures, because we want you to grow to love reading the Bible for yourself and discovering all the nuggets and the gems of the Bible and the people in the Bible, just like we're doing. That, and a shameless plug, yes, but if you want to, if you don't, if reading the Bible yourself and studying the Bible yourself feels too overwhelming, I get that. I would never have stuck with it Probably the way that I have, if I didn't have a group of women who, um, read the Bible with me. So as a result of that, of being blessed myself as woman, I then God had me create the Jesus in the Everyday membership, and that part of the membership, part of the perks of the membership, is reading through the Bible and having somebody to read it through with you, so that if you have questions, or you just have that aha moment where you're like, really God said that. Like you have no idea how important that is to me and you just want to share that with somebody because you're so excited. Well, jesus in the Everyday is a great place for you to do that. So head on over to my website and you can look up the Jesus in the Everyday membership, and I would be so thrilled to have you join that family.
Speaker 2:So, having said that, I know that was a shameless plug and I didn't mean it to be, but in all honesty, kara, it's so true. Like I love reading the Bible because I have people to read it with and I am discovering so many more things and, like I said, it makes sermons more interesting because I understand the context behind it. I said it makes sermons more interesting because I understand the context behind it. I mean, our pastors do a great job don't get me wrong of giving the background, but when you have read it yourself, you have this additional layers that just make it so much more impactful. God can speak at a different level to me because he's already laid the groundwork. So, yeah, I mean I love that we are still doing biblical figures. That is a very, very long answer to an agreement of you of yes, I love it but you know what it's also important.
Speaker 1:And, as women, I just think now I know I can't say this about all women and everything else, and I can't even say in general women, but I think I can say that a lot of women, maybe the majority of women, we're social people and when we do things, we like to do them together. Rarely will you see, I think, women, you know, wanting to see a movie, and they just go by themselves. Now again, I know there are women out there like that, you know, but usually they're calling up a friend or a group of friends, right, and hey, I really want to see this new movie that's out. Hey, you want to come with. Or, oh, I just read this great book, you guys want to discuss it in a book club. Or, hey, I just cooked a big, huge pot of chili and you girls want to come over for lunch, you know, and we just have some fun, you know, or something like that. Women, we just tend to be what's the word? I'm looking like this Friendly, social.
Speaker 2:Social like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, that's the word. Okay, I was trying to figure out if that was the right word. But yeah, we tend to be very social like that and it's the same thing when it comes to Bible study. So you're absolutely right. If, when people, when you're able to be able to do that time and spend that time with someone who, may you know, have already studied a lot of it before you, or you may know a whole lot, and you can contribute to the community type environment, and yet you're able to, every day you look forward to that email, to that text, and yet you're able to, every day you look forward to that email, to that text, to that conversation, to continue that conversation that you've been having with someone else you know, women that is so much up our alley and we just really, really enjoy that. So do you need a community group to study the Bible or to talk with someone like that?
Speaker 1:I think, some of us do Honestly. I really really do, because I think sometimes we'll just of us do Honestly. I really really do, because I think sometimes we'll just put it off. Oh, I get to it tomorrow. But when you have made a commitment and you're like you know what I'm going to see this through, and when you do it, you'll just be amazed at how far you grow. It's just we're really community nature, by nature, I believe, with women and things like that and then wow, just the growth when you're able to do it with a group of people or someone else is just astronomical. You'll be so blessed by it. Okay, I'm done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I completely agree. There are so many things in life that I would not have stuck and followed through with if I did not have that community. And that segues really well into the woman at the well today, because the well was not just the place where the women got the water for the day and the water they needed, the well to water the livestock they would use the well to cook with, they would use the well to gather water for their whole entire day and most women went to that. They would wake up and look forward to going to the well because that was where you know they had that. It was kind of like the water cooler. They had that place to to just kind of chat with Sally for a minute and find out how did she do, you know, did she finish? Okay, back then they didn't have books, but if they, did the conversation would go something like did you finish Lydia last night?
Speaker 2:Because I did, and it was fantastic. I couldn't believe how the author, kara R Hunt, was able to make that twist so amazingly believable. It was fabulous. I cannot wait now for the next one in the series for Eve.
Speaker 2:So I mean, like that was kind of like the you know what it was like back then, or community was just huge. And that is one of the reasons why this story, the Woman at the Well, is so important. And that is one of the reasons why this story, the woman at the well, is so important. And I think that it's a really good one to follow, to piggyback on the woman, the woman with the issue of the blood that we talked about last week. So I looked it up and you can only find the woman at the well in John. So it was John four one through 42.
Speaker 2:And that seems like it's, you know, a huge amount of stuff to read, but it really wasn't, because it reads as a story. So it's basically one chapter in a fiction book. To be honest with you, it's not long at all, but it's packed with so much truth. So Jesus, well, first off, you kind of have to know that Jesus was and you got to help me with this for a second, kara, because I am drawing a blank what was he like? What was his? Not his culture, but what was? He was a. He was from Nazareth, but what he was? A Jew. Okay, nevermind. So it was just sorry. I get kind of confused sometimes, but this is why I need a Bible study, because I need people to think about them this is real life people.
Speaker 2:This is just real life, real life. Sherry, she needs help. Anyway, jesus was a Jew. I digress. Let's get back to the story. So Jesus was a Jew, the disciples were a Jew. And back to the story. So Jesus was a Jew, the disciples were a Jew and they were going through Samaria. Well, samarians and Jews did not mix because of the different cultures and I believe again don't quote me if I'm doing this completely wrong, kara, stop me, but I think that the Samaritans were a mixture of Jews and other people, I don't remember who, but anyway, they didn't like each other at all, like and so if you were a Jew you did not talk to a Samaritan and if you were a Samaritan you would not be talked to by a Jew.
Speaker 2:So Jesus told the disciples to go find something to eat and he went and sat by the. Well, he knew this woman was going to come at noon. Well, there was a lot of a lot of distinction about her coming at noon, because one, like I said, they always went in the morning, early morning, before it got super hot. She came at noon because nobody was there, so she would like sneak in, grab the water that she needed and sneak back out. And he knew she was going to be there and he wanted to have that conversation with her. So he approached her first. And the fact that he did that is huge because, like I said, jews did not talk to Samaritans. A Samaritan could probably attempt to talk to a Jew, but Jews did not talk to Samaritans and Jesus was a Jew and he started the conversation and he asked her. He said will you give me something to drink? And she was taken aback because she's like what do you mean? I'm like vile to you Like?
Speaker 2:you can't drink from my, my cistern or my jar or whatever they're called. And he was like no, he's like I want you to. And then he continued talking to her and he said you know, go get your husband and I'll talk to you about this living water that I have that you'll never have to thirst again. And at first she didn't get it. At first she took it literally and she's like, oh, this would be awesome. I'll never have to come here again and have these people look at me, you know mean and horrible and all that stuff. And I'll tell you in a minute why they scorned her or why they didn't like her. And he said go get your husband. And she says I don't have a husband. And he goes you're right, you don't. You've had five and the one that you're living with right now is not your husband.
Speaker 2:Well, living together outside of marriage back then was a major taboo and that's what this woman was doing and we don't know why. We don't know if she was like proud and rebellious, we don't know if she was desperate, we don't know why she was living with a man outside of marriage, but we know that custom-wise, their customs back then, that was a big, big no-no, you just don't do it. And so, basically, the bottom line of the story is that Jesus, just like with the woman with the issue of blood, he gives her so much more than she could have ever given him. So she gives him a drink of water and he gives her eternal life. He gives her, he shows her that he is the true Messiah and she believes in him. And then her testimony she goes back and she tells the rest of the town, the rest of the community, that she's living in the village, what he did for her and how he helped transform her life. And that in and of itself, if that was the whole story, that would be enough, and then some. That would be a miracle and a blessing, because she's now going to heaven and she now has, she surrendered her life and she is a completely different person. But God never stops there, like God doesn't just stop at the basics, he doesn't just stop at the finale, but to get to the finale he shows us so much more.
Speaker 2:So one of the parts that I want to highlight about this story and about Jesus's compassion is I have heard so many times on Facebook and on social media and so on and so forth, that if you're like, like so. I've heard Jesus being condemned. I've heard Jesus being being described as somebody who is very mean, who's very judgmental, who, um, do it my way or the highway. Yes, jesus knows that his way is the only way. But Jesus does not condemn. He never once condemned this woman for living in sin. He never once condemned her that she should not be living with the man.
Speaker 2:Now, did he tell her the truth? Did he speak about the truth? Did he call a spade a spade? Absolutely. But everything that Jesus does is in love. Jesus would not be loving if he doesn't matter that you're living with him, it doesn't matter that you are going for less than and what's not the best in your life, because living in sin or living with somebody who wasn't her husband back then was not living her best life. And in the Bible it tells us that we are not to be living or committing adultery. Well, sorry, fornication, it's fornication if you're both not married to anybody else it's adultery if one of you is married.
Speaker 2:So I think people throw around the word adultery, but in this case it's fornication life. That is not our best guess and I'm not going to go into that. That's not the point of the story today, but the point that I'm highlighting. The point that I'm bringing out is that Jesus always told the truth. We were just talking the other day, kara, you and I personally privately that we are not good parents if we allow our kids to just run roughshod. That is not being a loving parent. If we bail them out or if we continually and consistently make excuses for their behavior, that is not being a good parent. Well, jesus would not be a loving father if he bailed her out or if he said oh, it doesn't matter, if you're still living in sin, you know you can do this, that or the other.
Speaker 2:Jesus was the epitome of love because he doesn't want us to stay in the pig's love, which is a great we'll be talking about that in a couple of weeks when we talk about the prodigal son. You'll know what I mean by pig's love. But he does not want us staying in a life of sin. But he does not want us staying in a life of sin. He wants us to live the best life.
Speaker 2:In John 10, 10, it says that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I've come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. And that's Jesus talking again, he wants us to have life and have it more abundantly. He knows that there's pain involved if you live with somebody before you get married. He knows there's pain involved if you cheat on your taxes and, you know, go to bed at night worried that it's going to catch up with you. He knows that all of these things that we run to and that we chase to make us feel better in the long run are going to make us more miserable. He knows these things, and so the thing that I love the most, the way that I want to be the most like Jesus, to be completely honest, is to be completely honest, like I want to be able to speak the truth and love the way Jesus does and not act like I'm apologizing.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm so sorry that you're sinning. It's really not that big of a deal. Well, it kind of is a big deal, not because I'm judging you for it. It has nothing to do with me and everything to do with I want you to have that abundant life that Jesus calls us to. Will I still love you regardless, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Jesus was going to love that woman, the woman at the well, no matter what choices she made. He just knew that he had a better alternative for her if she chose to accept it, if she chose to walk in it. He wanted the best for her. We want the best for our friends, we want the best for those around us, and we need to live in a society. We need to step up as a society to want the best for those around us, even if we don't agree with them or disagree with them. I believe that Jesus would have had the same exact reaction towards her even if she had not accepted what he was offering. But I'll tell you what he was offering such a deal that she could not not accept it because it was given to her in love. It was um, or I should say it was presented to her in love. It was presented in such a way that he knew that um, or she knew that he cared, she knew that he wasn't judging her, she knew that he loved her regardless.
Speaker 2:And who doesn't want to accept the best for your life when you have somebody who loves you regardless? Who doesn't? So I mean, I could literally talk about this the woman with the or the woman at the well, for much, much, much, much longer. But those are just some of the, some of the areas that just really stood out to me.
Speaker 2:Oh, and the last one, before I toss it over to you, kara, that I forgot about was she then was so filled with Jesus and with his love and with his forgiveness that she couldn't help but go to those people who had shunned her, go to those people she had been hiding from just that morning. Hey, look at what, look at who came into town and look at what he's offering. And I'm not keeping it to myself because it's too good. I will risk having you turn your back on me or talk bad about me or whatever it is, because this is too good not to share it with you. So those are just some of the highlights that I got from the woman at the well story. What about you, kara?
Speaker 1:I think one of the things that I just love about this story is he didn't go to the women that were there before you know, oh, I never thought of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know the women who were married and you know and everything else and everything else. He went to this one. So I mean he obviously physically saw the woman at the well, like they were sitting in front of each other, next to each other, you know, or standing next to each other and everything else. So he obviously saw her physically, but he saw her spiritually as well, meaning if she had gone with the other women they would have just been like, oh there she is, there's the adulterer, that's the woman that had five husbands or whatever. That's the woman that's living with a man. That's not her husband. You know, they would have just saw her actions.
Speaker 1:Jesus saw her heart. He saw her heart. He actually saw her not just physically, he saw her spiritually, and he's Jesus Christ. He knew exactly what was going on in her life. Not only did, he knew what was going on, he knew why it was happening. We all have a past that sometimes we have allowed to dictate our present. Whether it was horrible parenting, whether it was an abusive relationship, whether it was neglect, whether we've been deceived or lied to for years or decades. We all kind of let something of that just kind of infiltrate our life and sometimes it affects not just our current situation and our current life and our current decisions, but sometimes the future as well and, if we're not careful, down to our children.
Speaker 1:But he knew her reasons for doing it. We don't know. The scriptures doesn't necessarily talk about why she decided to do these things. Did she just have a rebellious heart, you know, like everyone else thought? Was she just throwing it in her face? Or has something happened that had put her in that position? Or did something happen in her childhood that made her be that way?
Speaker 1:He saw her, he saw her. He saw her. He knew the who, the when, the why, the where, the circumstances that led up to it. He knew all of it and he cared. And he saw her. He wasn't just judging her by her actions, like the other women may have. He saw her. What made her up, what the building blocks were that led her to this point? But you know, he saw her, he was empathetic towards her, he loved her, he understood her and he understood everything that had led up to this point. But you know what he didn't do. He did make excuses for her behavior. He loved her too much to do so. He loved her too much to do so. He's like, hey, this is the carrot translation. Hey, I get it, it's been rough, and women here in the New Testament biblical days, like, of course he wouldn't have said that. But again, this is the carrot translation. You know, hey, it's rough, I get it. It hasn't been an easy road. I know what laid your hair. I know why you've made the decisions that you made. You know, and I know why you're resisting, maybe making this change or do something like that. I get it, I understand it. What happened to you was wrong. I get it, but you can't continue like this, and I love you too much to allow you to continue like this, because when you drink the water that I'm about to give you, it's going to change your life forever and I need you to stop doing what you're doing out of love, not just for me, but also for yourself. I have so much more to you, but I can't give it to you until you stop doing these things. You know he didn't pat her on the back like, oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, I get it, you poor thing. No, and like you say, people say well, jesus was masculine toxicity at its worst, right, no, it was at its best. You know, no matter how much we try to deny it, we need and desire strong confidence and leadership and those who's going to look out for us and protect us as women, and this was the woman at the well. She was a woman. So that's why I'm going to say this as women, we want someone who's willing to lay down their lives for us. We want someone who's going to protect us. We want someone who wants the best for us, and a male figure, we want someone who's going to say hey, you know, you're better than this, you're better than this, and I'm going to hold your hand. And boy, am I going to take you on an adventure that you never even saw coming. But to do that, you got to stop doing this. We crave that as human beings and as women, we crave that even more from the male figures in our life. And could there have been a case with her and the man that she had been with? I don't know, because life for women back then was so drastically different than it is for women today. But he saw her, he cared about her, he loved her, he knew the who, what, when, where and why she was doing what she was doing. And he's saying, yeah, stop, cause I got plans, we got plans, I'm going to hold your hand, we're going to walk through this, you know, and everything else, and I just love that.
Speaker 1:So sometimes you may be like oh, I'm surrounded by people but no one gets it. No one knows what I've been through. No one knows why I'm doing what I do. Um, you know, you may be saying I'm such a bad person I do these bad things. I don't even know why I'm doing these bad things. You know, like they say, I'm not that bad, I'm just messed up. You know, some things happen. No one knows what happened to me when I was four years old. No one knows what happened to me when I was eight. No one knows that I was abandoned, neglected. No-transcript. That was a very long answer to a short question, but I just want people to know women, men alike, young and old, reach out to God. It doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter what you're in the midst of doing Amen, it doesn't matter. He loves you too much. He wants you to reach out to him, call out to him and let him talk to you and minister to you, and your life will never be the same.
Speaker 2:And the best way to do that is well, we want to give you that opportunity right now. Well, we want to give you that opportunity right now. Romans 10, 9 tells us if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. It's not the words that we say that makes the difference and that bring us into God's kingdom, it's the heart behind the words. So if that's something that you are feeling drawn to, if you're feeling drawn to Jesus, like the woman at the well was drawn to Jesus, and you want to start that relationship with him the way that she did, then please, we invite you right now to pray this prayer with us, and your life will never be the same, and your life will never be the same. Oh Heavenly Father, I come to you in Jesus' name. I believe you died on the cross and that you rose again and you're seated on the throne. Jesus, forgive me for all that I have done wrong and I choose to forgive all others. Come into my life today and forever. I am yours In Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 2:If you just prayed that prayer, would you email us at cheeruppodcast at gmailcom and let us know that you made that decision. We want to rejoice with you. You made that decision. We want to rejoice with you. We also encourage you to join a Bible-believing church and if you want to head over to sherryswellwellcom and you'll see the monthly membership Consider joining that and making that a commitment of yourself to grow your relationship with God, to grow your relationship with Him while walking alongside other people who are in the same boat. We're also growing our relationship and you know what? It's not a race. We all are going to grow at different paces and we're all going to grow in different ways. And that's the beauty of community is that we can grow together while separate. We can grow together at our own pace in the way that that works best for us all. That matters is that we're all moving forward.
Speaker 2:I wow, I think I love the story of the woman at the well even more now than I did before. And give you a little insider's tip Kara and I talked ahead of time and we're like, okay, who wants to take which story, which biblical events from the Bible to share with you all? I mean, I'm sure that you've probably figured that out, because some weeks I talk about some and some weeks Tara talks more about others and I really wanted to talk about the woman at the well, because I don't know. There's just something about her that Jesus saw her.
Speaker 2:The woman with the issue of the blood. Jesus saw her. Jesus sees us, jesus loves us. He loves us so much that he will come looking for us, that he wants to let us know how much he loves us. And I'll tell you what you will never get that from any human being. You may be loved amazingly by a spouse, by a parent, by a friend, but nobody can love the way that Jesus can love, nobody, because we are, we're infallible no, we're fallible imperfect human beings, and Jesus is not.
Speaker 1:He is the perfect creator and he loves us in spite of us. He knows all our deep down dirty secrets.
Speaker 2:That's right, and he loves us despite them, and that is what unconditional love is all about. Absolutely, he is the only one that can love us unconditionally, and once you have experienced that love, there's no going back. So that's just what I want to leave you with today. We can find peace in him, we can find abundant joy in him, we can find unconditional love through him, and once you've made that decision, like I said, there's no going back. We're not saying that life's going to be easy. We're not saying that you're trading in problems for a peachy, keen, worry-free life. Nope, your life might get harder, but I'll tell you what it will never be better. I would never, ever want to live this life that we live without him and without him being in charge. I know that from experience And's there's nothing like it.
Speaker 2:So, having said all of that, next week we are going to continue on with another woman in the Bible and we're going to talk about the woman who was caught in adultery.
Speaker 2:So the woman at the well was living in sin with a man who wasn't married, but he wasn't her husband. Next week, we're going to be talking about a woman who actually was caught in adultery. We don't know the circumstances behind it, or maybe we do, but you will find out next week what we know and I hope you come and tune in next week what we know. And, um, and I hope you come and tune in and um, just kind of let us know through emailing us or um, starting a conversation on the facebook group cheer up cheer up podcast on facebook and letting us know what you know about the woman who was caught in adultery. Um, I know that it's going to be an amazing time together and I know that we are. I know that I will be blessed and I pray that you will be blessed as well. So have a great rest of your day, have a great week and join us next week for another exciting episode of the Cheer Up Podcast podcast.
