There are seasons in our lives when the Lord is digging the wells that we will drink from later. When we are in one of these seasons, it feels hard. If you’ve ever had to dig a well in the natural, or seen one dug, you know that well digging is hard work. It’s hard, dirty, sweaty work. It is muscle flexing and muscle strengthening work. While you’re in this season, you will feel like asking, “Will we ever get there, Lord? Why are we digging here anyway? Are you sure there is even water to be found?”

When we are in one of these seasons, we feel every inch of that ground being dug up. It feels like labor, like giving birth to a child. In those seasons though, the Father reminds us that the labor is His!

I remember one of my well digging seasons. Vividly. The well the Father wanted to dig in my heart was the well of faith in His promises.

He had promised my husband and me in numerous, and variously supernatural ways (dreams, visions, and through prophetic words spoken to us) that we would have another child. A girl. At first, the garden of my any hope of full-time ministry? The Father made the first swing of His pickax with a word to my heart. He heart was hard packed ground. I didn’t want more children. I was content with the two wonderful boys we had, and I was already carrying the prophetic promise of full-time ministry. I was hip deep in potty training, preschool and soccer mom-ing, how in the world could I add to this with another child and have had me read Psalm 127, and then He said:

“Why do you think that the blessings I want to give to you will interfere with the purpose I have for you?”

It was a mighty first swing. Ouch. I had a choice to make. Would I yield to His ax, or stay hard packed. The Father’s word was already too precious to me. I had tasted His faithfulness, so I yielded. The labor had begun.

It took four years to dig this well. I felt every swing, every inch His ax dug into my hard packed heart. All along the way the Father was teaching me to let go of my will, my desire to control how and when His word would be performed. My stubbornness brought me a lot of sorrow and disappointment every month when my own efforts proved unfruitful. He let me try to accomplish His word myself, like Sarah giving Abraham her handmaiden (Genesis 16). My will led to two miscarriages, one of them so far along that we knew it was a baby girl we had lost.

I was devastated. Doubt and despair crept in. I wondered if I had heard Him correctly. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing, and His promise of a daughter wasn’t for us. Maybe I didn’t hear His voice at all. Maybe I couldn’t hear Him, and everything else I thought I heard Him speak to me was wishful thinking. But He had spoken so many times, and continued to speak, encouraging me in my grief: “I know the plans I have for you…” He whispered over and over.

It wasn’t until I surrendered my will to His will, that the hard packed soil of my heart became soft enough for Him to draw water. When I let go, and like Mary, the mother of Jesus declared, “Lord, I am your servant. May it be unto me as You have said.” Then, I finally learned the lesson He had been trying to teach:

“The LORD said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that My word is fulfilled.’” (Jeremiah 1:12)

I did hear His voice. I could hear Him, and I would see every promise fulfilled in my life. Not because I was good enough, or earned His favor, but because of His greatness! Not only did He give us a girl, but He gave us another boy as well! Our son Canaan was born in 2010, and then our promised daughter, Selah came to us in 2012. His timing is perfect.

It was finished. The Master Craftsmen and I stepped back to admire His handiwork. To my surprise, I saw there was more than one well. Faith. Hope. Love. The Father had dug beautiful wells in my heart that I am still drinking from. Now, when He gives me a promise, I know He will fulfill it. I’m not that great at waiting sometimes, and there are days when I think, “How much longer Lord? Are we there yet?” But I keep drinking from the wells that He established. I’m sure they need a little maintenance from time to time, but He doesn’t mind the work. The labor is His. I can rest in the knowledge that the fruit of His labor…the garden of my heart…pleases Him.

So in your seasons of well digging, take heart. The benefits greatly outweigh the labor.