Drinking from the Source
Tom drinking from an artesian well near the headwaters
of the St. Croix River.
A Visit to the Headwaters of the St. Croix River Brings Life from the Wellspring of Everything
By Tom Shanklin
The following article was originally published in the May 2008 issue of our ministry newsletter after I had a very powerful experience with the Lord near the headwaters of the St. Croix River near Solon Springs, Wisconsin. Since I have recently been ministering in Solon Springs once again, it seemed appropriate to share this inspiring article. Be blessed!
All of us are striving to accomplish something in life. Seeking to make a living for our family. Trying to be a better mother. Desiring to reach the lost or to have a stronger ministry. These things are good. They relate to our destiny, our purpose, our future, to where we are going in life. Each of us has goals, both spiritual and natural, that motivate us to go forward in life. This is a good thing.
But there is something much deeper. Deep, deep down in our heart there is a yearning that is even more important than these things. It goes to the very heart of the matter. It’s something that gives us understanding of who we are. It’s something that brings security and peace into our inward being. It brings us to a place of rest, out of which everything else in life flows.
This is what I experienced when I surrendered to the Lord in 1977. It’s miraculous, beyond words, supernatural, transcendent. It’s an awareness of the presence of God. It’s an immersion into His glory. It’s a knowing that He is there, that we are complete, we are loved by Him. His presence has been with me since that time.
But there have been times along the way when the awareness of Him, His presence, and His love have become more intense, more tangible, you might say “thicker” (like the air, when it is heavy with dew, only in the spiritual realm). These are what the Bible calls “seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” We may experience these times in a church service, in our car, in a cabin in the North Woods, or in our living room, but wherever it happens, we know that we have been in the presence of the Lord, He loves us, and all is well.
I had an experience like that this past month in Solon Springs, Wisconsin, on the last weekend of April. I was there to minister in services on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at North Woods Community Church. The theme for the weekend was “New Beginnings.”
The church has been praying for a move of God in their community for many years, and in fact, some of the people felt in their hearts that our meetings there would be the beginning of an outpouring of God’s power for Solon Springs and the St. Croix River Valley. North Woods Community Church has been experiencing God’s blessings through the ministry of intercession and also because of the willingness of the people to walk in love towards one another.
As I prepared to minister the Word of God on Friday night, the Lord said, “Prime the pump for the miraculous.” I shared from the Scriptures and from my own experiences. I also shared about an island in the United Kingdom which had experienced a divine visitation as the people cried out for an outpouring of the Spirit of God. In that place, the Lord miraculously began to draw people to Himself, and many experienced a tremendous conviction of sin, followed by the transforming power of God as they surrendered to Him.
On Saturday morning, I was spending some time with the Lord in prayer, seeking Him specifically concerning my ministry calling and the will of God for my life. Then the Lord asked me, “Who was Abraham?” I immediately thought, “Abraham was the friend of God.” Then He asked me, “What did Abraham do?” I thought, “Abraham was a businessman.” He was also quite successful at it. However, it was not so much what he did that identified Abraham. Abraham was first of all identified by His relationship with God. He was a friend of God. In other words, Abraham’s relationship with God defined who He was as a person. Everything else he did flowed out of that relationship.
You see, this is where many of us are. We are searching for identity or significance through the things that we do. By being a good father, an anointed minister, or a successful person in the business world, we have worth and value. Well, certainly Abraham had success. He was a wealthy businessman. He was the father of faith, the father of nations, but first of all, he was a friend of God.
As my weekend at Solon Spring progressed, I had a wonderful time in the Lord. Outwardly, good things were taking place. On Saturday night, I preached on the prodigal son, and three young men came forward to give their lives to the Lord. On Sunday morning, we experienced an “open heaven” in the service through the worship, the testimonies, and the congregational time of prayer. A group of prisoners from the Wisconsin state prison sang.
Just as I stood up to preach, a lady in the congregation began to cry out, “Oh, thank you, Lord, that we can be here, that we can be with you, in your presence.” The earnestness in her voice was a testament to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our midst. There was a tremendous freedom to minister the Word of God. I spoke on “The Glory of the Church,” that Jesus Christ has given us His glory, and that we are to take that glory to the world.
All the time, the Lord was working on me. His presence seemed to get stronger and stronger. I was soaking in His presence, sometimes in the services, sometimes in my private time. People were sharing things with me from their experiences that contributed to the theme that God was bringing to the forefront of my consciousness. He was cementing in my spirit this truth—that everything begins with our relationship with Him, with that closeness, with that presence, with that enveloping glory.
Even the geography of the area contributed to the work God was doing. Solon Springs is located near the headwaters of the St. Croix River in northwestern Wisconsin. Several times during the weekend, I traveled out to the headwaters and to St. Croix Lake. From there, the river flows south to St. Paul and into the Mississippi. The waters then traverse the United States and flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Throughout the weekend, the Holy Spirit was speaking to me concerning the symbolism of the beginning of this river: that this was a “place of initiation, the beginning of things, a source of something which flowed out to the sea.” In the Scriptures, I know the river represents the flow of God’s Spirit and the sea represents the sea of humanity, the multitudes which are in the world. And every river, no matter how great, has a beginning!
Before I left on Monday morning, I was impressed to once again “go to the headwaters.” As I prayed, the Lord spoke to me, “Significant change has come. A new opening, a fresh move of my Spirit, because you have come to the Source. It’s not physical. It’s spiritual. You have come to the fountain to drink. For out of your belly shall flow rivers of Living Water. They shall flow in a fresh new way. They shall flow out to the sea, and multitudes shall be touched by my glory, and my glory shall be seen upon the land.”
The Source is not the headwaters of the St. Croix, but the Source is the Lord, the fountain of living waters. At the fountain, we can all find a refreshing, a taste of God and an enveloping sense of the atmosphere of heaven.
At the Source, there is pure joy, peace, healing, and a sense of belonging and being right with God. There, we experience His awesomeness. We receive healing in the depths of our being. It’s being in the company of the most powerful personality in the universe. It is, without a doubt, a life-changing experience. It will convict you of sin, upset your apple cart, and yet, at the same time, give you an abiding peace. It will bring change, but it will be a change that you will enjoy!
Before I left Solon Springs, I went once again to the headwaters and took a drink from an artesian well, which is near the lake. The water flows continually there, from a pressure from beneath. I cupped the water in my hands and drank deeply. It was wonderfully refreshing, pure and clear, just like the waters that God gives, springing up into everlasting life. As I drove home that day, God’s presence was heavily upon me. It was pure and uncluttered. Everything made sense. It is everything the world really wants, but is looking for in the wrong places. It was a high, but more than that, it was a special time with the Most High.
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