Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever broken something really special — maybe your favorite toy, a bracelet, or something you made — and thought, “It’s ruined”?

Sometimes our hearts can feel like that, too. We make mistakes, we mess up, or we feel like we don’t fit in anymore. But I want to tell you a story about a woman Jesus met who felt exactly like that.

One hot afternoon, Jesus was walking through a place called Samaria. He stopped by a well to rest, and a woman came to get water.

Now, here’s the thing — most people came to get water early in the morning when it was cool, but she came at noon, when the sun was blazing. You know why? Because she didn’t want to see anyone. She had made a lot of mistakes in her life, and people in her town talked about her. They looked down on her.

But Jesus d ...