“Living Water, Lasting Love: Honoring Joanne Smith’s Legacy of Choosing Jesus”
I will always remember the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye—a radiance of pure joy, softened with a hint of mischief that made you instantly want to know her more. She was the giver of warm, enveloping hugs, and she possessed a quick, spirited wit that revealed just how deeply she understood life, love, and the human heart. Within her lived a depth of compassion and grace unlike almost anyone I have ever known.
I remember the morning I first met my beautiful friend, Joanne Smith, at church. It was an ordinary Sunday, but the moment she greeted me, I felt an extraordinary joy — the unmistakable warmth of encountering a soul both welcoming and wise. In the same breath, I felt something else too: recognition. A quiet certainty that this was a sister I had somehow known all my life.
She loved me instantly. There was no judgment, no hesitation — only encouragement, kindness, and an unwavering belief in the grace and love of God. To be seen by her was to feel gently lifted toward the person God created you to be.
So, as I try to write about the meaning of love, the choice to love, the way love itself is rooted in God, I find my mind continually returning to Joanne’s steadfast example. 1 John 4:6 says, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.” And so the question naturally arises: can a person truly know love if they do not know God? I suppose my heart answers: not fully…
Which has me pondering, what in fact, is love? The dictionary offers worldly definitions it says an intense feeling of deep affection, a great interest or pleasure in something, and a feeling of deep romantic attachment to someone. But I think those descriptions fall painfully short. They describe emotion, not transformation. Preference, but not sacrifice. Comfort, but not redemption. And so my mind drifts back to the unconditional love I received from my friend.
One of the clearest demonstrations of Jesus’ heart appears in John 4, when He meets the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus breaks social, gender, and religious barriers to encounter an outcast — not by accident, but by choice. He engages her, speaks to her, and offers her an invitation to love that transcends her past, her status, and her shame. When He asks her for a drink, she is stunned that He — a Jewish man — would not only be present in Samaria but would address her at all. And Jesus responds with words that echo through all eternity: “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” John 4:10.
Jesus sees her — not her mistakes, not her labels, not her limitations. He sees her. And He chooses love. My friend Joanne lived that way too — with intentionality, patience, gentleness, and a quiet courage that always chose compassion first. Love, then, is not simply a feeling. Love is a decision. Love is a verb — an action that calls us to show up again and again with consistency, honesty, and accountability. Love fulfills the promises it makes. Jesus offers living water freely, even though the woman has done nothing to earn it. That is the pattern He sets — a love so complete it defies human explanation. How do we describe a love willing to sacrifice everything for us, to endure an undeserved fate so we could receive a gift we could never earn?
As John 3:16 reminds us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” Without Jesus, I’m not sure love can ever be fully understood. It is His grace — His boundless, relentless love — that forms the essence of this divine action. And then… I think of my friend.
A warm glow rises in my chest because I know exactly where she is. Joanne is with Jesus now — held in the fullness of the love she reflected so beautifully on this earth. Though she has stepped beyond our world, her spirit, her laughter, her tenderness, and her unwavering faith remain deeply woven into the lives of those she touched. Her decision to love — again and again, without condition — set her apart. Her faith in God shaped the story of her extraordinary life.
So what does it mean to love? To truly love? It means to know God. Because without Him, every earthly definition will always fall short. My friend chose Jesus. She chose love as her daily posture, her offering, her legacy. And because of that choice, she is forever imprinted on my heart. Forever part of my story. Forever a reminder of the kind of love that looks like Jesus.