Under Pressure (and not the song by Queen)

HANNAH OWENS • JUNE 18, 2025

If you know me well, you know my love for water. Being near it, being in it, listening to it, watching how it moves, how it affects everything in its path, and on.

For some time now, I have felt a strong call to be like water in motion.

Let me explain…

There are many times, my life is not compatible to my water comparison. Times where my life is not a happy, bubbling brook. It’s not a beautiful cascading waterfall or a fun, lazy river.

Instead, many times my life has felt comparable to water that is under pressure.

I remember having this epiphany when I went to visit a hot spring in southern California.

Hot springs are basically just areas with ground water that has seeped close enough to the earth’s core (which is basically a big ball of fire) that it is now extremely heated. When this water is heated AND under pressure, the result is what we call a geyser. You know, those powerful bursts of boiling water that could melt your skin right off if you were close enough!

If I’m honest, there are times my life looks like this. I hate it. I hate feeling all that pressure. At times, all the pressure has made me feel unrecognizable to my own self.

Here’s some examples you may find relatable:

Driving through a big city and certain individuals in traffic are reckless and I feel threatened.

*PRESSURE APPLIED*

At work and patients or family members are being verbally abusive and unreasonable. *PRESSURE BUILDING*

A miscommunication or misunderstanding between me and Daniel (my husband). Now the tension is built with tone, body language, facial expressions, and actual words spoken.

*HEAT APPLIED*

A person I trusted to come through on a promise, a favor, or a need, backed out at the last minute.

*PAINFUL HEAT*

I think a lot of us are one more small life inconvenience from a powerful geyser eruption.

For some, the pressure has been building all day. For many others, it has been a year of inconveniences that added persistent pressure.

Pride would say “don’t make a scene, people can see you”. But even the very thought of a potential eruption adds to the pressure. Because an eruption would make an otherwise calm appearing, “put-together” individual, look out of control.

Which leads me back to the hot spring. Heat and pressure are necessary components for those amazing hot springs. Without it, the hot springs would just be regular water. It may surprise you but there are many health benefits that come from hot springs. They are basically nature’s spa to us - full of all kinds of vitamins and minerals. A muscle relaxer, skin exfoliant, and purification properties are some of the best benefits.

[The one downside is that hydrogen sulfide is a byproduct of the heating process, which causes that horrible “egg smell”.]

There’s lots of science involved, but what’s clear is that the ground water from the beginning of the process is no longer the same once the heating begins from the core.

In a similar way, it’s evident when a person has been transformed by the heat and pressure. The “breaking point” brought those impurities and “smell” to the surface and all that is left is a cleaner, a purer substance, full of benefits and goodness. The heat and pressure cannot leave the water, cannot leave YOU, cannot leave ME the old way. Only “new” can result!

Did you catch earlier when I said that the ground water must seep so DEEP downward to the earth’s core to even begin the process? If the ground water stayed where it was, it would remain unchanged. The closer you move, the deeper you go towards the “core”.

The Lord is the only core I need. Only His presence, the very proximity to Him, can carry you through the heat and pressure. You could stay ground water and avoid the process but you KNOW that you would remain stagnant.

Your proximity to Him is what will inevitably change you. You won’t be the same again. Your life will be a continual process of becoming purified. Your thoughts, actions, vision, and desires are aligned with His.

He is working on this new creation. The process may be complicated and challenging. It will probably even “stink” (pun intended), but it is far beyond worth it. It’s not easy becoming something you’ve never been before. And that’s why we can’t complete the process without Him!

So, I’m thankful for the Lord’s love and kindness. He won’t leave us as He found us. He is the refiner, and sorts through all the mess and impurities of our hearts and lives. Because He see the beauty through it all! Amen.

“Burn me beautiful,

Burn me lovely,

Burn me righteous,

Burn me Holy”

Here is my life, Lord.

“Refiner” - Maverick City Music