Yesterday we joined pilgrims from over the past 1300 years to go to Holywell and taste and immerse themselves in the waters there. (We tasted…) This place where a young woman named Winefride, in the c7th, was the victim of an attempted rape and ran to her friend’s chapel where she would find safety. The story goes that her abuser caught up with her just before she arrived at safety and chopped off her head. However, her dear friend and priest Beuno found her and replaced her head, prayed and she was healed. The well we visited is said to have sprung up at the spot where her head hit the ground. Strange stories, but underneath is a very ordinary and too familiar a story of an abused woman. But it is also a story of such hope as Winefride finds healing and hope and from her experiemce comes life giving water and healing for others. I wonder if we too can allow God to take our most difficult experiences and let them be a source of healing for ourselves and others.