Everywhere The Good Shepherd Leads.

I see hills and mountains everywhere!

"Some are for you to climb, and many are for you to come alongside sharing the climb with others. Do this, knowing that I will give you all, the strength, guidance and provision on your way. And as your good shepherd, I will lead you and the flocks I call you to lead, to cool, calm, refreshing waters when you need it most". -God

Life these days seem filled with angst and challenge for me, many of my friends and loved ones. I find myself at times overwhelmed with tears of sadness, other times with tears of joy, and all the while wondering if The Good Shepherd is trying to gather His sheep, get our attention and demonstrate His power to rescue, protect, and lead us as we wrestle for position, seek our own way, and just aimlessly go about our sheep business. Often the nearby bleating seemingly overpowers the voice of our shepherd in our ears, and could rise to an overwhelming cacophany if we let it. But other shepherds get their instruction from Him, leading us scattered flocks in the way of The Good Shepherd.

It has become my soul desire to listen to The Good Shepherd, and clearly He seems to be asking me to come alongside others to help them hear the voice of The Good Shepherd. Nothing in my life has brought more comfort in angst, more joy in beauty and more strength in my weakness. When I feel lost, He comes to find and lead me. When the seeming power of death pressed against me, He came to heal me. When I need encouragement, He shares His through His people or directly Himself. When I frequently fail, He gently picks my head up, tells me to sin no more, and dusts off or washes my clothes clean. I frequently require bathing, renewal, forgiveness, healing, and every time, He has provided and restored. Forged in this heart is the call to humility, to honor, to let God glorify Himself, in and through me.

I am overwhelmed, but desire nothing less than His best, His call, His leading, His provision, His passion to move into and through this ever growing heart. I long to be His inspiration in the lives of others to desire the same and find the joy of serving, advancing from sheep, to shepherd, formally or in. We can all choose to either just look at the ground before us, eat the grass and drink the water as we 'wander', or discover, together that the greater peace comes from knowing and being close to The Good Shepherd, discovering that we aren't just aimlessly wandering, there is a point, a reason, a purpose in everywhere The Good Shepherd leads.