Our Good Shepherd

As a reminder…

Isaiah 40: 11  “He tends His flock like a shepherd:

He gathers the lambs in His arms

And carries them close to His heart,

He gently leads those that have young.”

           As you are caring for your little lambs, be assured He is gathering, caring and gently available to lead YOU!  You matter to Him.  He knows what you are dealing with.  He will never leave you or forsake you.  Trust Him.  He’s got this!

Shoulders

My help comes from You
You're right here, pulling me through
You carry my weakness, my sickness, my brokenness all on Your shoulders
Your shoulders
My help comes from You
You are my rest, my rescue
I don't have to see to believe that You're lifting me up on Your shoulders
Your shoulders

When confusion's my companion
And despair holds me for ransom
I will feel no fear
I know that You are near

When I'm caught deep in the valley
With chaos for my company
I'll find my comfort here
‘Cause I know that You are near

            God is good!  All the time!  I’m not writing this proverbial cliché as a page filler.  I’m writing it, because I believe it!  I’m writing it because I’m living it.

         The afore written song lyrics by the band, For King and Country is from the song “Shoulders."  It is the song the Lord woke me to this morning.  It is the reminder that HE owns my circumstances and He will guide me through the storm.

         I step out in faith.  I am blessed I have my husband’s, friend’s and co-worker’s support.  I recognize my children are watching this faith walk.  I cannot do this without Him.  I am resolved to walk by faith even when I cannot see.

         “I don’t have to see to believe that You’re lifting me up on your shoulders.”  I will trust Him!

Going Up?

Google Image

I remember being in Woolworth’s Department Store as a little girl.  There was a toy department, a clothing department, fabric department and lawn department too!  My favorite area was the Soda Fountain.

You would sit in a chrome-trimmed booth or at the ice cream counter.  It was there I would order a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup.  I loved getting a scoop of ice cream in the metal serving dishes that had been kept in the freezer.

Google Image

There was one part of Woolworth’s I still remember fearing, the escalator.  Now why would a kid be afraid of the escalator?  I would always opt to walk the large staircase between the “up” escalator and the “down” escalator. 

I remember one particular time I was at Woolworth’s with my Grandpa. We were in the lawn and garden department.  Grandpa invited me to go with him to the Soda Fountain to get an ice cream.  As much as I wanted an ice cream, I realized the escalator stood between the lawn and garden department downstairs and upstairs where the Soda Fountain was.

I remember my Grandpa holding out his big hand to me.  I can see him now saying, “Can’t you trust me?”  My heart sank with fear and with sadness that I didn’t feel like I could.

How often do we see our children wrestling with, “Can I trust you?”

This week I have felt like I’ve reached out my hand to each of our children in an attempt to get them to believe me.  Believe I know better or trust me that I am considering their good. Believe me that even though they don’t know what I am trying to lead them to it is better than where they are.

We need to set the bar high.  Believe our children will trust us.  Believe our children will believe us.  We need to also recognize they may lack the communication skills to say they are frightened or embarrassed they do not want to trust us.  It is vital we make the relationship with our children paramount.

Within the context of relationship they will see we can be trusted.  They will believe we have their best interest in mind.  Our children can trust us easier if we have laid the foundation on relationship.  Within a relationship our children believe they can trust us.  They will hold our hand as we take them on the escalator leading to something better, something they will be glad they trusted us for.

How much more our Heavenly Father reaches out His hand to us?  He knows we are scared.  He recognizes our lack of understanding. He has a proverbial ice cream waiting for us, we need to grab His hand and take the escalator!

Travel

Isn’t it amazing how we move around our world?

Yesterday I spoke with a girl at Greg’s office.  I asked her where her friend was and she said, “Liberia!” And today, our middle prince will fly back to Virginia for his second semester of college.

I have a friend who left on a cruise yesterday.  For pleasure.  Not even a destination, just to go and get some much needed rest and relaxation.

I often think if someone from Bible times showed up on my front door step and I “drove” the eleven miles to church what they would think.  Or for that matter, what my grandfather (who has been dead 36 years) would say if he could see the spaghetti bowl of roads I live in.

On July 9, 2009 our youngest and I boarded a plan for a non-stop flight to her beloved birthplace.  The trip (other than our excitement) was both uneventful and typical. The pilot came on announcing we would land in 20 minutes.  We were only 60 miles from Myrtle Beach.  Hope and I did our best to lean toward the window and try to recognize some landmark, body of water or road system through the twinkling night sky.

As we meandered closer to our destination, we began to see the hotels on the beach we remembered from years of calling Myrtle Beach home.  As we made our descent to touch down and were bracing ourselves to be the first to squeal, “We’re here!”  We saw the neon sign, “Welcome to Myrtle Beach” scripted across the terminal.  I felt I could even make out my in-laws figures ready to barrel through the gates to hug us.

However, our plane began an abrupt nose-up, take off pattern.  In fact, we did begin to head right back into the darkened sky we had just left.

Even at 11 years old, our daughter turned to me to ask, “What’s He doing?” (It was interesting she assumed the pilot was a man?!?) “Where are we going?”  “What’s going on?”

It was almost like a dream.  As I looked back I saw the passengers faces of concern, yet I could hear them asking the same questions I just heard my daughter ask.

We waited for explanation from our trusted pilot or at least the flight staff.  However, there was no word.

We apparently regained altitude, repeated the exact flight pattern and landed shortly after that first attempt.  Upon arrival, we heard the canned intercom announcement, “Welcome to Myrtle Beach, the current time is 10:18 and the temperature is a lovely 76 degrees.” No explanation, no apology, no nothing!   As if two attempts are normal…

As I passed in front of the cockpit, there was the normal push and shove of the passengers behind us who were anxious to get off.  The two flight attendants were involved in a discussion of the next boarding passengers. I tried to find a polite moment to ask, “Hey, could anyone explain to me what just happened?”  However, the shoving from the back pushed me to disembark without an answer.

Now almost three years later, I am still left wondering, “what just happened?” “what really happened.”  Of course there are many explanations from the nervous passengers on that flight and intelligent former pilot friends, but the truth is, I will never know.

During that particular visit, I mulled over that experience.  Resigned to the fact I will never know, I found the spiritual lesson I have gone back to many times in the past three years.

Life like that flight can be predictable – hustling to board, speaking to those you are sitting near, buying unhealthy expensive snacks, but there are circumstances in our lives, in our parenting, in our marriages, in our relationships that are not predictable and we will never understand.

God may choose not to reveal why we are experiencing what we are experiencing.

As the pilot – we will have to trust Him.  There is a plan for His glory.  Our circumstances have been sifted through His hands and He knows what is for our best interest.

Proverbs 19: 21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Today as you experience “travel” (caring for the little ones the Lord has entrusted to you) consider: we may never understand the maneuvers or coordinates, but we can trust Our Precious Heavenly Father is working out a travel pattern that far exceeds our greatest expectations!