Yesterday, we began to look at the responsibilities of shepherds and how this helps us better understand Jesus, our Good Shepherd. We began our list with the following:

• Most shepherds take care of sheep, although they may be responsible for goats as well. Many shepherds must be on call for their animals around the clock. In the same way, our Good Shepherd is always on call!

Let’s add another to our list.

2.) A shepherd’s primary responsibility is the safety and welfare of the flock.

So many times we think we are in control of our lives. We think we can control our children, our spouses, ourselves. We think as long as we are diligent, we will be fine. But we are not really in control, are we? Anyone who has gotten one of those devastating calls in the middle of the night knows that all too well.

But you know who is in control? God is in control. He is the blessed Controller of all things. If we are surrendered to Him, we do have access to the true safety that comes from Good Shepherd. That does not mean bad things won’t happen. It does mean that whatever happens will be filtered through His love. He will bring about good in us and through us in any and all circumstances, as we are promised in Romans 8:28.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

    and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

    and he will make your paths straight.

Sometimes we don’t understand. But we still must trust the Good Shepherd. Do you remember that sheep sometimes get cast down? A sheep is “cast down” when it is turned over on its back and cannot get up again. A cast sheep will die if its owner does not get to it in time to right it. When a shepherd rights a cast sheep, he must rub her limbs to restore circulation so she can walk again. That’s where we get the word “downcast.” Have you ever been downcast, feeling that you have been knocked down and can’t get back up?

Psalm 42:5-6 says: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.”

Today, my friends, trust in the Lord. Fight the desire to be in control, and hand the control over to the only One who can be trusted to handle every detail. Submit to Him, surrender to Him, and rejoice in the fact that He cares about every hair on your head, every fear in your heart, every detail of your life. What a great God!

Praying for you today!

Sara

PS Take a look at this video of my sweet Sally teaching her brother Proverbs 3:5-6!

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Last week, I shared with you all the fun facts about sheep that I found in my Google search. This week, I have equally fun facts about shepherds. These are not Christian websites I found–just websites that discuss duties of shepherds. Here’s what I found:

1.) Most shepherds take care of sheep, although they may be responsible for goats as well. Many shepherds must be on call for their animals around the clock.

In the same way, our Good Shepherd is always on call! Having been married to a doctor for almost 24 years, I know what that means.

It means whatever time of day or night you need him, he is available.

It means on holidays and summer breaks He is available.

It means even if you just have a question, He is available.

All you have to do is call.

Let’s look at Psalm 121:3-5.

He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

                                                           Psalm 121:3-5

What should our response be to this be?

• Trust.  First of all, our response to this 24/7 on-call Shepherd should be trust. He is not sleeping. He is watching over you always. No emergency is a surprise to him, nothing shakes Him up. He is the creator of the Universe, for heaven’s sake. He is able to take care of any need you have.
• Encouragement.  Encourage yourself in the truth that your Shepherd is a good Shepherd, the only true good Shepherd. And He is yours. Encourage yourself in this truth and then encourage someone else.
• Gratefulness.  Thank Him today that He cares so greatly for you. Thank Him that He will never leave you nor forsake you. Thank Him that He cared so much He left heaven for earth so He could suffer and die for you. He would do anything for you and He already has done everything for you.

So, those are the three words for today. Trust, Encouragement, Gratefulness. Let this be our response to the abundant gifts the Good Shepherd paid so great a price to give us. Praying for you today!

Sara

The last three days we have been answering the question: “What is abundant life NOT?” This is our current list:

1. Abundant Life is NOT equal to material wealth.
2. Abundant Life is NOT equal to the approval of man.
3. Abundant Life is NOT a picture-perfect life.

Today I want to add one more to the list.

4. Abundant Life is NOT found when everything is going just as we want it to—because life on this earth will never be exactly just the way we want it.

I will confess to you that rarely do I have perfect days—in fact, rarely do I have days that are even close to perfect. Our close friends have developed a new adjective. That adjective is the word, “Berry”. When something goes hysterically wrong, that is VERY BERRY.

For example, when I work so hard to get everyone ready to go somewhere, and we finally get off, one of the kids will inevitably forget something very important—like their shoes. And it is possible that we are able to drum up “shoes” for said child in the form of flippers or roller skates, which we find in the piles of mess in the back… That is VERY BERRY.

Or when I somehow miss the memo that the baseball team was wearing white pants instead of the gray ones, and my kid is THAT KID who shows up in gray…that is VERY BERRY.

Or when you drop your child off for the first day of Junior High and trash flies out the door when they get out, and they have to make their “debut” to Junior High by chasing down the hamburger wrapper…that is VERY BERRY.

You get my point, I am sure. So, here’s the deal. We all have VERY BERRY moments no matter how hard we try. Things will not go well for us all the time. Our plans are usually just that—plans. But that does not mean that our thwarted plans thwart our abundant life. In fact, if we can force ourselves to have a decent attitude about it, our thwarted plans can BE the abundant life. And at least we will have something to laugh about.

So today, my Friends, I hope you laugh. I hope you find something so funny to laugh about that tears stream down your cheeks and your belly aches. I love a laugh like that. Laughter and joy is what I wish for you this day. For those are indeed aspects of abundant life.

Praying for you!

Sara

The last two days we have been answering the question: “What is abundant life NOT?” This is our current list:

1. Abundant Life is NOT equal to material wealth.
2. Abundant Life is NOT equal to the approval of man.

Today, I want to continue this conversation by adding:

3. Abundant Life is NOT a picture-perfect life.                                                    Social Media has done a great job of making us believe that there is such a thing as a picture-perfect life. No one is going to purposely post a terrible picture of themselves. At least I’m not! And most of us wisely don’t use social media to talk about the trouble with our teens or a fight with our husband. (By the way, if you are doing that, please stop.) My point is, these days we can subtly fall for the lie that other people have picture-perfect lives and that MUST be what abundant life looks like.

If you study any of the main characters of the Bible, you will see that none of them had a picture perfect life.

Abraham and Sarah dealt with infertility.

Jacob had a terrible relationship with his twin brother. He was also manipulated by his father-in-law.

Noah was mocked for his obedience to God. Later, he was discovered by his sons in a drunken state, which led to a split in the family.

Joseph was betrayed by his family members, falsely accused of wrong-doing and served time in jail for a crime he did not commit.

David was an adulterer.

The list goes on and on.

Even the lineage of Jesus, our Perfect Savior gives evidence of an imperfect family line. The lineage which brought about the only perfect human being was sprinkled with those who had great imperfections and sins, including those who were experienced in prostitution, adultery, and rejection. What is my point? My point is that your life, nor mine, will ever be perfect—at least not on this side of heaven. But abundant life does not equate with perfect life.

The abundant life God offers us will fill our imperfect lives with meaning. It will gives us faith and peace and patience—and even gratitude—in the midst of the imperfections. Remember, my friends, God is pleased to give you the Kingdom. He gives good gifts to His children. He gives more than enough—to the point that our cups overflow with every good thing. Our lives will not always be picture perfect. But they will be full—full of all that is important and fulfilling. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praying for you today!

Sara

Yesterday we continued our discussion of what Abundant Life is NOT. We clarified that:

1. Abundant Life is NOT equal to material wealth.

Though God does care about our physical and even financial needs, wealth is not the ultimate abundant life God offers us. Wealth pales in comparison to the treasure of abundant life God offers us. In addition, we must also realize that:

2. Abundant Life is NOT equal to the approval of man.

When my daughter was around 10 years old, we began to work with her on becoming more self-sufficient. We wanted her to take responsibility for her daily care, including getting dressed in the mornings. One Sunday in July we decided to go to church with my parents. Their church was more formal than our church, and I sent Katie upstairs to shower, wash her hair, and “put on something decent” which is my way of saying get “dressed up.”

When it was time to leave, I called everyone down to get in the car. I looked up the stairs to see my precious daughter descending the steps. Her blond hair was clean and brushed. She had even tried to curl it with the curling iron. She looked beautiful. I am ashamed to say, however, that I stopped cold in my tracks for the “something decent” she had chosen to wear was the nicest dress in her closet. It was a long-sleeve, black velvet dress with satin trim. Did I mention it was July?

If you grew up in the South, you are feeling my pain of that moment. Every Southern girl knows not to wear black velvet in July. In about 2 seconds, I had a choice to make. Would I worry about what all the other good Southern ladies would think of my mothering? (i.e. “Doesn’t she know not to dress her child in velvet in July?”) Or would I applaud my daughter for not only obeying me but also for going above and beyond what I had asked of her. I am ashamed now that I even had to think it through. I quickly recovered and smiled and hugged her and told her how beautiful she was and how proud I was of her.

I wish I could tell you this type of event only occurred in my younger days. But that is not the truth. I still worry about what people think. I wish I didn’t. I often have to pray, “Lord, heal me of my people-pleasing habits.” I long to get to what I call, “The Third Level of Freedom.”

The first level of freedom comes when we accept Christ and are freed from the chains of sin and death. The next level of freedom comes when those areas of bondage are healed and we are released to serve God with joy. I believe I have in many areas of my life reached the second level of freedom. I find the most joy, most comfort in obedience to God. I truly want to do things His Way. However, I haven’t quite reached the third level of freedom. In the third level of freedom, not only does one find the most joy and comfort in obedience to God, but on top of it all, they don’t worry about what others think about it, so wholly is their focus on Him. I have had moments of that third level of freedom—enough moments to know the difference. Enough moments to realize I have not reached it in all areas of my life.

I have the type personality that relishes peace with everyone. I hate it when I think someone is mad at me, or when I feel I have disappointed anyone. It can send me into a tailspin, even if it is a small issue. Let’s face it, we like people to like us. But we are told that there will be times when people don’t like us, simply because we follow God. Hear the words of John 15:18-20.

 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.”

We will sometimes have to disappoint people in order to stay true to God’s call on our lives. I have a feeling that this reality will become even more true in the coming days. We must decide now whom we will serve. And we must trust that if our choice is God Almighty, He will abundantly give us everything we need to have the strength and courage to follow Him. May you settle this today and every day for the rest of your lives. I am praying for you!

Sara

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua 24:16