The Lord is My Shepherd

     …I have everything that I need. Recently the theme of sheep and shepherd has come up numerous times in my life. And ironically, the name “Rachel” means “Little lamb.” 

a picture I took of sheep from the UK

     I have been in Colombia for almost 2 months now, and I am truly learning what it means to be the sheep, fully reliant on my Shepherd. 

     Naturally, I'm a do-er; my love language is giving acts of service. I like to feel needed and do things for you to prove my affection. The problem is, with Jesus, He doesn't need me. It's the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son. He was too busy slaving away for his father that he didn't get to enjoy the father's blessing of being close to him. 

 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours." -Luke 15:31

Karate Kid "Wax On, Wax, Off"

     I would much rather spend my time serving and doing things to prove to Jesus how much I love Him, but what He really wants is my heart and my time. It grieves Him when I don't recognize this. These last few weeks have been difficult because we are taking things slow, and 5/8 of us have been sick with bronchitis. We are building our home, building our team, learning the language and learning the culture. We are not at the ministry speed that we want to be. But God finds joy in that. We are spending our mornings in worship and prayer as we grow in our team relationships. We are spending time with our Shepherd, Father and Rescuer, getting to know Him more so that we can eventually bring others to Him. We are becoming bell sheep, allowing Him to use this time for His glory. 
     
     In the Karate Kid, Miyagi teaches Daniel to fight by leading him through a "wax on, wax off" car wash approach. While Daniel sees these lessons as a waste of time, he eventually realizes that his teacher has been preparing him for battle. That is what I see the Holy Spirit doing with our team. It takes time that may seem like a waste, but in the end it will send us right to the places we need to be. 

Here's a story that my awesome best friend Rachel Jaster encouraged me to look into. It's a story of a sheep that learned what it looked like to stay close to the shepherd.

A Story of a Bell Sheep

"After all, God seems to prefer guiding us in a way that keeps us close to Him, and His was is unhurried. He would prefer to guide me as my companion for the journey rather than hand me the directions that I'd be tempted to run off with, leaving Him in the dust. Maybe I could learn to ask less for God's guidance and more for a sense that He is being my guide, to ask less for help and more for the awareness that He is my helper, and to ask less for strength and more for the confidence that He is my stronghold." 

- An Unhurried Life by Alan Fadling

     Father, help us find contentment in being your bell sheep. There, you give us all that we need.