A Good Shepherd - Liberty Baker
The more I thank God for the little things in my life, the more I notice his care for me. As I get to know the ways of God and better recognize what He does for me, I find that I can more easily recognize His love and care for me. There were two instances recently in which I realized God was taking care of me. And telling others about it gives me the opportunity to glorify Him!
I was lying awake one night trying think of a passage in the Bible that described what I believed God had done for me. I kept missing it at first. I was thinking about Psalm 23 and wasn’t finding anything that I felt described what God had done for me. Then I realized it was described in the very first phrase of the chapter! The Lord is my shepherd!
What does a shepherd do for his flock? He watches them, guides them, cares for them, makes sure their needs are met, keeps them safe, and sometimes uses his staff to nudge them in the right direction. This week as I recognized those little nudges from the Lord, I wanted to use them to encourage you to keep your eyes open. Practice being thankful for little things so you can start seeing how much God does for you and cares for you.
I had been preparing for a few weeks for a Sunday School lesson for our monthly split adult class, and I just didn’t feel at peace with what I was working on. It usually takes me awhile to get it down in an organized manner. A different topic came to mind, and I had to trust the Lord to help me, but the information just poured out in a perfectly outlined format. That is very unusual for me! Not only was it very well organized, but it was also ready before I had a busy weekend visiting with family and making last-minute unexpected adjustments to my home. He knew I needed some help being ready for everything on time!
The second thing that happened was so unexpected! I had been shopping on Amazon for a dress for my son’s wedding. The ones I liked the best were between $60 and $70. To me, that’s a lot to pay for a dress online to ship from overseas and risk that it might not fit right! I was at the thrift store to look for the right color top to match a skirt, and while there, I decided to look at dresses. I was pretty amazed to find two dresses in the exact color, size, and style I had been looking at on Amazon for the wedding! I had to buy both of them because there are no fitting rooms in this thrift store anymore. Not only did they only cost $7.50 each, but the cashier also felt led to give me a senior discount! We laughed and made some jokes as I was checking out, and I had a great story to tell my family when I got home! (And this was extra funny to me since I’ve been mistaken as my sons’ sister several times!) And I was honest and told him that I probably didn’t qualify yet, but he still gave me the discount!
I can’t relate this amazing find and everything falling into place so smoothly to anyone but God! He has been so very good! He is a good shepherd! Psalm 23:1 says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” He leads us, nudges us in the right direction, and He meets our needs, often in unexpected and surprising ways! And many times, before we knew our needs! We can trust Him to take care of everything!
I’m not anyone super special or famous, but I am super special to Him, my Heavenly Father! And so are you. But there are times that we don’t notice or might not consider a blessing to be a sign of love from our Heavenly Father. We need to let Him love us. And sometimes it’s receiving for a human source. When we receive, we are allowing other to obey God in loving each other and accepting godly love!
I find that it helps to be thankful on purpose. Decide to spend some time giving thanks and just start thanking Him for everything you can think of. A good time to do this is when you’re worried, depressed, or can’t get something off your mind. When you begin a time of giving thanks to God, make it a time for only thanksgiving and nothing else. Don’t allow it to turn into a time of laying your burdens on Him. Leave that for another time (Philippians 4:6-7). As I’m thanking God, often my cares and burdens come to mind too, but a time of thanks will benefit you more when you don’t get distracted by cares. Let them go, push them down, and get back to everything you can think of that you are thankful for. This is so good for us spiritually and mentally! There are many times you can turn thoughts of thankfulness to God. While driving, doing dishes, cooking, and during sleepless hours.
The Lord is a good shepherd, and you will notice it more and more as you thank Him for the little things He does for you.
The Lord gave me an idea that I want to invite you to join me in for the rest of the month of November (or as long as you want). It’s easy for our thoughts to follow very negative thinking patterns. It’s too easy for our thoughts to go down that road just by laying your eyes on an object or a picture, etc. If that happens, I am challenging myself to turn it into a thankful thought. We could call this the “Thankful Thought Game.” As you work in your home and run your household, try creating a thankful thought when you catch your thoughts running down the path of worry or negativity, or sadness, etc.
When you open your pantry, instead of thinking, “This is so cluttered, when will I ever have time to organize this?” think, “I’m so thankful we have all this food!” When you look at the bag of treats you bought, instead of thinking, “Boy, those were expensive. I’m not sure I should have spent money on that,” think, “I’m so glad I came across this fun new treat for my family to enjoy.” Instead of, “Here she comes again (your small daughter). I wish I could have just a few minutes without interruptions,” think, “Lord, thank you for choosing me to be her mom! I can’t imagine what great things you are going to do through her.” That’s just a sample, but there are many more possibilities that the Holy Spirit can guide you to turn into a thankful thought!
By creating thankful thoughts, not only are we being thankful for the little things our Good Shepherd does for us, but we’re also following Philippians 4:6, which says, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” The Good Shepherd loves us so much and wants us to enjoy His love!