May. 15, 2008 - The Good Shepherd
Well, since this is my very first blog entry, and I wanted it to be “just right,” it has taken me a while to figure out what I wanted to blog about. Should it be about homeschooling, the children, the joys of being a mother, what?
But I guess what I really want to talk about is my Savior, the Good Shepherd. You know, I love Him so dearly.
He has been there with me through so many hard times in my life, guiding, protecting, showing me all the stumbling blocks around me. 
It may sound corny to some, but He is my Best Friend.
It is only Him who I can always depend on to be there. Only He will never fail or disappoint me. He is the center of my life. But the amazing thing is, even though I feel like His undivided attention is on me all the time, somehow He is able to give this undivided attention to all the sheep in His pasture.
And all anyone has to do is to come to Him and say, “I want to be one of Your sheep, I know I have sinned in my life, and I’m sorry.
I believe in You, that You died for my sins and rose again after 3 days. I believe in who You are and all that You stand for, and I will follow You wherever You lead me.” 
That’s all it takes, and then He will lovingly bring you into His pasture. And, oh, how welcomed and loved you will feel! 
Oh, I won’t say there will never be stormy days, but when they come, He will be sheltering, protecting & comforting us the whole time, and assuring us that the rain will make the green grass to grow for us to eat. 
Though I will forewarn you that He takes us down into the valley sometimes, but there is a really nice stream of water down there for us to drink from.
It’s true that sometimes He even shears off all our pretty wool,
but that’s only when He knows it will be getting hot soon, and we will be glad to be free of it, and each time, He assures us it will grow back someday.
He will take us up and down mountains to strengthen us,
and sometimes through dark corridors to teach us to trust and obey Him, all the while He reminds us that if only we will trust Him and keep following only Him, we will soon be back in the green pasture where we can finally rest and there He will gently tend to our wounds.
I love to follow Him. 
I don’t always know where He will lead me next, but I am consistently left in awe of how He makes things work out so beautifully every time.
I know many of you have experienced what I’m talking about, please feel free to share your testimony! Some of you may be feeling a little tug at your heart, saying “I want to experience something like that, -I want to be one of His sheep” or maybe you’re thinking, “I miss what it was like to have Him as my Shepherd. Somehow I lost my way.” If so, don’t worry about waiting. 
The Good Shepherd Jesus has found you now.
You can talk to Jesus anywhere, you don’t have to wait for a preacher or for Sunday morning church. You can ask Him to bring you into his pasture right here, right now, sitting at your computer. He loves you so much and can’t wait to welcome you into his arms. If you do this, I know you will be so joyful you will want to just tell everyone you talk to. I know, as one of His sheep, that all of us were like that when we first came into the fold. So please feel free to share your joyful experience with me too!
There is nothing more encouraging to me than to find out one more sheep has been brought into the pasture. The Lord Jesus be with you!
-Rachel
