My Shepherd

..."The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..."

That's where we left off with my last post.  Is The Lord really my shepherd?  Or do I just trust that He will supply my needs?

Well, It's now been over a year since Paige and I began this journey of trusting Him with our financial provisions with me resigning from my full time job as Youth Pastor.  Although, in some ways we've been trusting Him with that for over 8 years (our entire marriage).  It's just in the last year, it's become much more of a day to day trusting.

But that still leaves the question: do we have Him as our shepherd?

Well let me bring you into the past week of our lives.

Life has been great, kids have been great, ministry at church has been great, everything has been amazing!  We have been doing alright financially and medically...not much more you could ask for!

Then suddenly we find out that we are going to have to add a couple hundred dollars into our budget expenses each month............my heart sank.

We don't have that cash...

We discovered this news on Saturday...I kept trying to remind myself that God knew this was coming and will be providing for this need.

Sunday morning I was scheduled to lead worship at our church...the message was going to be on finances.  The set list we had put together was a great set and fit in perfect with Pastor Tim's passages and direction.

But it started out with "Forever", a praise of who God is and His faithfulness in our lives.

I had no passion or desire to lead this song...it simply was not where I was at that morning.  It was hard for me to 'give thanks to the Lord, for He is good'.  So after the first song, I was honest with the congregation and explained briefly where I was at that morning.

That honesty before God's people and before Him opened up a fresh perspective in my heart.  After I shared we sang "Good Good Father" and "Come, Now Is The Time To Worship".  Through sharing and then leading those next songs, the Holy Spirit began to do a healing work in my heart.

When I picked the set list early in the week, I knew God was going to use it for His glory and to bring His people toward Him.  The music was set to help guide people's hearts and prepare them for hearing from the Lord through The Word and the message.  I had no idea that I was going to be needing those songs in such a personal way!

Through that morning I began to see God as being more than just a provider...but as my shepherd.

You see, God doesn't just provide for our needs...(which by the way he did Sunday morning - we received $220 from different people across two services - after tithing, was the number I had mentioned our budget had changed) but He is also our shepherd.

God has been leading us this entire time...

He knew this news was going to hit the same weekend I was leading worship...the same weekend that we were focused on tithing and trusting God with our finances...the same weekend an individual walked into church with $100 in his pocket and knew right away why it was there...

You see, The Lord is MY SHEPHERD, I shall not be in want...

Sometimes we don't understand why God leads us into certain circumstances in life...we might not even know He is leading us through them.  But the fact of the matter is: Our God is a good good father and our shepherd and He is orchestrating everything.  

We still don't know why God hasn't opened the door for my next occupational ministry assignment, but He is doing a work as He leads us through EXACTLY what He has planned for us.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths."  Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV)

...not easy...but straight...

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