I\u2019ve shared before about my morning routine of sending early morning text messages to my children every day. Now, I\u2019ve added on that early morning routine a \u201cgroup\u201d text message to my grandchildren. Those text messages are intentional. I want my children, (including spouses) and grands, to know they are in my heart and on my mind in my prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, more than me sending out love and blessings to those I love, is that God, our Heavenly Father, sends us messages daily of His love for us. We are on His mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I counted them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.\u201d (Psalm 139:17-18) Imagine that! His thoughts about us are too numerous to count!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might be reading that scripture today, but deep inside we might be feeling like that tiny granule of sand and wondering why we feel so alone, forsaken, in pain, and are suffering. Psalm 37:23-24 says: \u201cThe steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: And He delights in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the LORD upholds him with His hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Psalm 37 was written by King David in the twilight of his life. He was writing from his experience of walking with and knowing God. Apparently, he had surrendered his feet AND his heart. He was looking back at his life of great victories and great failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking King David’s lead, we should think about OUR life experiences. We don\u2019t learn nearly as much about ourselves in times of victory. It is in those times of disappointments, sickness, and failure that we sense God holding us tight in His mighty hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love the \u201cGood Shepherd\u201d story \u2013 the One Who wants us to be GOOD sheep. He takes care of us and protects us, but then there\u2019s that little rebel sheep that leaves the fold to do his own thing. The Good Shepherd didn’t let him stray too far. He wanted to keep him out of harm\u2019s way \u2013 the enemy\u2019s way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is the picture of God\u2019s great love for us. Why wouldn’t we desire to be a “good sheep”, rather, “good men and women\u201d who stay in right standing with our Father, our Good Shepherd? Why wouldn\u2019t our faith be solely placed in He Who will go the nth degree to protect, love, and even die for us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord, may we bring you great joy and pleasure as we step in YOUR steps daily. May You delight in the ways we go so we can count on our steps and our ways being directed and ordered by You. In Your Holy Name, we pray! Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve shared before about my morning routine of sending early morning text messages to my children every day. Now, I\u2019ve added on that early morning routine a \u201cgroup\u201d text message to my grandchildren. Those text messages are intentional. I want my children, (including spouses) and grands, to know they are in my heart and on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210,1769,1392,12169,93,94,40,98,28986,28987,99,28989,28988,7580,100,28985,24846],"class_list":["post-19505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-facebook","tag-feet","tag-good-sheep","tag-good-shepherd","tag-inspiration","tag-king-david","tag-precious-are-your-thoughts","tag-psalm-13917","tag-psalm-3723","tag-rebel-sheep","tag-sang-granule","tag-steps","tag-steps-of-a-good-man","tag-surrendered-feet","tag-text-messages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19515,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19505\/revisions\/19515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}