Hello: Its Been Awhile
Well, Hello there. It has been awhile since I just sat down and typed a post here. I have copied and pasted my daily #Impact thoughts, but not just sit here and shared my heart.
It has been a very interesting season in life. We have had a lot of exciting things happen and life changing ones as well. We have officially sent our oldest daughter to high school as a freshman, and wow that has been a big change. It has only been a week for us, but the reality has set in. She played such a huge part around the house helping her mom and just being here with her big smile. I know she will blossom at her school and this will allow our next daughter, Raygan, to step up and become more responsible, but it still feels a little odd right now.
We also had a very impactful, and no pun intended, church camp trip back in July. Myself, my two daughters, and 6 other young ladies joined a great group of campers in Ohio. The week was titled "Focused" and the theme was prayer. God truly moved during that week as I watched 13-15 yr olds (and counselors and adults) have our perspective changed when it came to prayer. I was praying God would do something "ground shaking" to show His power, little did I know he would use my oldest daughter as the answer. As she rode on the 50 ft high cable swing, the cable attaching her harness snapped on her second swing through and she plummeted to the ground. Needless to say, my heart skipped a beat as I watched her hit, roll, and slide to a very dramatic stop. As we attended to her, I turned my gaze to find many circles of campers who had told me earlier they did not think God heard their prayers, but now they were weeping and praying.
Long story short, she was treated at the hospital in Cinncinnati and walked away with a bruise and a few scrapes. God heard prayers that day and stepped in on her behalf and I watched those same campers go home with a completely different outlook on prayer. (more on that to come)
Things on the farm have settled into a routine as we have had to get a routine with Hailey's new school schedule. At times I will admit I feel twisted in a hundred directions, each attempting to keep me from being still with God. But then He grants me a day like today where I can mainly be still and quiet (well as quiet as two boys will let it be) and enjoy Him. My personal prayer of the past several weeks has come from Ephesians 1:15-23 as I have been asking God to "give me His Spirit of wisdom and revelation because I want to know Him better." A few days after beginning this prayer, I ran across Jeremiah 22:15-16 where God says that doing what is right and just, and defending the cause of the poor and needy, "Is that no what it means to know me?" WOW! Now I am asking He open my heart to understand this and give me the courage to live it out.
My passion has simply become this, I want to know God more deeply. I listened to an DC Talk song from their 1995 Jesus Freak album recently called "Day by Day." In it they repeat these words: "To see thee more clearly, to love you more dearly, to follow you more nearly, Day by Day." I enjoyed the song, and I am prayerfully asking that He burn in me a passion for him. Not for sharing Enjoy the Shepherd Stories, Not for doing things for Him or others, not that I live a perfect life and all goes well with me, but that I simply Know Him Better!
Interestingly enough, this has come combined with a prayer he put on my heart at the beginning of Spring, and that simply this: "Be strong and Courageous and Wait on the Lord." Psalm 27:14 I have been asking that He would grant me the strength and courage to wait on Him. Now I see how He is answering the prayer and is slowly moving me closer towards knowing Him in His time.
Today I watched a video by Francis Chan about being "Addicted to Jesus." My spirit within me connected with a passion I sensed in Francis' voice in that if I could only know Him more, nothing else would matter. I would count all things as "sheep crap" (pardon the dung pun) in comparison to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus. I pray and hope that as He burns this passion. this addiction into me, that it would pour out and be evident to those He allows me the gift to know.
I pray that you all are doing well and I pray that He would also give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you might know Him better as well!
Enjoy Jesus today because He is your Good Shepherd and He loves you with all his heart!
Ray
