EMPOWERING LIVES WITH PURPOSE:
“I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my father knows me, and I know the father.
…they will listen to my voice.” (John 10:14-16)
Reflecting on my phone, my childhood long before I even knew the depths of my Savior’s love… I heard His voice, calling out to me in ways He began reaching for my heart. I knew there was a God in heaven somewhere as I stood marveling at His creation, my brain often trying to figure it all out.
Running through the woods on my grandmother’s farm were some of my fondest memories and God’s greatest gifts that came to me. I saw the beauty of the great outdoors with God’s magnificent creations all around me. This beauty brought His presence close to me.
Knowing God back then was when I picked up a pinecone in the “petrified forest” and then studied the bark on it or when I found a heart-shaped stone on the embankment of the lake and ran it up against my cheek, wondering who shaped it. How did this all happen? Catching a butterfly in a net and then studying the colors brought me to marvel at God and have thoughts about Him up close, even in an insect. Watching a snowflake settle on my glove and then marveling at the dimensions of the crystallized beauty on it would make me think of God as well.
Running through open fields brought treasures in the form of “wildflower weeds.” They were exquisite and popped up amongst all the green grassy patches. I would love to gaze up at night to see a star-filled sky. The evening colors and creations were mesmerizing to me. It all brought me wonderment: “What is beyond what I can not see?”
I am His sheep, and as I wandered through, finding treasures from God in nature. I could hear Him in my thoughts, “His voice,” as He called my name and revealed who He is to me.
God appears to us as we go through life much in the same ways. He captures our attention in ways we can not fathom. I knew from a child that wherever I went, I could hear His voice in the beauty of His splendor-outdoors! That was my thing!
Now, longer and later into my life, all those moments of pure amazement flood my heart as I read His Word. It reflects magnifying the magnificent awesomeness of Who God is! He knew me back then and protected me until now. I am His; He knows me. He knows where I am, and I know Him.
He knows His sheep. God KNOWS HIS SHEEP. He knows who YOU are, and He LOVES you! He loved you from the moment of conception as He watched you grow.