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You may consider my search for a lost phone too trivial for the Holy Shepherd, who surely has more significant searches to support. But for me in that anxious time, the Shepherd’s help meant the world. I was all too ready to call myself a wayward, foolish sheep who’d lost her way, along with her phone. And I can promise you that the calming, loving presence of the Shepherd during my frantic backtracking will for a very long time be my heart’s picture of goodness and mercy following me.
These days, more often than before, I call on the Shepherd – in small disasters as well as large ones, in confusing decisions that won’t have major consequences as well as in decisions that make all the difference. And I try to notice his steadfast presence with me daily as I walk – on the beach or the nature trail at my local park, even in my own backyard.
When have you felt the Shepherd’s leading?
This message is excerpted from “Backtracking with the Shepherd” by Jennifer Ginn in the July/August 2023 Gather magazine. Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter.