The Good Shepherd

Hello friends and welcome back to Delight n' the Light! I am so excited for this blog post! I want to share what the Lord has been teaching me and is continuing to reveal and show me on who He is as The Good Shepherd! I plan to make this a series and it may be a little rusty, but I feel that when I am serving, I am more excited to seek God for answers to pour not only into me, but to pour out to others! I hope you get so much out of this series and understand more of who Jesus is!

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David

"The LORD is my Shepherd; I have what I need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads

me beside quiet waters. He renews my life; he

leads me along the right paths for his name's

sake. Even when I walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no danger, for you are with me, your rod and

your staff- they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of

my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup

overflows. Only goodness and faithful love will

pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell

in the house of the LORD as long as I live."

I want to start at the very beginning of everything! I dropped out of school of March of 2024 and was really on fire for Jesus! I was worshipping, I was just in tune with The Holy Spirit, I was stepping out in faith, I mean I was really feeling my life transform in God and it was so cool to watch God move! I would go to the chapel and spend so much time there praying, reading, and seeking God's heart! I felt that childlike faith and it was so amazing! I began to feel fear start to creep in as lies started to capture my attention. I remember being on the bathroom floor at my old apartment feeling this unworthiness and feeling this fear of I'm not going to make it to heaven and that God doesn't want me. I got into this mindset gradually of course of doing more for God instead of listening and being with God. I started to go to the chapel and when I would leave, I would see vans that said, "Good Shepherd" on the sides of them! Literally felt the Lord speak to me, but I thought it was just a cool thing instead of actually paying attention and listening, mistake number one. Anyways, this continued for a while and then lies just came like a missle. It was like one after another after another. I was obsessing over them, having panic attacks, anxiety attacks, my whole body would go into shock. It was actually insane. Then the fear of God doesn't want me was on the forefront of my mind. I would read Psalm 23 and meditate on it and the strongholds in my mind became even stronger. God was still showing me vans and communicating with me that He was with me but mistake number one turned into mistake number two and three and so on. I started a job, got married, dealing with hurt from the past and just constantly being driven in a million different directions! But I will say, God never stopped pursuing me! God was warning me because He knew what I was going to walk through and still continues to walk through the dark valley with me! I started to glorify the sin instead of the Savior trying to communicate with me! I was so quick to talk that I forgot to be quick to listen and slow to speak. The things that you let pass and compromise on give the enemy a foothold to make more of a disaster! The good news is there is no disaster that Jesus can't fix!

There's the back story of why I want to make this a series because friends, when Jesus is speaking it is for a purpose and for a reason and it's important to not make the same mistakes I did and dismiss it and think it's cool or have a posture of passivity, but really seek God into what He is trying to get you to understand! It's for your own protection! I'm glad that the Lord helped me see that now and so I can share and help you guys that are struggling with your own thought life! My hope is that you feel more equipped and feel connected to Jesus more than you are right now; to understand Him and get to know Him more personally! I love you and am praying for you!