Discover life: Shepherds and sheep

Was I alive today?

Yes!

What new things have I discovered about life?

What new things have I discovered about myself?

I often start the day by Solutions Read – a selection of (unlocked) inspiring Bible passages…. Yesterday’s passage was:

„I am the good shepherd. And I know my own.“ (John 14:10).

That really touched me on two levels:

• My job = trust: It served as a reminder to me that trust is what’s needed. Sometimes, on the ship, I feel like things aren’t moving fast enough. I’d like to be further along already. Letting go inwardly and trusting that God is already guiding me in the right way is sometimes a real challenge for me… there’s a saying: „Many people want to serve God – as advisers!“ I’m often one of them. I have a thousand ideas about what He could do faster and better. Letting go, trusting that HE is the Shepherd and gives me daily what I need for that day is sometimes a real challenge for me. I’ve decided to practise this more intensely again, to express my trust in God that he has everything under control. And that he means well.
• His job: to be a shepherd – and to look after me in the way I need.  I was struck by the fact that it says: „He knows his own“. It really moved me to be reminded that he truly knows me. A few days ago, I read the excellent Personality test I took it. The result wasn’t really surprising: I’m a visionary, I find housework utterly boring, and I live very much in the future, in what is to come. And I find it harder than most when things don’t move fast enough.

When I read that verse, I thought to myself and prayed: „OK. I want to trust you. For today. But hey, it also says that you know me. And if you know me, then you also know that I need encouragement. I need to see things moving forward (quickly). You know there’s nothing that makes my heart as happy as when things are moving in the right direction

God must have heard my prayer… things are moving forward. I’m delighted about

• Two friends who helped us stick up the insulation yesterday, which meant we made much faster progress.
• 20 + a 25-euro donation towards the shipbuilding project at Betterplace and PayPal… another two hours’ work
• Four friends from Portugal who wrote to me saying they want to come for 7 or 8 days to help out on the boat and really get stuck in
• A friend who wrote that he was sponsoring a Portuguese man’s trip because three out of the four are unemployed and have no money
• 30 euros from selling second-hand books on Amazon… it’s not a fortune, but it helps
• We made over 400 euros from selling books published by our company at a church bazaar. Obviously, the proceeds will first go towards staff fees and running costs… but whatever’s left over will go towards the ship
• A woman rang up and asked if she could help… she’s currently doing an internship in Berlin, but with only two evenings a week, she’s got plenty of time on her hands and has been longing for something meaningful to do… a friend told her about me…

My heart is rejoicing… because we’re moving forward…and because I sense that my God is watching over me….