the good shepherd is near you and my 🙏 prayer for you

I am not overcome by fear. Because You are with me in those dark moments, near with Your protection and guidance, I am comforted.

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Psalm 23 is one of the first scriptures I remember memorizing. The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. I was young and in second grade. My grandpa let my brothers and me hold a little lamb. It was soft and fuzzy. Grandpa told wonderful stories.

As I’ve gotten older, the psalm has brought me comfort. In high school, dealing with peer pressure and heckling, I sought the solace I found in Jesus. In college, I traversed many different kinds of people, but I always found myself steered away onto different paths.

With marriage came a host of different feelings, expectations, and a surprising loneliness. Then, children came, renewing a refuge only God could provide. Sleepless nights, tiring days, and the never-ending pile of dishes and laundry bring a different kind of yearning. The thought of lying down in green pastures near a stream of refreshing water sounded wonderful. Providing a table in the midst of turmoil, food I hadn’t cooked- oh, what delight.

Then the dark times come, here and there. Too many goodbyes. Too many changes. I know that He is there with me. My Shepherd, my Savior, and my King stands beside me. He faithfully protects me and provides for me. My Lord God, the Eternal One, pursues me every day, everywhere I go.

And I am allowed to live in His presence, His home, forever and ever. Amen. Hallelujah.

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Verse of the Week and My Prayer for You

Psalm 23

The Eternal is my shepherd, He cares for me always. He provides me rest in rich, green fields beside streams of refreshing water. He soothes my fears; He makes me whole again, steering me off worn, hard paths to roads where truth and righteousness echo His name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness, I am not overcome by fear. Because You are with me in those dark moments, near with Your protection and guidance, I am comforted.

You spread out a table before me, provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies; You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil, filling my cup again and again with Your grace. Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me where I go, always, everywhere. I will always be with the Eternal, in Your house forever.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for my reader. Thank You for gifting her with moments of sweet rest. You care for her, soothing her fears, making her whole again. You steer her to walk in Your pathways, where she finds truth and righteousness in Jesus.

She is not overcome by fear in the dark times, because she knows You are with her. You stay right beside her with Your protection and guidance. You hold her in Your arms and comfort her.

Thank You, Lord, for providing what she needs, for sharing Your loving grace, and for soothing her mind and soul. You are faithful and loving, and You always pursue her. She is always in Your presence.

Lord, You are our Great and Mighty King. You fight for us every day. We trust in You. We rest in You, knowing You are faithful. Help us to be grateful and praise Your name, Almighty God. Be glorified through her. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I’m enjoying a less cluttered house and a less dusty living space. Company has come to stay. Family can be delightful. How is your summer going? Just hit Reply and tell me. I read every response.

Have a blessed week! Thank you for reading!

Echoes of the Heart

In the rugged heart of Texas, old wounds can echo louder than the wind.

Jacob Sutton has spent years burying the memory of the girl who left him with a broken heart, trading their shared dreams for a future far beyond the dusty horizon. Now a steady-handed cowboy with a calling he can’t ignore, Jacob is determined to rise above his past and earn the medical training he needs to serve the remote communities of the West. But when the only doctor qualified to mentor him is the very woman who broke his heart, things get complicated.

Callie returns to her hometown carrying secrets she’s vowed never to speak and a resolve forged in the lecture halls and sickrooms of her hard-won education. Yet none of that prepares her for the suspicion of a grieving father who blames her for the loss of his son or the storm of old, aching feelings that reignite the moment she meets Jacob’s eyes.

Thrown together by duty, necessity, and an unexpected danger, Jacob and Callie must navigate a fragile truce as they work side by side. Respect slowly rebuilds the trust they once shattered, and Callie’s quiet courage awakens Jacob’s long-buried hope. But in a town uncertain of a woman doctor - and with shadows of the past threatening the peace they desperately need - the path forward will demand more than skill and grit.

It will require forgiveness, faith, and the healing only God can give to redeem a love nearly lost and guide them toward the future they were always meant to find.