TO CHEW ON: "For thus says the Lord God: 'Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.'" Ezekiel 34:11-12
Trish told her story from the baptismal tank. After getting involved in drugs, she and her husband had accepted Jesus. They got clean and began attending a church, grew a family, had a house and a business. Then one day they started using again. Soon they were separated, the kids in the care of Social Services, the house gone, business gone. That's the state Trish found herself in one evening in August 2009 when she was wandering the streets of Abbotsford. She had even lost her shoes.
Through a video, James told his part of the story. He had just finished drumming a music set as part of a Christian band and stepped outside for a few minutes before going back into the service. On a short walk he met Trish. He talked to her and, noticing she had no shoes, gave her the extra pair he carried in the trunk of his car. "I prayed for her, wished her well and thought I'd never see her again," he said.
Trish's life continued to go downhill. She got into detox but lasted only a few days. Finally, later in fall, she decided to try detox again. After phoning fifty places, she found two with openings. One was in Surrey. Hope House was in Langley. She opted for the Surrey one, but when the friend who drove her there saw people shooting up right outside but premises, she said, "I'm not leaving you here," and drove her to Hope House.
The first few days were the hardest Trish had ever gone through. She battled constant feelings of wanting to give up and leave. How could she ever tough this out for the time it would take? "Give me a sign," she prayed.
Hope House takes a busload of people to our church for Sunday night Recovery Church. When she got there she couldn't believe her eyes because there on stage, drumming for the worship band, was James, the guy who had given her his shoes and prayed for her a few months earlier.
That was sign enough for her. She stuck with the program and got baptized in May 2010.
I love stories like this, that remind us of God's creativity in seeking out scattered sheep. Do you have such in your family or among your acquaintances -- prodigals, backsliders, those who have till now resisted His call altogether? Claim his promise for them today: "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick." Ezekiel 34:16a
PRAYER: Dear God, I pray for the scattered sheep in my life (by name______). Please seek them out and deliver them from all the places they are scattered. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
