meet Trixie.

I have a history of visiting our neighbor’s sheep and bottle feeding the babies. I think he finally tired of my littles and I dropping by every time babies were born and asked yesterday if we would care for one of the orphaned lambs.

In a moment of temporary delusion, I quickly, enthusiastically said YES! — I’m now bottle feeding this sweet thing every few hours, forgoing sleep and holding her in my lap while she sleeps {otherwise, she cries and cries…}. I’m trying to determine how strange it would be to bring a lamb on a leash to the boy’s soccer game tonight. Otherwise, we’ll miss a feeding. I’m seriously considering this, you guys. Bless.

What a sweet, tangible visual ‘Trixie’ will be for our family this Holy Week.

Your God is coming! Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in all his glorious power. He will rule with awesome strength. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. {Isaiah 40: 10-11}

Come, let us worship and bow down. 

Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,

for he is our God.

We are the people he watches over,

the sheep under his care. 

{Psalm 95: 6-7}

“‘God, the Master, says: From now on, I myself am the shepherd. I’m going looking for them. As shepherds go after their flocks when they get scattered, I’m going after my sheep. I’ll rescue them from all the places they’ve been scattered to in the storms. I’ll bring them back from foreign peoples, gather them from foreign countries, and bring them back to their home country. I’ll feed them on the mountains of Israel, along the streams, among their own people. I’ll lead them into lush pasture so they can roam the mountain pastures of Israel, graze at leisure, feed in the rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. And I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep. I myself will make sure they get plenty of rest. I’ll go after the lost, I’ll collect the strays, I’ll doctor the injured, I’ll build up the weak ones and oversee the strong ones so they’re not exploited. {Ezekiel 34:11-16 MSG}

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. {Luke 12:32 ESV}

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd. This is why the Father loves me: because I freely lay down my life. And so I am free to take it up again. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own free will. I have the right to lay it down; I also have the right to take it up again. I received this authority personally from my Father.”. {John 10:14-18, MSG}

As I care for this innocent, fragile little lamb, I’m reminded of words I wrote three years ago after a weekend sitting under the rich teaching of Beth Guckenberger:

“God will always provide. Strength. Peace. Joy. One moment, one step, one day at a time.

Like a Good Shepherd leading his sheep, we can trust that He will guide us to green pastures. We can keep our ears tilted toward Him, listening for the next place to place our feet. The next stop. The next fork in the road. Ours is meant to be a position of dependance on Him.”