Recently I had a dream about reading Psalm 23.  I was standing in front of many people to read it, but couldn't find it in my Bible.  So I just spoke out a portion of the psalm.  "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want."  It started a night long repeat of that portion of scripture.  Every dream, all my night thoughts and even when I awoke in the night were filled with saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want"  I finally got up and I was refreshed and encouraged in a soul restoring way. The simplicity of this scripture repeated again and again has established a new reality of being shepherded by the Lord.  And not that I would want to have it stop, but the scripture continues to ring in my ears and come out of my mouth.  I am feeling fortified in my faith through this process. That is why I am sharing it with you, because I believe many of us need to be reminded that we are not only kept safely in the midst of turmoil, but that we are led carefully by the Lord to insure our well being.

Most folks we know are concerned about how the economy is going to influence their lives, if it hasn't already.  Gloom and doom meditations are releasing fear and depression as never before.  When the Lord is our Shepherd, we don't have to give into this heart sickness.  Besides this being a trial of our faith, it certainly is revealing the true level of the trust that we have in the Lord.  When everything is easy, it is easy to say "all is well with my soul" but when things are hard can we still say it?  What a great time to return to the basics of our faith, and let our trust be strongly in the Lord.

When the Lord is our Shepherd and we let Him be Lord of all, then we can trust that He will lead us in paths of righteousness for His name sake; He will make us to lie down in green pastures;  He will lead us beside the still waters;  and He will restore our soul. 

Does your soul need restoring after being influenced by the affairs of this world.  Now would be a good time to renew your committment to leting your Shepherd be your Lord.  Say with me, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want!"  Let Him be Lord of all, so that He can fulfill the promise:  You shall suffer no lack.   Peace