When I close my eyes I see scissors going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth; and then I see a hole in the wool open up right before ...
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When I close my eyes I see scissors going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth; and then I see a hole in the wool open up right before my eyes and I know I've done it, I've made the big break through that I've been waiting for..........wait a minute, it's all a dream.......the wool is gone and so are the scissors. But what's not gone is the reality of what happened this week for me on a Navajo sheep ranch in Mexican Springs, New Mexico. What happened was that my faith was, again, increased.
This past Monday, all I took to that Navajo sheep ranch was faith. The sheep shearing project had been coming together nicely with two groups interested in shearing and then, right before my very eyes, the groups fell away; first one, and then the other. My faith told me that God had a plan and that all I had to do was find it. So I began to look........I began seeking God's will for the project......I prayerfully went to the word 3 times and all 3 times God confirmed that I was to go shear sheep. Then I began finding people who were willing and excited about going with me to shear. As a final confirmation, I had a ministry partner donate money for my airfare. It just couldn't get any clearer than that, I thought.
Shortly after the airfare was purchased, the people who were willing and excited about shearing began to fall away, one by one. Evenutally, no one was left. I was going to be going to the Navajo sheep ranch by myself. As I sat contemplating that fact the night before the shearing was to begin, God said to me, "Tomorrow will be special, Sherry." That's all I needed to hear. I went to bed and slept peacefully in anticipation of what tomorrow would bring.
When I arrived at the sheep ranch the next morning, I certainly did not know what to expect. How would this work out? Would I feel out of place? Would I be able to be a help and not be a hindrance? Would the family accept my help?
As I sat in the kitchen waiting for the family to gather, I was immediately put at ease by the owner of the ranch and his sister. We sat and chatted for a time before heading out to the sheep shed. I was immediately paired up with a shearing partner and we headed out to the corral to capture the sheep that we were going to shear.
I certainly didn't know what I was doing, but my shearing partner did and she talked me through the process of chasing the sheep, grabbing it by it's hind leg, straddling it and then walking it to the shearing table.
Then she began to show me how to shear. I watched for a time and then she gave me scissors and I began to shear, listening to her suggestions as I went. It was so much fun.
I never would have thought!
By then I was beginning to understand what God was talking about.......this was pretty special. This family had totally accepted me and was teaching me something their family had been doing for over 100 years. And doing it in the traditional way. I was actually living what it is like to be a Navajo sheep rancher. I was not only learning about sheep shearing, but I was learning about Navjao family relationships as they interacted with each other throughout the shearing process. When my shearing partner and I had completed shearing our first sheep, she gave me a high 5 and said, "You did it!"
When the shearing was all over for the day, we all gathered in the kitchen to share a meal. And what a meal it was, tortilla pork chop sandwiches with hot peppers (yuummm, I love hot peppers), corn on the cob, rice, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, watermelon. But even better than the food was the 2 1/2 hours that we sat around that kitchen table and shared lives. Navajos are story tellers and alot of stories were told that day. It was so special! God really knew what He was talking about.
Every time I go to "Navajo Country," God teaches me more and more what it is like to be "Navajo". And the more I learn, the more I become "Navajo". God showed me a long time ago that in order to minister to those He puts in my path, the more I need to understand their culture and become like them. As Paul said in I Corinthians 9:19-22 "...I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law, I became like one not having the law so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." I could add to that, "To the Navajo I became like a Navajo, to win the Navajo."
So many blessings came into my life out of my time spent with this precious sheep ranching family on the Navajo Indian Reservation........but more than anything else I take away, is the fact that God has a plan and all I have to do is sit back and go along for the ride.....when I do that, my faith grow by leaps and bounds. Then if that wasn't enough of a blessing, God gave me a bonus........when I went to get in my car to go home, this is what I saw. This big guy wanted to go home with me. If only I weren't flying! To God Be The Glory!
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