The Lost Sheep

We often hear “Jesus knows you, and calls you by name”. But what does that truly look like in our everyday lives? Growing up in a big family, you could say that our individual identity can get sort of lost in the shuffle. I am often referred to as “One of the Molitor girls”, “So and so's sister” or my favorite, “the one who farms”. It almost makes me struggle to fully understand and believe the parable of the lost sheep.

I think the parable itself is so beautiful. Jesus leaves the 99 to pursue the 1 who strayed. On one hand, as a dairyman, I've been there. I've had to search for that newborn calf who hid from me in the pasture. But on the other hand, to me, Jesus seems like a bad farmer. Why would he risk 99 profitable ‘good’ animals when only one goes missing? Or, wouldn't it be best to focus on moving the rest of the herd to the next pasture, instead of focusing on the one crazy heifer that jumped the fence?

I do believe in the love story he has for us in this parable, but a lot of times I catch myself being stubborn and playing the victim. There is a lot of doubt towards believing that he actually pays attention, and knows what I'm up to.

About a month ago, a friend of mine reached out to me. She told me that she found herself praying for me and a specific bible verse kept coming back to her. She felt that she needed to pass it on to me.

Around that same time, I found my faith to be lukewarm. Life was crazy busy. We were getting ready for my sisters wedding on top of trying to balance work life, the farm, family events, and the random organizations I am a part of- my crazy life got the best of me. I had put my faith on the back burner.

When I looked up the verse my friend had shared with me, I was really embarrassed. This friend, is a woman I really admire and look up to. The verse was Joel chapter 2 12-13. I'll let you look it up. It's really intense. Almost like God has passed over being passive aggressive with me, and went straight to aggressive. I didn't even reply to my friend for a week because I didn't know how to react to a 'mic drop' like that. She must have thought I was up to no good, when really I had just strayed and needed a kick-in-the butt to return home.

The thing is, he really does know us personally. He knows that sometimes it takes the use of influential people in our lives to get past the stubbornness and victim playing. He sees you, and he knows you.

Sincerely,

Hannah