Field guide · Terrain · “He makes me lie down in green pastures… beside still waters”
Us with Godand Our Bodies
Forecast: mixed conditions, aches and energy by turns, with grace in the air all day.
Four tired ways to walk
Each has some truth in it. None of them is the whole story.
Under GodSheep that hide from the Shepherd
If I’m sick, I must have done something wrong.
Over GodSheep that know the way
If I track it and optimize it, my body will do what I tell it.
From GodSheep that follow the grass
God owes me healing. I prayed, so where is it?
For GodSheep trying to be the sheepdog
My body is a tool, and I’ll burn it out for God if I have to.
Your body is a home for his Spirit, received with thanks.
Paul wrote that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who lives in us as a gift from God (1 Cor 6:19). We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14), on good days and hard ones. When the body is weak, his grace is still enough, and his power shows up right there (2 Cor 12:9). Doctors, nurses, medicine, sleep, and a good walk are all gifts from his hand. We can care for our bodies the way a guest cares for a borrowed home, with gratitude and without fear.
Where the Shepherd isJesus touched bodies. He took a feverish woman by the hand and helped her up (Mark 1:31).
Thank God for one part of your body that works today, and be gentle with one part that doesn’t.
Lord, can I trust you with this body, even when it hurts?
Fellow travelers
People in Scripture who walked this ground before us.
- The man born blind heard Jesus tell everyone that no one’s sin had caused his blindness (John 9:1–3).
- The woman who had bled for twelve years reached for his cloak, and he stopped the whole crowd to call her daughter (Mark 5:25–34).
Keep walking
- With God: Sheep that know his voicethe posture every entry points to
- Which Way Are You Walking?a short self-check
- The Field Guideevery entry, by terrain, weather and crossing