This afternoon as I was finishing up my lunch, my daughter rushed in breathlessly to report that the new baby calf was stuck in the mud.  We have had an exceptional amount of rain here in the last 7 days and there is water on top of the ground just about everywhere.

So, in a flurry, we all jumped to our feet (me and the kids) threw on our shoes and headed out the door on a rescue mission.  Upon arriving on the scene it was evident that our little guy had been stuck for awhile.  Shoulder deep in the dark, black, soupy mud from the rain the night before, no mother to be found, he looked pretty beat.  Not without a bit of struggle and a lot of tugging and pushing, we finally managed to get him to high ground and to a place of peace and rest in the rich green grass of the pasture.                                                                       What a relief for him and for us.

Interesting enough, as I was standing there watching him rest in the clean green grass with the calm breeze blowing and the sun giving off just the right amount of warmth it dawned on me that in this experience God was speaking to me.

How many times in life do we end up wandering off the path that God has placed in front of us and end up horribly stuck in the mud.  And as we sink and struggle and wrestle with the mud we just end up more stuck.  Pretty soon, just like the little calf, we give up, exhausted, frustrated and depressed.  And even though we can see the green pasture intended for us, just a few feet away, we don’t know how we will ever reach it.

It is in that moment of complete exhaustion and surrender that God will come along, if we ask, pluck us out of the mud, and drag our tired soul to the green pastures.  His place of rest. Psalm 23 says “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul.”

The moral of the story is don’t wander off and get stuck!  Stay in that place of rest, wait on Him and He will make your path straight.  I have been stuck for awhile, and in that moment of physical rescue for the baby calf, God opened my eyes to see His will for my life.  He brought me to the green pasture, gave me rest.  He restored my soul.

If you have been wandering too as I suspect many of us have, look up.  Let the Almighty lead you to your place of rest.  He will if you let Him.