A Shepherd’s Heart: The Book About Love....

By Neasa Barnes

Together for over 40 years the Barnes family raised sheep. The Barnes family included Rex and Linda Barnes and their six kids Rex Jr(Rexy), Brenda, Lisa, Neasa, DaRexa and Zylin. Rex Barnes the father of the author was a Pastor, Evangelist and a shepherd of both people and real sheep. Throughout the years the author was taught a great love for both sheep and people. With the greatest love being the love of God for all of His sheep.
This book is a practical guide and heart share of a real shepherd's heart. The author shares from the perspective of a shepherd girls everyday life of caring for a flock of sheep.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Feb 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662909252

Book preview

Chapter 1

A Shepherd’s Heart Conception

I believe one of the most used scriptures relating to a shepherd is Psalms 23. I can remember learning this scripture in Sunday school. It was one of the first verses that I committed to memory as a young child. I found it easy to relate to the Lord being my shepherd since I was a little shepherd girl. Being a shepherd was something I knew very well. Being a shepherd girl everyday was after all my favorite thing. I thought it was Jesus’s way of personally loving on me to give me a scripture in the great big Bible that I could understand especially since I never felt like I fit into most of the molds people wanted me to be in. I was a free-spirited child with a strong will and soft heart. Always at the center was my love for God. My parents were a constant reminder of unfailing love for God and each other. Daily as I watched I learned what selfless love looked like. It is because of my parents that I am able to share unconditional love with the world. Let’s read this important scripture together.

PSALMS 23: 1-6

¹ The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. ² He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³ He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Ever wonder what it would be like to live on a sheep farm or to be raised on a sheep farm? Ever wonder what a shepherd’s life really looks like? What can we relate it to in our modern-day life? What is it like to raise sheep? What is it like to care for them and to have a heart of a shepherd? The Bible is filled with mentions of sheep, of shepherding and of being a shepherd. I truly never realized until very recently the vast majority of people alive today have no idea what truly takes place every day on a sheep farm. Yet, they read the Bible, see all these mentions and illustrations of shepherding, sheep, and a shepherd and are forced because of a lack of knowledge to come up with their own formulated ideas on what they think that must look like. I pray that after reading this book the many scriptures referring to sheep, shepherds, and shepherding spread throughout the entire Bible will come to life to you this very day.

I spent the majority of my life hiding from almost everyone that I was a shepherd girl. I was always embarrassed of my childhood farm life. In my heart I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to be able to relate to the little girls at recess who played with Barbie dolls and dressed their dolls in fancy clothes — fancy doll dresses they pulled out of these tiny little elaborate pink cases. They even had shoes and bags for these dolls. This wasn’t something I could relate to. I definitely didn’t put dresses on my sheep or play house with them. So at recess at school I would end up running and playing boy games with the guys or playing by myself because I couldn’t relate to their games. In my life there was work, sleep, more work and church on Sundays. Even on Sundays the sheep and animals had to be fed. It was a life filled with love, but every day was work. I was taught about responsibility and work ethics as a very small child. I was taught you never feed yourself and leave your sheep to starve. If you are eating, then your sheep had better be eating. This was non-negotiable. My dad had the work ethic of an iron horse. You just don’t know!

I decided very young that I wouldn’t talk about what I did on the farm or the chores that I did. My friends played tag and ran around on city streets and played ball. They played make-believe Barbie doll games, and made up fairy tales as they went along. I couldn’t relate to them, and they surely did not relate to my life. I began to try to emulate how they dressed, how they spoke, how they acted. I wanted to be a city kid. They wore Jordache and Calvin Klein jeans. I wore little boys’ Wranglers with tucks in the back of them because I was so skinny. Mom later would tell me these jeans were the only ones to fit me, and she said that I got a lot of use out of them. Insert me shaking my head here. I wore shirts that weren’t frilly or fancy because you didn’t wear fancy clothes to get dirty on a farm. You only became fancy when you would go to church on Sundays. So I always looked forward to Sundays. I still do today. I spent a very large part of my childhood alone, playing in the pastures and watching the sheep, talking with God and learning to hear His voice. He was my best friend. I thought other kids did this, too. It wasn’t till I was a teenager that I began to notice not everyone grew up hearing His voice, or developing that quiet relationship with Him. I thought this made me very odd. I hid the fact that I could hear His voice clearly, and the less I talked, the more I heard Him. Try telling the kids on the playground about that. Even to this day I spend a great deal of time in a way that I would call isolated. I have a couple of friends whom I have