God and Dog

It’s the simple things that bless my heart so tremendously.  I’ve been in a season of life where the Lord is refining, not only me, but my husband.  We’ve found ourselves facing choices we’ve faced before and we know it’s because we need to make a better choice this time around.  I understand it’s all for my maturity, for my personal growth into the woman of God He’s called me to be.  Somehow it seems that the grace that covered me several years ago doesn’t cover me today.  Not that the grace  has lost it's power. I guess because I know better now, and when you know better you have to do better.

In knowing better, the simple things have become more important.  Ministry has become more important then music career.  Family has become more important then touring the country and seeing the world.  Daily things have become more precious and I’m much more aware of God’s blessings.  I use to think blessings equaled miracles and miracles were always big, jaw dropping events.  I understand now as I get older miracles can be big supernatural things, but they can also be little things that warm your heart and make you smile.

Like my dogs.  Despite the fact that Bucho likes to “date the living room pillows” and Bianca sometimes seems to think that the bathroom rug is grass, I love them tremendously and I am thankful for their presence in my life.  My puppies remind me of the love of God.  I think it has something to do with a dog’s willingness to take you just as you are, their ability to love you despite all your failures, their faithfulness even when you don’t pay them as much attention as you should.  And I found myself thankful and I wanted to tell the Lord I was thankful to Him for giving them to me. So I did what many do when they want the world to know something that seems so urgent and important.  I posted on Facebook, “Thank you Lord for creating dogs.”

It is amazing how when you pray a simple prayer of thank you, the Lord often goes an extra step to reaffirm His love to you.  He seems to say thank you back, because you thanked Him for His amazing awesomeness!  In a matter of minutes my dear friend Lani posted a video for me to enjoy based on a children’s book called, God and Dog.  I was in tears halfway through the 90 second video.  I’ll leave it to you to watch and see for yourself the gentle reminder of God’s love for us through His own creation – the dog!  For God to have her post this to my page was reaffirmation of His hearing my prayer.  And then, the funniest picture of a dachshund came across my Facebook feed.  This little blessing looked like he could be our Bucho’s cousin.  In the picture the dog is looking sheepish and he has a sign around his neck saying, “I steal food from unattended plates.”  It was the funniest thing I had seen all day and in a matter of 20 minutes I went from tears of gratitude to laughing hysterically! 

 And I thought isn’t that just like the Lord to give me these simple pleasures, joyful dogs, a great friend, a beautiful video and a hilarious picture – all because He loves me and wants to hear me laugh.  His love is a miracle and His attention to the details of my life are amazing.  The Lord’s creation reflects His heart towards us.  Think about that the next time a simple thing makes you laugh or a gentle thing brings you to tears.  These are the evidence of God’s amazing love.  These are the evidence of true miracles.

*Photo From Facebook Page: I Love Dachshunds Fan Page