Speaking their Language

One of the most frustrating things about dog ownership is the language barrier between us and the dogs! You can teach them a few words and commands to go with those words, but that's about all they will get, no matter how smart your dog is. For some reason, I keep trying to teach my dogs how to act by talking to them like people. You'd think I would have learned by now not to talk to them like people, but I'm so used to speaking my own language, I often forget to speak their language. I'm not talking about barking at them. That would be hilarious to watch, but ultimately completely ineffective. Dogs live in a pack order, and the whole pack follows the leader. In the wild, the pack leader will bite at the neck of an insubordinate dog to remind him who is the leader. So, when we need to correct the dogs, we use our hands to "bite" them at the neck, telling them to back off and respect our leadership. They are not capable of understanding our way of communicating, so we must communicate with them in a way they can understand.

We have a language barrier with God too. On our own, we are completely unable to understand His ways, His voice, & His words. Yet He has chosen to reveal Himself and His truth to us in a way we can understand. He gave us the Bible, His truth in words we can understand. But even in that, He must enable us to understand it. He also speaks to our hearts individually in very personal ways. We often miss it because we aren't listening, but if you do, you will hear His words. I remember very clearly the first time God spoke to me in this way. I was at a crossroads in my faith as an 8th grader. I had accepted Jesus' sacrifice for my sins, but I was still living my life my own way. One day at a youth camp, God said to me in my heart, "Are you with me or not?" When I answered, "Yes," my life was never the same.

How very gracious is our God, who loves us so much and wants us to know Him, so He communicates that to us in very clear and personal ways. For those of us who already know of this amazing love, how important it is for us to tell those who don't yet know- in a way they can understand.

Responding to Difficulty

This is a picture of Gimli cuddling with our friend Jeremy. They are our dog sitters any time we go out of town and can't take them with us. They have two schnauzers also and a big back yard, so going to their house is like doggie summer camp! As you can tell, Gimli is really missing us right now... yeah, right! Of course, when we came back, he was so excited to see us, but at this moment, he is content being a part of the new family pack. When we first dropped him off, he was nervous and unsettled. We try to sneak out without him noticing so he won't freak out at our departure. Usually it takes him a few days to warm up at his temporary home, but as you can see, by this point, he's accepted the situation and is content. 

Gimli was not in control of the decision for him to spend a week at our friends' house while we were out of town, but we, his care givers, were, and made that choice because it was in his best interest. God has been challenging me a lot recently with being faithful and giving my very best with whatever I am entrusted with. Sometimes, the things God has entrusted me with are not what I want to be doing. Many of the responsibilities in my life are not fun, exciting, spiritual, or easy. But that is irrelevant to how I am called to respond. What matters is that I've been entrusted with a responsibility by the God of the Universe and my personal Savior, and out of love, obedience and trust in Him, I must follow through to the best of my ability. A lot of life we can control, and we must accept responsibility for those choices, commitments & consequences. But sometimes, we must accept circumstances that are beyond our control also. In circumstances where we are not in control, the situation is not what we would have chosen, and we suffer consequences as a result, it can be so difficult to remember that though we were not in control, God was, and chose to put us in that situation for a reason.

I am often tempted to think that because a circumstance was not of my choosing that I have a free pass to be bitter, complaining, and disobedient. Or because a person treats me unfairly or disrespectfully, that I am allowed to respond to them with disrespect as well because "they did it to me first and they deserve it." Things will never go exactly how I'd like for them to, and I won't be treated kindly by everyone. That's just life. We can't control every situation or person, but we can control how we respond to them. God is honored when we respond to difficult situations with a positive attitude and seek to bring Him glory with our response. It is not pleasing to Him when we respond with ingratitude, unkindness and selfishness.

We may not get to choose every circumstance we find ourselves in, and every person we must interact with, but we can trust that the One who is in control will provide for us what we need to navigate through these challenges if we will rely on Him.

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,  since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." -Colossians 3:23


"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." -Ephesians 4:32

What's the Real Prize?

Gimli and Virginia have mastered the art of manipulation. They are true professionals. When they want something, they know just how to tug on our heart strings to better their chances of getting what they want. This comes out the most when they want some people food. When we are eating on the couch, they will come up right next to us, lay their little heads on our laps and look up at us with these big, sweet puppy dog eyes and wait. It's so hard to resist because they are just so sweet! But the second we finish eating and put our plates down, they jump up and leave. That's how I know they don't really want to cuddle with me- they want me to give them some food.

On Sunday, our pastor preached on a passage in Exodus 33 about the Israelites and Moses when they were in the wilderness. God had made a promise to the Israelites that He would give them the land of Canaan, but He was frustrated with them for their sinful, ungrateful and stubborn hearts and basically tells them, "I'll give you the land as I promised, but my presence won't go there with you." God tells them, "I'll give you your dream, but you won't have Me." Our pastor asked us, "What if God gave you a winning lottery ticket and said, 'Take it, but you won't have My presence with you.' Would you take it?" The truth is that often I would rather have God give me what I want than to be in His presence and have what He wants for me. All too often, I beg at God's feet like Gimli & Virginia beg at ours- with a primary desire for the gift, not the Giver. But unlike me, God doesn't fall for the act. He knows exactly what is going on in our hearts even more so than we do. My pastor has said several times at church that "Our hearts are idol factories." Our hearts are bent towards worshiping an earthly thing rather than the Creator of all things because of our sin nature.  I want to want God more than anything, but far too often, I'm more interested in what He can do for me than His presence.

Moses told God, "Let us wander in the wilderness and die here if your presence won't go with us to the promised land." He knew the true prize was God's presence, not the land. My prayer is that as I spend time with God daily, that He would show me more of His goodness, character, glory and love for me, and that my heart would be completely transformed by His presence.

Hand Picked

Gimli growling on the left

When we decided to get Gimli and Virginia, we chose a breeder located in our home town. Since we live 1,000 miles away, we couldn't make it over to their house to visit the puppies when they were babies. Luckily, my sister helped us out and went over to the house and took some photos of the whole litter so we could pick out our new puppy. In both cases, though, the decision was very easy. One puppy stood out among the rest: that was OUR dog!

With Gimli, it was the first photo. Paul took one look at this "growling" puppy and said, "That's my boy!" With Virginia, it was the second picture. We picked her out while Gimli was still missing.  I had intended to surprise Paul with a new puppy at Christmas. But after a few weeks, his mom and I decided to tell him to help ease the pain of missing Gimli. He took one look at the second photo, pointed to Virginia and said, "I want HER!" We were in love before we even met them!

We hand picked our two sweet puppies who we would love and care for for their whole lives. The Bible tells us that God hand picked us to be His children also:

John 15:16-17: You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. This is my command: Love each other.

1 Peter 2:9: You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Virginia is the 2nd from the right

We picked out Gimli & Virginia after they were born, but God chose us before He even created us. We will love and care for Gimli & Virginia as long as they live, but God will love and care for us for eternity. Not only did He choose us, but chose us for a purpose: to love others and show them the goodness of God.  We were designed and chosen by the Living God to love God and love others forever. Knowing that the God of the Universe created me and chose me to be in a relationship with Him gives me such a sense of worth and value that cannot be taken away due to circumstances, my performance or success in life, or others' opinion of me. I pray that in the moments when I am tempted to believe that my worth is tied up in what I can accomplish, produce, or who I can impress, that I will remember that my true worth is defined by the fact that the Living God created me & chose me, not because of who I am or what I can do, but because of His love for me.

Delight

I was looking through all the pictures we have of the dogs through their lives last week, and one word  came to my mind frequently: Delight. We delight in being with Gimli and Virginia! We delight in the relationships we have with them. When we first picked up Gimli, we were overjoyed to finally have the puppy we'd wanted for years. He cried all night, needed lots of play time, chewed up our stuff, peed all over our carpets and our bed once, but even with all of that, we still delighted in him. We still loved him, enjoyed spending time with him, and seeing him grow and learn new things.

Now that we have Gimli and Virginia, we still delight in them. This morning, it was rainy, cold, and wet outside. Paul walked the dogs as usual, and also as usual, Virginia took her sweet time to take care of her business. The three of them came back inside soaking wet. I could tell Paul was frustrated with her, but still picked her up and dried her off sweetly so she wouldn't be cold.  And there is seriously nothing better on the planet than when they jump up into our bed at night and snuggle up to me! My heart just fills up with joy in those moments, even if I am uncomfortable and can't sleep!  We delight in them, not because they do anything for us of value (they don't), or because they are perfectly well behaved (they certainly are not), or because of how they treat and respond to us. We delight in them because they are our pups and we love having them in our lives.

As I looked through all these photos and thought about how much I delight in our pups, I couldn't help but also think about how much God delights in each of us. My delight of the pups is nothing compared to how God delights in His children!  I am often tempted to believe that God is frustrated or annoyed at me when I blow it, or that He doesn't know or care that I'm alive when He seems distant, but that is absolutely not true. The Bible is overwhelmingly clear that He loves us with an everlasting love that is not dependent on the things we do or don't do, or how we love Him in return. He loves us because He loves us.  What a wonderful, glorious, and joyful reality!

I am so thankful for the little glimpse of the unconditional love God has for me by learning to love these little creatures that are fully dependent on me and helpless without me. I leave you with a selection of verses from Romans 8 that describe the infinite and complete love of God for His people:

From Romans 8 :He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Following the Call

Gimli mid-bark

Our neighbor stopped by the other day to borrow an iron. Being the fierce watchdog that Gimli is, he went nuts. He barked and barked, and wanted to storm out the door the second he could to greet the unknown visitor. We are trying to reclaim the door as our territory, so we've been commanding Gimli to go to his crate when he starts going berserk at the door. So, following along with this plan, Paul commands Gimli, "Go to your crate!". Gimli whines and reluctantly runs to his crate. Two seconds later, he's back. He can't help himself- he must know who it is that is at our door! He runs back to the door from the crate, to which Paul responds, "Gimli- go to your crate!" Letting us know his disapproval of this command, he whines all the way back to his crate, and guess what- 2 seconds later- back at the door! This pattern repeats 5 or 6 times before we could actually open the door for our neighbor.

Gimli had difficulty submitting to Paul's command because he had something different in mind for himself in this situation. He didn't like the command Paul gave him, so he struggled to obey. We could tell he wanted to obey out of loyalty to Paul, but the situation seemed more important than obedience. It wasn't of course, which we knew because we could see who was behind the door through the peep hole. Gimli had no idea who was there, and couldn't know because he is just too short to look through the peephole. But we're not. We are trying to train him to trust us to handle the unknown. I can relate to Gimli, because I often have trouble accepting God's call on my life if I want something different. Even when the calling God has given me is abundantly clear, I often struggle to obey because- well, I just don't like it. I go back and forth with Him, asking a zillion questions like,

 "Are you sure this is what I'm supposed to be doing? Are you sure you want me here? Are you sure I'm not going to look like an idiot if I do this? Wouldn't we all be happier if I were doing this other thing? See, look at all the advantages of me doing this other thing! No?... You just want me to keep doing what you've already told me to? For how long? (no answer)  I' guess that means indefinitely... But are you SURE God???" 

The truth I must accept is that in every phase of my life, there will be something I want to be different about my life. Life will never look exactly how I desire it to. That's the problem with living in a fallen world in a sinful body. But honestly, it really shouldn't because I don't know what's best for me, or what's lurking behind doors I can't see behind. I have to learn to accept the call God has given me for today, and obey Him because He is trustworthy & sees the big picture of my life and the whole universe. I don't think He minds, though, when I ask a zillion questions. Obedience is a process, and one we must engage with God to learn, so I think asking questions is good, as long as I can accept His answers even if it's not what I want to hear.

I believe God's got a plan to teach me to trust and obey Him, just like we've got a plan to teach Gimli not to go berserk over every knock on the door. Both plans involve commands requiring immediate and thorough obedience. I hope Gimli and I both learn quick!

Comfort

We took Gimli and Virginia to get their annual check ups last week. They did great at the vet, but shortly after we returned home, Virginia started having an allergic reaction to one of the vaccines she got. It was clear she felt terrible. We ended up having to take her back to the vet twice to relieve her pain. The whole time she was sick, she just cuddled up to me and wanted me to pet her. I got up for just a second, and when I returned she was shivering because she was scared. She didn't want to leave my side even for a second. She didn't feel good and knew where she would receive comfort. She didn't go to her toys, her food, her water, or even Gimli. She came to her mom.

When I am in pain, I don't always go to my Father for comfort. I often go to friends, family, Paul, seek to mask my pain through food or distract myself through entertainment. None of things can do anything for my pain. All they can offer is a temporary distraction. Christ, however, knows our pain intimately. We don't even have to tell Him what's going on- He knows. He loves us exponentially more than we will ever understand, and certainly more than anyone else will ever love us. He is in perfect control of all things, knows the past, present, and future of the entire universe, and yet cares about the little details in each of our lives. This is truly amazing. Why on earth would I turn to anything else? Mostly because I'm sinful, but my prayer is that God would remind me of His presence, His love and His desire and ability to comfort me in my pain, and that I need Him in the painful times.


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. -Matthew 11: 28-31