What your dog taught me about my God part four

I have cats.  Two to be precise.  Leo and Scraps are a big part of our family even though they are outdoor cats.  They sit at our patio doors and watch us day in and day out.

When our guest dog, Shiloh arrived the cats were a little peeved I think.  I could just imagine the meows translated into, 'why does she get to be inside?'  'Why are you snuggling with her on your lap instead of me?"

However the most intriguing part to me was that Shiloh felt the (ingrained?) need to protect us from our own cats.  Whenever they would appear at the window she would get her fierce, protective bark on and attempt to crash through the the glass to chase them off.

Now I know dogs chase cats - that is life right?  But what I didn't expect was the intensity with which Shiloh needed to accomplish this.  When she would bark, we would tell her to stop.  When she charged the windows, we would stop her and reassure her they were not a threat.  We would hold the cats in front of her to help ease her worry.  But none of it mattered.  Shiloh needed to protect our home from our own cats.  She had a job to do.  No exceptions.

That got me thinking ...

• Do I know my 'job' and am I willing and prepared to carry it out with abandon?  
• Am I willing to do what I have been called to do even if others think I shouldn't?
• Can I carry forward listening to my inner calling when I am chastised or punished?
• Do those around me know without a doubt what my life stands for?

I understand that Shiloh may have been chasing my cats out of instinct.  Yet, that doesn't excuse me.  I have an instinct in my life - a basic need for a loving God to lead and guide my life.  Do I recognize it and fulfill it?  God made an easy way for us to find Him and to surrender to Him.  He sent His Son, Jesus to die for our sins so that we would have no reason to say, 'I can't' or 'I don't know what to do'.

If you are struggling to find what your job is - what He wants you to do with no exceptions, then ASK HIM.  He wants to lead you where you should be.  He wants to show you the amazing, awesome and unpredictable future He has in store for you.  To be the YOU He created.

Having Shiloh in our home has been an eye-opening experience for me.  God wants me to trust Him, love Him and rely on Him alone.  He has a job for me to do and I must push forward in it - no matter what others say or do.  It is ingrained in my soul. I am blessed.  Thank you Jesus.

Thank you Shiloh.  You are welcome back anytime!

Here is a little toe-tapper to put you in the mood to follow Him in 'being' and 'doing' exactly the way He wants you.

Links for part One, Two and Three of this thread.

What your dog taught me about my God part three

Shiloh taught me trust.

I blogged earlier about the first two lessons I'd learned from babysitting a friend's dog.  (Part One, Part Two)  But likely the most powerful lesson was while we took a walk one afternoon.  It was a rainy afternoon and my spirit felt stormy as well.  I was upset ... so I decided to walk the dog to clear my head.

I walked down my country road a lot further with Shiloh than I had in the past.  I could see her becoming confused.  She kept turning around to look back to our house.  I didn't care.  I needed to vent some frustration.

See, I had received a review of a manuscript I had sent out to an author.  It was a prize I'd won on an author blog, Seekerville.  I was so discouraged.  But not for the reason you might think.  The author loved my first chapter, using words like "riveting" and "brilliant".  But I was angry.  I know that sounds weird and believe me it felt weird too.  I had received feedback from two contests before this with a range of responses - some liked my writing and some didn't.  There seemed to be no way to tell where exactly I stood.  I figured I was just just average.

Average.

That was reason enough to quit in my mind.  I have so many things on my plate as a mother, wife, role in my church, owning a business and so many other ventures ... why would I put myself out there for  ... average.  So I had decided that my writing was just for me.  (And maybe a few friends.)  For now at least.  I didn't need the hassle of rejection, disappointing reviews and what not.  I didn't want to be published badly enough to endure that.  So I made my mind up.

Then came the response from the author. "Wow, Jodi.  This is really powerful. Beautifully done."  
Now I was mad.  So I walked the dog.  As we walked I saw something that stopped me still. 

Maybe you can't see it from this picture off my cell phone, but there is an endless pile of logs in the background.  There were thousands and thousands of them; all alike.  None were distinct.  I stood there motionless for a moment as the lesson upon my heart sunk in.  Pride.  The horrible, awful sin of pride had bitten me. I wanted to be special.  I wanted to be more than average.  I wanted to stand out above the thousands and thousands of others who felt the call of God to write.

As I stood there with tears streaming down my cheeks and an anxious dog at my feet I confessed to God my pride and told Him I was afraid I might be hurt if I kept going on my writing journey.  I wanted Him to protect my heart.  Then I started to walk away.

I was so consumed in my own moment I hadn't noticed that Shiloh had wandered under the barbed wire fence to check out the grass on the other side - to see if it smelled any different than the grass on our side, I guess.  Once she realized I was leaving she bounded over to me in excitement, getting her fluffy tail caught in the barbs.  She tried to pull it out, whimpering and squawking, but to no avail.

I knelt down in the wet grass and held her in my arms so she wouldn't wiggle.  Then I began trying to pull each hair free from the grasp of the barbed wire.  Shiloh sat still and patient in my arms waiting for me to free her.  I was amazed.

My first thought had been 'what if she won't stay still?'  'What if she bites me for trying to help her?'  But she didn't.  She somehow knew to trust me.  Why?

God wants me to trust Him too.  Why or how can I do that?  It is simply, because He has been good to me and faithful to me in the past.  He has never left me hanging from a barb before and He won't do it now.  'What if I am never more than average?'  'What if I get hurt by the words and thoughts of others?'

That's okay because God has me in His arms, in His lap and it is all going to be okay.  It might still hurt.  I am certain it caused Shiloh pain to be set free from the wire's hold.  But she trusted me and that taught me to trust Him.

Deuteronomy 32:10 (NIV)

In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,

Deuteronomy 32:11 (NLT)

like an eagle that rouses her chicks and hovers over her young, so he spread his wings to take them up and carried them safely on his pinions.

What your dog taught me about my God part two

Previously I wrote  a lesson I learned from babysitting a friend's dog about being content with where you are.  You can read it here.

Today, let's look at another aspect about taking care of Shiloh.  She loved my attention.  Too much.

Maybe you are a pet owner, so you know this already, but I wasn't prepared for my new best friend.  See, we own cats.  (Need I say anymore??)  Cats don't follow you around, waiting on baited breath for your tiny morsel of attention.  In fact, you either have to chase a cat down to show them affection or feed them.

Shiloh was less concerned with when or how I fed her than with where I was and if I knew she was there.  In fact I heard myself over and over again say words I haven't uttered since my children were preschoolers.  "Please go play somewhere else so Mommy can get some work done."  Did you ever say those words?  Do you say something similar to your dog today?

Shiloh was at my heels everywhere I walked.  She sat at my heels wherever I sat.  Every time I move my position she would look up from her nap to see what I was doing or where I was going.  I tripped over her, stepped on her feet or tail and even skidded her across the floor once when I moved very suddenly.  I was so unaccustomed to this attention that at one point I ran into the bathroom, slammed the door quickly behind me and taunted the dog,  "haha Shiloh, you can't get in here!"  As soon as it dawned on me that she still won - she would be right behind the door until I came out - I recognized that was not one of my better moments.  (Don't judge!)

What did I learn by the end of the ten days?  That I am being followed every day and to every place already.  I am not being stalked.  I am being pursued.  God is always waiting for me to talk to Him, or spend time with Him or let Him be a part of my day.  He watches my every move, lovingly, to see where He can fit into my day. 

Do I acknowledge Him there, or do I try to run to my room to hide from His presence?

Once I saw this and understood it, the best part of all

What your dog taught me about my God

My family likes to babysit animals for people when they go away ... and NO that is not an advertisement!!!

Recently we watched a dog for friends while they took a family holiday.  It wasn't the first time we took their dog and probably won't be the last time but it has been the most interesting time so far.

I learned a few things from our friend, Shiloh.  She showed me a few lessons about my relationship with my Father God.

The first lesson was that change can be hard, but valuable.  As soon as our friends carried Shiloh into our house carrying her bed, her bowl and her leash she became nervous.  When usually she's happy to see me she only wanted her owners.  I had to hold her in my arms as they walked out the door.  Afterwards, the dog wandered around our home, only partially her usually bouncy self.  For a day and a half, she didn't eat or drink.  We knew this about her.  She has been in our home before but for only a day or two at most.  I was a little concerned to see when, or if, she would start eating.  This time her family would be away for ten days.

After the majority of the second day was over, I noticed Shiloh was