saga of pepper

For those of you who don't know, I have a uber huge dog named Pepper.  She showed up at my back door on a chilly November day a couple of years ago, as a cuddly puppy who fit in two hands.  She was shivering, whining, and pitiful.  Though I was NOT in the market for a dog, I figured I would find a home for her, and be a foster dog mom til that day came.  Bottom line, no one would even entertain the thought of taking her off my hands.  In the meanwhile, she grew, and grew, and grew!  It was like buying a volkswagen bug and ending up with an RV (yet another reason no one else wanted her probably).  Unfortunately, she seems to think she is still tiny, and loves nothing better than to clamber onto my lap (and laptop) whenever she can.  Her front and back half drape over the chair but she doesn't seem to notice.

Pepper has a good heart, but temptation gets her every time.  She has torn up favorite items of clothing, three Bibles, several library books at $41 a pop, and every dog bed I was foolish enough to purchase because I felt sorry for her on the hard floor.  In the backyard, I have a minefield of deep holes she has vigorously attended to enlarging.  I often wondered why God allowed this "godzilla" of dogdom to enter my life during one of the most difficult times of my life.  It just seemed like the last straw in an already stressful and heartbreaking season.

God has a sense of humor, and He has used Pepper to show me important lessons.  I want so badly to let Pepper have the run of the house; after all she is housebroken.  But each time I try her out, I am met with yet another expense when I get home.  I think, I want to bless this stupid dog, give her more freedom, but when I trust her, she makes a big mess.  So I have to close her up in a room that has nothing to chew up.  I can't give her a comfortable dog bed because she destroys it within a day.  I began to realize that God wants to bless me too.  But He has to be able to trust me to obey Him, to use what He gives me appropriately, and to keep from the temptation to rip it apart. 

So, I am still working on Pepper, and God is still working on me.  Let's hope we are both successful in the months ahead!

getting my attention

My first attempt to do a blog, I'll see how it works out.  Just wanted to say, I keep stumbling on being disciplined about "continuing the hike" with Jesus; I let Bible study slide and prayer time shorten; which is so ridiculously shortsighted and yielding to temptation of stress, worry, fatigue, and just laziness.  Then an especially stressful day comes, and frantically I search my mind for comforting Bible verses.  God is always faithful, and wants us (me) to grow in maturity and intimacy with Him.  So, after going to exercise class to lessen physical stress, I promise to come home and open the Word of God and spend some quality time with my Lord.