Getting "Unstuck"

I wish you could've seen it.  Me trying to get the dogs "unstuck" from the SUV.  We have two cars, one I call the doggie mobile.  It is our old red Honda CRV.  I love this car because in the winter I feel safe on the roads.  I love it because I can pile the dogs in the back and not care about their muddy paws.  So in the back of this car I have one of those gates that separate them and keep them in the back.  (You see....Zeke likes to sit in my lap while I drive and since he is 90 lbs....it just won't work out that way.) 

Well, about a week ago the gate fell.  I was halfway home from my parents house and I could see my labs panicking in the back.  I could tell they were laying down and the gates was on top of them but there was no way out. I kept saying loudly "it's okay Nay, it's okay Zeke, calm down!"   I got to a four way stop, no one was there...so I climbed in the back seat and pulled it up.  When I got home and shut the door...the gate fell again.

This became the nightmare.  Nay was trying to squeeze up through the side of the gate to the back seat.  She wouldn't fit.  She was hurting herself in the process.  Zeke was trying to climb over the back that was only half open.....he is not graceful and I just couldn't picture the jump ending well...but yet he is graceful and so he did.  But....for a moment....I sat there begging both to stay calm.  Trying to get Nay to stop hurting herself and Zeke to stay put.  It was crazy....and once Zeke jumped out I was able to rescue Nay.

What a fiasco.  I told my husband all about it and he did that loud boisterous laugh that people do when they think it's the funniest thing they ever heard.  He did it several times and he said it was cause he could imagine it.  (I admit...Zeke is a bit high maintenance and Nay, well she has her moments.)  I was all upset over it because I panicked with them.  My wallet was not going for a trip to the vet, nor my sanity.

I think sometimes in life we can feel like Nay and Zeke.  How often do we get "trapped" and panic?  God wants us to just be still sometimes so that He can be allowed to do his work.  Sometimes when we struggle to solve things ourselves without seeking Him we find ourselves in a bigger mess than we were to begin with.  (You know...like Nay trying to climb between the gate and the wall of the car..hurting herself in the process?)

I am learning a lot about being still.  I find that there can be a lot of real peace in "waiting".  Sometimes we think we are "waiting" when really we are sitting there, wiggling to get out and get moving, instead of being still.  You know, that relaxation from head to toe where there is a sense of peace.  Waiting without wiggling.   Taking a deep breath and find joy in a moment of relaxing because really, the problem isn't yours anymore.

Experiences Speak Louder than Words

Zeke had another seizure this morning.  Fortunately, we learned from past experience how to handle it.  Zeke was sure afterwards to stay glued to my side.  Why?  Because, by EXPERIENCE of his own he has learned where he can find love and stability.  Where he can find help in time of need.  It is not because NayNay has told him so, it is because he has experienced it himself.

I am a Christian by choice.  Some would argue that I am not, that I am this way because it is the way I was raised.  I beg to differ.  I know many who was raised the same exact way and has yet turned away from it.   Interesting enough, because they have turned completely away from it...some would say.."it is because of the way they were raised."  So you see, the argument "the way they were raised" cannot be valid if so easily used for both situations.

Everyone has a choice.  I am now 36 years old and I look back over the years and see the forks in the road.  The forks where I stood at moments of decision, moments of searching and moments of silence.  At these forks in life the truth is you will either accept God or reject God. 

If you have been raised in such a home that I was raised then you know you have been given moments in life that you will either chose to accept God or reject God.  If you have gone through life and have chosen to toss it away as nothing...then you gave it not the time it deserved to be known in your life.  The God I know at 36 is far different and far more real than the God I knew at 25.  Experience has taught me as much.  Not what mommy and daddy said, but what I have experienced.

Don't toss away faith as if it is an old article of clothing handed to you.  Wear it, experience it, and learn its value.   Don't take the value of the article based on mom and dad, preacher or friends.  Learn it for yourself.  If you have not given it that opportunity, if you have only known it in a few years of adulthood, then you have never truly known it.  You have never truly experienced it.

I have chosen because as life passes on I begin to experience God in ways I've not known before.  Just like Zeke has experienced acceptance and help when in need....my own experiences have taught me more than 'heresay" ever could.