Finding the More

You might have heard the story of the man and his family who went on a boat trip.  They took with them ample supplies of snacks to enjoy in the cabin as they only had enough money to pay the fare.  Every mealtime , instead of going to eat with the other passengers, they stayed in their cabin and ate their cheese and crackers.  The very last day of the journey a crew member commented and asked why they chose not to eat with the other passengers.  They responded that it was too expensive as they only had enough money to pay for the trip itself.  To their great surprise and horror, they had to find out that they missed out, as all the meals were already paid for, included in the fare. Another story illustrates the same point.  It is of an old lady living in severe poverty in a cold, dark and damp apartment.  On the day she died, the ambulance came for her body.  One of the ambulance men saw that she really didn’t own much except for a framed pictur...

I remember seeing a greeting card when I was younger. On the front it had a picture of a cactus with lots of thorns on it with the caption:   Then, when you open the card, it said:   Our human love and the love of others towards us is not perfect and can cause us pain.  It can even cause us to become a bit prickly ourselves and make it hard for us to be open to the love of others.   But God is not like this.  He will never hurt you or break your heart.  People have this idea that they need to perform, strive, act so they can become good enough for God to love them.  This could not be further from the truth.  And to be honest, if it was about our goodness to earn His love, then we would never be good enough.  The really good news is that He loves us without condition.  Why?  Because that is who He is.  He is love!   John 4:16 ESV - So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God...

I once heard someone say that when a castle is occupied by the reigning king or queen of a country, then there is always a flag hoisted to show the presence of royalty.   Growing up I had a little devotional book with encouraging verses and short stories.  One of these stories was also about royalty living in a castle.  I can’t remember the details, but it ended stating that a smile on your face is like a flag hoisted over a castle - it shows that the King is resident in your life.  What a beautiful picture of the Lord living on the inside of us and how it can change our countenance. Speaking of countenance, I think the enemy’s face falls when we learn more about the nature of who our King is.  The devil wants to misrepresent who God is so we won’t have confidence to run to Him.   I have been learning more about the names of God and how they reflect the nature of God.  His names also solidify the promises that He made to us.  If you find...

I had Sammy before Gracie came.  Sammy was well trained and had degrees in obedience that she earned from Mr Green in puppy obedience school.  She was a great dog.  Her Schnauzer mom and dad would have been so proud as I can honestly say that throughout her life, she was all the dog she could possibly be. Then I got Gracie.  Her pure bloodline was questionable and turned out to be a fabricated story from a scheming lady who wanted to inflate her own retirement fund.  In spite of this, Gracie was a super intelligent puppy with all the potential to become a really great dog.   My dad was still here when Gracie came, and he helped me a lot. But when he passed, I didn’t have anyone who could help.  I looked online and found a German lady called Barbra who was an animal behaviourist and a dog trainer.  She started coming twice a week to homeschool Gracie who quickly learned obedience and how to walk with a leash.   One of the things she...