Mercy & Kindness | I Stop for Chihuahuas!

Who said life is boring?

After a long day at church, glorious mind you, I began to drive home about 2:30 in the afternoon. I was tired and hungry.

I’m driving through back roads to avoid traffic. I come to a stop sign to cross a very busy road. The road in front of me is a hill and before I had an opportunity to cross this main intersection something caught my eye.

There are two chihuahuas running down the hill. This sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but trust me it was no funny matter.

One was wearing a green harness and the other a red one. It was as if two horses were racing down the hill. Sadly, they were heading right into oncoming traffic.

So, what do I do? What does anyone do who wants to save lives, man or beast? I put my car on park and began to wave down traffic. Cars from all four direction began to stop. These two tiny dogs, no bigger than my cat are playing in the middle of the road. The owner nowhere to be found!

A friend of mine that was a couple of cars behind me was wondering what the car pileup was? He recognized me in the middle of the road and he also joined the frenzy to try to stop these dogs from getting killed!

The entire time I am praying, “Lord please don’t let them get killed!” At one point I found myself squatting in the middle of Route 17M to coax this tiny creature to safety, but to no avail.

There were about 6 people that I could count trying to get this creatures to safety. One lady had a leash and was trying to grab him. One gentleman in a convertible opened his driver’s door and the dog jumped in. That was our opportunity to restrain him. The lady with the leash secured this tiny ball of hair while the man in the convertible held the dog by his chest. This little creature in his excitement and confusion bit the lady with the leash in the bizarre frenzy. No stitches I believe.

I volunteered and insisted that I would find the owner. The dog was placed in my car after a 15-minute ordeal on this busy road.

The second chihuahua was nowhere to be found. I was determined to find its owner.

Lord knows I could not bring a dog home to my four cats!

So how does the story end? How good is God!! I drove up the road slowly praying and hoping to encounter the other dog. I found the dog walking with its owner. She looked like she was searching for something. Most likely the little runt I had in my car.

I stopped and asked her if she was missing anything. She said, “yes.” I returned her dog alive and well. I was so thankful to God that blood was not spilled on that road today.

Who says life is boring?

Praise God the story ended well.

Total strangers on a busy road. Stopping traffic to save the lives of two little creatures.

How much more did God already do for us? He was willing to get in the middle of our sinful lives; visit us and walk with men. He purchased salvation at the cost of his own life; spilling his own blood for the redemption of mankind.

This story ends well too! On the third day he rose from the dead! He offers this gift of life and reconciliation, an expression of his grace to who so ever will receive it.

He placed himself in harms way to save you and I!

The gift is free. The cost was his blood!

Praise the Living God who reigns forever and ever! Amen

"Do not let mercy and kindness and truth leave you [instead let these qualities define you];
Bind them [securely] around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3

God bless you!~Liz

Urgent Care

Three o'clock in the morning and I'm still tossing and turning. It's not that I just can't sleep, but I am finding it difficult to breath deeply. In addition my chest feels heavy.

I've been here before. Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) has a way of appearing in the middle of the night without any special announcements.

I believe this is the issue so I get up early and call my doctor. First the operator encourages me to get medical attention by going to Urgent Care. All she heard was heaviness in the chest and difficult breathing. I assured her that this was most likely an RA issue. She continues to stress that I should hang up and go to an Urgent Care. We hang up. About 20 minutes later my doctor calls me. He has seen me in this condition before. But to my surprise he remarks, "no messing around with Prednisone, get yourself to a cardiologist ASAP!" He said, let's out-rule any issues with the heart.

Scripture likewise encourages us to examine ourselves and to guard our hearts. Heart issues can surface at any time without warning. Often, we bury emotions, pain and different matters and never go back to resolve them. We might find ourselves easily aggravated or having small scenarios become exasperated quickly all because our heart is off beat.

The Lord wants to get to the root of the issue so that we can become free & healthy in our thinking, emotions and just enjoy this beautiful life he has given us.  Whether its confrontation and resolutions we have avoided, God's Holy Spirit come along side us to settle the matter.  We don't have to be afraid.  We do however have to bring restoration for PEACE to continue to flourish.

So, I get to the Cardiologist and though he is aware of the RA disease that has destroyed many of my joints, he too pushes past the "obvious" and begins to conduct several studies. EKG, check! Heart sonogram, check!

The consensus is that if the heart has an issue, then RA flareups are now secondary. Well, praise the Lord, all test came back and I passed!! The last test, chest x-rays which actually checks the chest cavity and lung surroundings is pending. I'm looking forward to a good report. I took some medication to reduce inflammation and it has proven effective, praise God!

Check the heart first! "Above all else, guard your hear, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23)

I was reminded again today that the heart is key to life, both physical and spiritual. Let's guard it and saturated it in the Word of God. He can keep it healthy and strong! Then, as life's situations come knocking, we will be better equipped to address them.

God knows how to get past the "obvious" and go deep to resolve what troubles us.

I've committed my heart and soul to the Lord.
Examine me Lord and heal anything that may be causing arrhythmia.  

God bless you!~Liz

Can He Deliver?

‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ (Numbers 14:16)

Have you ever wondered if God can deliver?

In the true account of the deliverance of God's people into the Promise Land, this statement was uttered to God by Moses. "If you put all these people to death, leaving none alive, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath, so he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’" (Numbers 14:15-16)

God's reputation, who he says he is, has always been interlaced in all the accounts of His Word. "God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14)

Can God deliver?

The people had grumbled against God because in their eyes the difficulties of their deliverance was intolerable in comparison to their enslaved lives in Egypt, an enemy now to God's people under the rule of Pharaoh.

Who are we under?

If we serve the Lord, why do we complain of life's difficulties? Is God able to deliver?

In God's mercy, he inclines his ear to his Moses as he pleads for God's hand to be held back. The Israelite's preferred to be enslaved instead of on the road to freedom, the promise of God!

God heard their grumbling hearts and was about to remove them from the face of the earth.

Moses pleads for his mercy to act!

What is it that we think that God can not do? Is he able to save? Can he bring us out of bondage into a place of freedom and liberty? Can he deliver on what he said he would do?

We struggle with doubt, perhaps are uncomfortable as God is moving us into freedom. We at times prefer to stay in chaos, sadness, depression and all sorts of bondage because we are familiar with it. We have become "one" with our infirmities and bondage. We speak death over ourselves like the Israelites, "If only we had died in Egypt! or in this wilderness!" (v2)

Change makes us feel like we are loosing control. We move with hesitation toward uncertainty. We don't want to let go of the past even if it has removed our joy, peace and well-being from us. We trust our bondage and not the road to freedom.

Who is our Master?

Is it "Pharaoh" the representative of bondage, or is it Jesus, "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah" who has come to set the captives free? He came in humility, surrendered to the cross, died but did not remain in the ground! "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)

Can he deliver?

God's hand relented as Moses pleaded with his face to the ground. They were kept alive but those 20 years and older died in the wilderness for their disobedience.

"The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. " (v20-23)

He is able to set free! Trust his character! In the difficulties, trust his hand of change and deliverance!

Father, we fall on our face and ask that you forgive us for our rebellion. Help us and guide us Holy Spirit to see your mighty hand and strength as you deliver us from bondage into a place of freedom. Let our confidence in you rise up! May our dependence rest on You, Lord! Let your Kingdom come! We are moving according to your command and your great mercy toward us. Amen


God bless you!~Liz