Gracie

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you."  James 4:8 ESV

I have a chihuahua named Gracie.  She is precious to me!!  In fact, I believe she is the best dog I have ever had.  Now, I have had dogs that were smarter, cuter, knew how to please me with their ways, but Gracie is different.  Gracie at this stage, and I am hoping it is a stage but if it isn't it won't matter because I love her so,  has become skittish of almost everything.   She comes to me to pick her up because my lap is her favorite place to be (she actually just crawled into it as I wrote that), but if Gracie is on the floor and approaches me from where I am sitting when I reach down she backs away from me where I can't reach her.  I continue on with what I am doing, and again, she comes to me but as I reach down to pick her up she backs away.  By this time I am getting frustrated.  She wants to sit in my lap, but won't allow me to pick her up until I literally get up and pick her up because she can back no further.  Then all is well and we enjoy each other immensely.  She does the same thing with her food and water, the very sustainers of her life!  She creeps to the water bowl and her food bowl, croons her neck as if there was a snake in them and then snatchs a bit of food or stretches her tongue out as far as she can to get the smallest lap of water.  I watch this in total confusion and disbelief.  She was not always this way.  We, nor the vet, can find an explanation for it!  Needless to say, Gracie has developed some "quirks" to put it nicely.  With all of her quirkiness, I love her more than any dog I have ever had.  She has been the best, as far as I am concerned.  Why?  Because of  her intense love for me!  She always wants to be right with me.  Where I go, she follows.  When I sit down, she comes to me with eyes that say, "Please, Mommie, can I sit in your lap?"  She will sit in a quiet way until I reach down to get her, and then the weird chase is on,  but the love is always there!  That unconditional, you have my very heart, kind of love!  We are very much like that with God sometimes.  For whatever reason, we may shy away for a time, though we love Him with all of our hearts.  We may run, but He chases after us!  We have our quirks, but He loves us unconditionally anyway!  Just because Gracie isn't perfect doesn't mean I will put her out of my home, or reject her, not want her to come to sit with me, or tell her to go away as she follows every step I take.  God is not going to keep you from heaven because your behavior wasn't always perfect (we get in by making Jesus Lord of our lives and letting the blood of Jesus be applied to cleanse us from all sin).   He isn't going to reject us, or not want us to come to Him to just sit at His feet and say, "Abba Father, can I just come sit in your lap and have time with you?"  Why?  Because of HIS unfailing, unconditional love for each and every single one of us!  Just as our devotion for the day says "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."  James 4:8a ESV.  I love this!  It is a promise of, no matter what, God WANTS a relationship with us!  That is grace!  Not getting what we deserve!  When we come to Him, He doesn't have a list of all our wrongs!  He is just glad we love Him and want to be with Him above all else!  Before I found Gracie, I knew that would be her name.  Usually it takes me forever to pick one out!  Now, I know why I named her that.  She is full of grace towards me, as I am full of grace towards her.  What a beautiful parallel it is with God and us!  Run to God today, my friend!  He is waiting for you!  He is waiting to give you whatever you need.  Do you need a friend, unconditional love, finances provided, a healing?  He has it for you!  Maybe today, you just need to have a restored relationship with Him and grace to be extended to you...it is there!!  Bask in His presence, earnestly seek Him!  He will never disappoint you!  Have a blessed day, all day!  Thank you for reading my blog.  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I love writing it!  :)