In the times where you need a miracle. . .

            Last week we almost lost our dog, Mojo.  I say almost because my youngest daughter kept insisting he needed our help.  The temperatures last week were in the single digits and she’d gone outside to play at my parents’ house.  Our dog and my parents’ dog were playing and while we kept an eye on her no one thought much about it.  Until she came in frantically crying that our dog was stuck under their pool.  Honestly that child has a penchant for the dramatic and everyone kept saying “He’ll come out.”  But he wasn’t coming out.  Soon we realized that Mojo really was stuck under the pool.  We’re pretty sure he was chasing a rabbit, and somehow managed to wedge himself between a pile of dirt and the deck.  For whatever reason he couldn’t get out the way he came in.  Due to the extreme cold conditions we also knew that time was not on our side.    Four adults and a crying kid later it wasn’t too hard to find exactly where under the deck the dog was stuck.  However the problem arose as to what to do about it.  We couldn’t coach him out.  We were trying not to get the saws out in the middle of the deck.  Finally we managed to pry the board up.  A very cold, crying, dirtball came clamoring to the top of the deck.  Gratefully we got him in time and he was okay.  Given the conditions the scenario could have easily gone the other way.

            There are so many times in life we all could put ourselves in the same “shoes/paws” as my dog.  We find ourselves chasing something that we thought we wanted, then realize we’ve made our way to a place where we are stuck and aren’t sure how we’re going to get out.  Even King David had those moments.

Psalms 40:2 (NIV) “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

            Calling out to God does not make you weak.  It means that you admit that you need help.  It means that you’ve done everything you know to do, and that you need a divine intervention of God.  Just like us intervening in this situation, Mojo wouldn’t have gotten out without our help.  Sometimes you just have to raise your hands to heaven and know that God will give you a firm place to stand. 

            Recently I was listening to a message from my pastor and something he said resonated in me.  He said that he and his wife made a choice that if God said something to him then they were going to choose to believe it, no matter what happened.  I love my pastors (Pastor Gary and Drenda Keesee) and their story of what God has brought them through is miraculous.  The beautiful simplicity of this statement seems too good to be true.  Will God really put my feet on a rock no matter what trouble I’ve gotten myself in?  The answer is yes, He will.  God loves to operate in the miraculous and the divine.  He is faithful to you.  He is no respector of persons.  Ask Him if you find yourself stuck.  Hear what He has to say.  Trust Him. Obey Him. (James 4)  Even if you feel you’re stuck with no hope, God can and will always make a way!

            God has awesome plans for your life. Get excited!