SUPPORT

Devotional for Sunday 3-11-12

Our dog, Cassie, is getting older. She is a black lab and you can readily see the gray hair which is creeping further and further across her face with each passing year. Her age is also evident in her declining energy level. She used to chase a ball or a toy thrown over and over and over, with the thrower always tiring long before she would. Now, she will chase a thrown toy only a few times, and then she stops bringing it back unless the person who launched it insists! We have always said that black labs are full of energy until arthritis sets in... well, that day has arrived.

We have tile in a few places in our home, including the kitchen as well as the entry ways at the doors to the outside. I have noticed recently that Cassie occasionally has trouble with her feet sliding on the tile. When eating from her dish on the kitchen floor, sometimes her front legs slide out to the sides and she has to keep re-adjusting them, pulling them back in. I've even considered getting one of those stands that raise the bowl off the floor so she won't have to bend her head so far downward. When she has to go outside, we always have her sit before we open the door so that she does not charge through and shows respect for her master, or "pack leader" as the Dog Whisperer would say. Tonight, when my husband was preparing to let her out, she sat as she was told but then could not stand back up. Her back legs had splayed forward and she could not get them underneath of her again to stand. We were not sure at first what was wrong, but finally I helped lift her back end and supported her so she could get her feet under her hips and then she was fine! We love our dog and will do anything we can to help her as she ages.

Sometimes we need a lift like that in our lives. Things can overwhelm us and knock us off our feet for a while. But God is always there to pick us up again so we can get our footing and move on. He continuously supports us, placing our feet on the right path in our lives no matter how weak and hopeless we feel. It is so amazing to have an all-powerful yet loving Master to look out for us and to give us all the help that we need, even when we stumble.

The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Psalm 37:23-24 NIV

written by Jan Andersen