A Dog Named Grace. Psalm 23:5a

Psalm 23 NASB
5a You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

This past spring in Michigan was our first in 30 years. The woods went through a gray period as the temperatures slowly began to rise each day. With the slow warm up, the woods also began to come alive with growth. It took some time but eventually the trees had leaves and the ferns were knee high. 

It was also our dog Grace's first spring having lived in Arizona her whole life. We live away from paved roads and our house is surrounded by acres of trees. She's well behaved and sticks around so we weren't concerned with restraining her. 

As the weather continued to warm we saw a decrease in Grace's energy. She has never liked the heat so at first we attributed her malaise to the rising temperatures. Soon she started vomiting. It seemed she could keep nothing down. Next were obvious signs of further internal distress. A trip to the vet was required. 

After an exam, blood tests and ruling all known possibilities out, Grace was diagnosed with a "Gastrointestinal Incident". As near as anyone could figure, because of us allowing her to free range, in her excitement of her first spring, she had "tested" every growing thing from the ground and upset her GI tract. 

We are not much different then this excited dog was with her first spring in Michigan. We want to test and try everything in our path. Even the things we know are not good for us we will test to see if we will somehow be the exception. 

We have sexual relations outside of marriage. We try drugs with the confidence we will not become addicted. We go to the casino for fun. Later, down the road, when we are left with a fatherless child, lost our health to a drug addiction, end up broke because we gambled it all away, we wonder where we went wrong. 

What went wrong was not following our Good Shepherd as He prepared the way ahead of us. It's through staying close to Jesus as He leads us to the table of blessings He has prepared for us that we can avoid being ensnared by the traps Satan set to destroy us. 

Grace recovered. It took time. It took care. If you have eaten from a table not prepared by the Lord, push your chair back and stand up. The Good Shepherd is right behind you. Turn around and follow Him. 

Blessings, Cecilia