Hit #1) After a huge storm last night, we woke up to find three parts of our fence blown down and one of our chocolate labs was missing. Chewy was found on our neighbors back porch, but Squirt is still gone. We've had both of the dogs (sisters) since they were 2 months old and they are now almost 8 years old. They are a part of the family so we are heartbroken, but hopeful that we'll find our lost dog. Here is a picture of her in case you live near us and you see her roaming around.
Hit #2) When we bought our house a year ago, the fence needed to be replaced. We knew that we would eventually tackle this project, but last nights storm took out enough of the fence that we can't put this off any longer. Fences are not cheap ... and this is not in the budget.
Hit #3) After lunch, Parker climbed into a chair at our dinner table, turned around, and sat on the edge of the table. I was seconds from her, but you know how quick kids can be when you turn your back for even a moment. I quickly walked toward her to get her down. On my way, and all within a few seconds, she tipped the chair back, and it fell backwards to the ground with her in it. I couldn't get to her in time so she scraped her forehead on the backdoor and she got a pretty good cut. Thankfully, she landed on the small rug by our backdoor so that helped (a little bit). The only silver lining to this story was that, as I ran toward her, I tossed a bag of Frito's and chips went flying. I later found a Frito in the living room and it made me smile.
All of these events make me feel like my family is under attack, and I know that the Devil likes to attack when things are seemingly good and/or when we have something in line that He doesn't like. I was recently asked to speak at my church in August so I feel like the Devil is trying to throw these random things at us to bring me down. In the past month, we've been hit pretty hard financially. I'm still awaiting the bills for my unexplained finger surgery, last week we realized that both of our car tags were expired (we didn't get the notices because we moved) so we had to pay $200 in late fee's in addition to the cost of the tags, and now we've lost a dog and we need a new fence. Well played, Devil, well played.
Unfortunately for him, when events like this occur, they only draw us closer to God. The following verse came to mind this morning as I was dealing with the days events:
Romans 5:3-5 - "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Then this evening I came across this verse:
Ephesians 6:13 - "Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."
After all of this, we are still standing. Hey Devil - YOU LOSE!
**ADDITION** The power of prayer will never cease to amaze me. Our dog was found within an hour of me writing this blog. GOD IS GOOD!
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