November 14
Loyalty in Fur
"Loyalty and truth preserve the king."
What power the character of loyalty and truth have to preserve life and honor! In God’s unfailing design of creation, He placed character footprints everywhere! The knowledge of God is imbedded in His creation because He wants us to feel His presence, know His touch and recognize His workmanship. He has placed His beauty within His creation on many different levels. Why? Because God longs to reveal Himself to us. To be known, is the heart of God. He surrounds us with such teaching moments, even in our everyday encounters. It might be through something as simple as pulling weeds in your garden to remember the parables of the wheat and the tares. God inundated our world with reminders and realities to influence and preserve our character.
A precious friend and co-laborer in ministry recently lost her beloved dog, Maggie, to a sudden sickness that she just could not recover from. I was reminded of these teaching moments that God floods our world with through the words she wrote about her faithful companion. They are too precious and insightful not to share with you today.
"Maggie never took her eyes off me. She wanted nothing more than to obey and please me. Her heart grieved if she could not be with me. She would stand at the front window and watch for me. She was always ready to do whatever I asked her to do and was always waiting on me. She would lean in on me so that she would know if I moved. She never left my side and never once was mean to me. She loved and adored me, which I am so thankful for, and lived to be in my presence. She never moved ahead of me or trailed behind me. She was always right beside me. She was always willing to do whatever I asked her no matter the task or how hard it was on her little body. All I had to say was "let's go" and never wanting to know where only as long as I was going is all she needed to know.
She lived to be praised and longed to be loved by me and was happiest when she was the center of my attention. Mags loved people, the people I loved! She loved unconditionally. Even in her last hours, she wanted to be with me and tried so hard to please me. Her last sounds were her crying out and I believe with all my soul it was because she had to leave my presence. You see my sisters, this is how my relationship with Jesus needs to be. I need to be standing alert and ready, always leaned into Him, so I’ll know the next move to make. I need to be always looking for Him to return for me so we can be together; to only want my Master's way, and grieving when I cannot be in His presence. I need to lavish my love and adoration on Him. I need to be ready and waiting to do what He calls me to do, no matter the cost, no matter how hard, no matter what it takes and not to question where my master leads me. I need to stay close beside Him, never taking my eyes off of His face and watch His every move. To be so in tune with Him that I am hopelessly lost without Him.
This is what Maggie's life has taught us. The Lord gave Maggie to teach me this relationship. I see it now. It's my turn to apply it with my Master and I am more than willing. Maggie's life will not have been in vain because I understand what God was showing me through her life. I share this with you because I want you, all of us, to have this too. The coming year will bring many challenges and we need to have this nearness to the Master, this type of dependency and relationship with Jesus."
May I be found sitting at my master’s feet watching and waiting.
Pearls of Grace is a book of devotions for the entire year, including a read through the Bible in a year calendar, broken down for every day. Beautifully written with encouraging words of hope and empowering words of joy and strength for every woman. Pam draws from the truth and richness of God's Word and gives real life examples in her down to earth style. A must have in your library, click here for more information.
For more from Pam Jenkins and Jabbok Ministries, please visit www.jabbokministries.com!
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