Paws for Reflection

M.R. Wells, Young Kris, Fleishauer Connie

Description

The great writing team behind the popular Four Paws from Heaven (more than 125,000 copies sold) presents even more reasons to celebrate dogs and faith. This gathering of pup tales combines true stories about dogs with what we can learn from them about handling real-life situations. More than 50 humorous, poignant, and spiritually insightful stories are packed together under themed sections:Paws for Love: Curl Up with the MasterPaws for Training: Sit, Stay, GrowPaws for Healing: Let God Smooth Out the TanglesPaws for Guidance: Follow Your AlphaThis special gathering of short devotions reminds dog lovers everywhere about the wonderful treats of love, faithfulness, and companionship...and the rewards of following the Master.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736933957
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

®

Unless oterwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from te HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNA- TIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyrigt © 1973, 1978, 1984 by te International Bible Society. Used by ® ® permission of Zondervan. All rigts reserved.

Verses marked  are taken from teHoly Bible,New Living Translation, copyrigt © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publisers, Inc., Weaton, IL 60189 USA. All rigts reserved.

Verses marked  are taken from he Message. Copyrigt ©by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publising Group.

Verses marked  are taken from te New King James Version. Copyrigt © 1982 by homas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rigts reserved.

Verses marked  are taken fromhe Holy Bible, New Century Version,Copyrigt © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publising, Nasville, TN 37214. Used by permission.

Harvest House Publisers as made every effort to trace te ownersip of all poems and quotes. In te event of a question arising from te use of a poem or quote, we regret any error made and will be pleased to make te necessary correction in future editions of tis book.

Publised in association wit te literary agency of Mark Sweeney & Associates, Bonita Springs, FL 34135.

he information sared by te autors is from teir personal experience and sould not be con- sidered professional advice. Readers sould consult teir own dog care professionals regarding issues related to te ealt, safety, grooming, and training of teir pets.

Cover poto © George Doyle / Stockbyte Potograpy / Getty Images

Cover by Left Coast Design, Portland, Oregon

PAWS FOR REFLECTION Copyrigt © 2009 by M.R. Wells, Kris Young, Connie Fleisauer Publised by Harvest House Publisers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.arvestousepublisers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data  Wells, M.R. (Marion R.).  Paws for reflection : devotions for dog lovers / M.R. Wells, Kris Young, Connie Fleisauer.  p. cm.  ISBN 978-0-7369-2574-7 (pbk.)  1. Dog owners—Prayers and devotions. I. Young, Kris. II. Fleisauer, Connie. III. Title.  BV4596.A54W455 2009  242—dc22  2009000599

All rigts reserved.No part of tis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mecanical, digital, potocopy, recording, or any oter—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, witout te prior permission of te publiser.

Printed in te United States of America

09 10 11 12 13 14 15 / VP-SK / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To our eavenly Fater, our eartly parents, and all tose wose stories we were allowed to sare.

Witout you, tis book wouldn’t ave appened.

Paws for hanks

Dogs are pack animals, and for tis book, we coautors ave been too. We ave dipped from a wide pool of stories generously sared by family and friends. We are so grateful to all te umans and canines wose experiences ave enriced tese pages. Special tanks to our agents, Mark and Janet Sweeney, for saring our vision and elping it to appen; to Nicole Overbey, DVM, and Jonatan Klein, for teir feedback and suggestions; and to our marvelous team at Harvest House Publisers, especially our wonderful editor, Barb Gordon. Most of all we tank and praise God, wo in His inscrutable wisdom gave us dogs to love—and to love us back.

Contents

Spiritual Snapsots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 he Autors and heir Pups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Part 1 Paws for Love Curl Up with the Master he Wort of a Dog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Redemption Is Priceless A Cild of te King. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 God’s Love Transforms he Rigt “Spin” on Worsip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Be Yourself wit God Left Beind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Keep Trusting God Back from te Dead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Hope in God’s Restoration Pasa’s Last Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 God Sows Mercy in Miraculous Ways he Heart of te Fater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 God Is Love A Reason to Dance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Wit All You Are, Praise God Doggie in te Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Watc for te Master Forever Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 God’s Adoptions Are Final Wen You Case a Car…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Motives Matter Special Places. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Do You Have a Special Prayer Spot? Trespassing…or Not? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Love Knows No Barriers Will te Real “Dog Mom” Please Stand Up?. . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 he Proof Is in te Caring

Two Are Better han One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 God Made Us to Be in Relationsip A Capful of Hope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 God’s Promises Never Fail A Time to Bless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Our Times Are in God’s Hands Boning Up I: Doggie Body Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Part 2 Paws for Training Sit, Stay, Grow For Love of te Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Obedience Pleases God he Load Not Taken. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 God’s Burdens Bring Blessings he Walk hat Got Away. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Seize Your Opportunities Squitcey on Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Look to God for Protection Lessons from an Alpa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Submit to te Lord Great Expectations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Be Persistent in Prayer Wose Kibble Is It, Anyway?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 All We Have Belongs to God Stolen Soes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Know Wy You Believe Sign Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Watc for God’s Miracles Timex Dog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Keep on Ticking for te Master Se Sall Overcome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 God Lets Us Grow Happy Pill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Ceering Oters Serves God I’d Rater Not Do It Myself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Stay Spiritually Fit

Birds and Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Team wit God to Do te Impossible Treat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Do You Seek God or His Goodies? Set Your Face to Go. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Fix Your Heart Toward Heaven Boning Up II: Obedience Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Part 3 Paws for Healing Let God Smooth Out theTangles Bubba’s Mystery Pounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Will You Coose God’s Trut? Wen Old Tapes Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Past Hurts Need Healing he Dog hat Prayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Receive God’s Answer Trut from Tangles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 God Grooms Our Hearts Doggie 911. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 Wat’s Your Spiritual Diagnosis? Puppy Beware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Get Your Spiritual Sots Motel Bark. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Let God Adjust Your Volume Peace Dog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Be God’s Instrument of Peace he Not-So-Great Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Boundaries Protect Us Handle wit Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 Be Tender Just as God Is Mario and te Rabbits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 God Delivers Us from Our Fears Blind Fear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 God Sees in te Dark Old Names or New?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Wat Do You Answer To?

Patient Beware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Wo’s Your Spiritual Doctor? he Lesson of te Sausage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Buried Treasure Can’t Bless Boning Up III: Dogs and Healt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Part 4 Paws for Guidance FollowYour Alpha A Teacup in Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205 God’s Plans Are Best he Importance of Traction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209 Stay on te Best Pat I’ll Take Door Number One. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 God Sows Us te Way Unexpected Blessings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 God Gives Good Gifts Eat te Cicken and Spit Out te Bones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Seek God’s Discernment Luna’s Tangled Web. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224 Let God Focus You Door or Wall?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228 Wait for God’s Timing Stuck in te Gulley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232 Wo Is Leading Your Life? Eartquake Sensory Perception. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236 Heed God’s Early Warning Signs And God Sent a Dog…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Seek…and God Will Guide You A Seperd’s Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243 Stay on God’s Job Site Boning Up IV: Special Jobs Dogs Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247

Boning Up Answers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Dog Tails…er, Tales by Autor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253