When you’re faced with a decision in life, is your first thought to pray about it? To ask for God’s will and then be okay with the answer – either a yes, no, or wait? Do you want God’s will for your life? Why or why not?
If you answered that you do want God’s will for your life, this post is to encourage you. If something is God’s will for your life, I want to be the encouragement to you that no one will be able to take it away from you.
A wonderful friend shared this truth with me in October while we were awaiting the decision to adopt our new puppy.
The decision to add to our canine family began seven years ago. Our beloved lab had died suddenly a few weeks before Christmas, and three days later, we adopted an aussiedoodle. We had the opportunity to add another canine companion a month later, and we decided why not? Get the puppy stage out of the way together and let them grow up together.
However, when the time came, my job situation had changed and when we asked God if the answer was still yes about this new addition, He replied, “Wait.” Not no, not yes, but wait. He gave the same answer to my husband and me separately, so we were confident it was God and not us.
Last December I received a monetary gift from one of my bosses. A very generous gift and I felt God whisper, “Save that money for a dog.” Knowing the price of dogs, I figured this was the beginning of a dog fund, but put it in the bank and left it alone. I even wrote in my blessings journal in January that I felt God wanted this money to be our dog fund.
Throughout 2021, we would occasionally look at the place where we had gotten our Aussie, and while we saw some cute puppies, they were out of our price range.
In September I was scrolling Facebook and a friend posted about some puppies that were available literally five minutes from our house. The price was less than what I had saved, and they were “aussiedoodles,” a breed we knew and loved.
While I had prayed immediately upon seeing the post, even before inquiring about them, I still panicked when one of the two puppies we wanted to meet was adopted. I did only want God’s will, and if He said “no,” I would accept that decision,but humanly speaking, I was getting attached to this puppy in the picture.
Instead, God kept opening the door for us. He reminded me during the wait how He had handpicked our aussiedoodle seven years ago. And, He had handpicked Max, our lab, 18 years prior. He had even handpicked our bearded dragon, after much prayer, keeping her from being sold for a whole week before we were ready to bring her home. If He would do that for our previous animals, why wouldn’t He do it for us now?
We were finally able to schedule a meet and greet with the second of our two choices. When she entered the room, our whole family knew. She was ours. She immediately bonded with our kids first, and then came and plopped herself in my lap, content and safe.
The icing on the cake? We were happy to adopt another Aussiedoodle. We love our Aussie at home. However, throughout the past seven years that we have been waiting for God’s timing, my husband and I fell in love with bernedoodles. And our new puppy is a bernedoodle, we think. She might have some Aussie in her as well. God knew how much we wanted one, and He delivered the best one for our family. Her personality and disposition fits in with our family as though she has lived here for months, instead of less than a week.
My friend’s wise words kept me encouraged during this process: “if it’s God’s will for your life, no man can take it away.”
*** we are doing a DNA test because we’re not completely sure she is a bernedoodle either. If you ask in the comments, I’ll let you know what breed she actually is. Either way, we’re smitten. She’s adorable to us!
© Cheri Swalwell 2021