A Prayer For The New Year

I stand looking out the kitchen window, watching the icy wind tossing the tree limbs. I think she’s decided that it’s high time winter made her appearance this year.  I can feel snow coming, the air has gotten steadily colder all morning and the clouds look laden.  There’s a freezing rain that is coating the trees in crystal, Ohio begins winter in earnest.

My small fox friend is the current window-sill companion, they change seasonally & I'm always glad of the small presence there.

She gazes steadily ahead, enjoying the Snowflake scented geranium at her heels I’m sure.

I sometimes bounce ideas her way, she doesn’t comment much but she’s good faithful company nonetheless.  

The birds are flocking in to the feeders, a sure sign that the weather is changing and that this icy rain might turn into a beautiful snowfall perhaps by this evening. The birds always know and and we’ve learned to take note when they flock to the feeders in hungry little groups.

A beautiful Cardinal stares wistfully at the bird tray, he’s a bit more timid than the other birds and it takes him a while to gather enough courage to come down to the feeders, he must be a newcomer, our more familiar bird guests are not so shy.  I know that within a few days he’ll realize that good things are always waiting at the feeder and not spend so much time being wet & forlorn.

As I stand and reflect on the year that has passed, on the friends new and old that have come to Foxglove Farm, so many of them through my Inbox.  Letters and photographs from my Puppy People of years past.  Stories of the much-loved, now all grown up puppies.  

Puppies who are now doing the job I raised them to do, bring a large measure of puppy joy to each family they've gone to.

I find myself offering prayers that the Lord would bless those kind people.  The many families that have come our way with His richest blessings.  I send up prayers for people I may never meet face to face.

Prayers for so many of whom I’ve only come to know over the phone or perhaps in their heartfelt letters.  The people who send sometimes send gifts or Christmas cards & photos that shine with the love for the puppies I’ve raised over the years. The love that I've been privileged to have had a small part in bringing to their lives.  

And so, I pray for each of you, that God would bless your lives.

Your homes.  

Your families with love.          

That you would be loved.

That you are given love every single day and more importantly?  

That you show love to those in your path every single day, for that is where we find healing.

I pray that you find hope.

Hope for when the days are dark,

and we all have them don’t we?

On the days that are perhaps filled with doubt, that you will the hope that brings peace in spite of doubt and fear.

And most of all, I pray that He will shine in your hearts and give you the most important thing of all, faith.

Faith in Jesus Christ is what changed my life forever.  

Faith changed me.

Faith in Christ changed my husband John.

Then, faith changed our marriage, our home, faith in Jesus transformed our lives.  

When I found Christ, or rather, He found me, I found that love that I so longed for, the hope that I lacked, I found the faith that changed everything.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

And so, my prayer for you my dear puppy people,  is that you find faith, you find Christ, and that He fills all your empty places, that he brings you the love & hope and faith in him that changes everything.

Some of you will be offended and that makes me sad,

but my prayer is that some of you,

those who are empty inside,

in spite of all the efforts to fill those empty places.

Those who are seeking, especially when you stop and think is this world all there is?  

What happens when it’s over and I leave this life?  

Is there a Heaven to gain?

Is there really a Hell to miss?

So, though I know some of you will unsubscribe, some will turn away angry, some will just wonder what all the fuss is about.  

Perhaps though, for someone, a miracle will occur, like it did for me when I found Him.  If just one person begins that journey with Christ, I will rejoice that I had a small part in bringing a Love that will last for all eternity.

And so I go one step further, my daddy met Billy Graham many years ago, and ended up finding Christ, getting saved, beginning that same journey to healing and hope.  Here’s a link to Billy’s site, where salvation & heaven, our need for a savior, all your questions can be answered.

There's even a simple prayer, much like the one I prayed those long years ago, to show you how to ask Jesus into your heart and life.

I pray with all my heart now, that you will hear His call and open  your heart to that matchless love.

Very Kindest Puppy Regards,

Terry

PS If you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, I’d love to know about it so I can keep you in my prayers, please write and share the good news with me.

Homeward Bound

Fall is nearing it's last golden days, always a poignant time of year for me, my favorite in some ways, but a time that brings it's portion of sadness.  Watching the leaves falling, falling, I realize that spring is still far far away, that many months of winter's cold are ahead.  Winter with her own white beauty, an ambiguous time none-the-less.  

Agatha races up the long hill towards the house, far ahead of me.  Her ears flying, her feet skimming the ground like those of a much younger dog.  She dances to a halt halfway up to the top and turns facing me with eyes dancing with joy.  She loves our evening walks, and as we get close to home she turns the last quarter mile into a self-appointed race to the kitchen door.  She stands with plumed tail awag, panting a bit, as if to say "come on mom, isn't this fun, we're almost there!"

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I went to see mother at the nursing home today.  I've made her room as pleasant as pictures and cozy blankets, autumn flowers and a whole host of guilt-appeasing purchases can make it.  Outside her sunny window, I've placed feeders for her beloved birds, even a large window box (which I'm sure is not allowed) full of fall pansies, blooming.  Cheery orange and purple little faces all oblivious to the sadness within those walls.

Mother's dementia and heart failure have made it out of the question for her to be anywhere but there in that place.  They are kind to her, I visit often, I come, always bearing gifts.  She finds forming a sentence nearly impossible these days, and I sit beside her, trying to make her laugh, trying to reach inside that crowding darkness.

And so I walk up the long hill home, and I watch my good dog Agatha.  I think of life and how wonderful it is, how heartbreakingly beautiful, how full of sorrow.  I look at Agatha and childless, I mourn what I know will be the soon loss of my mother, I watch my little dog and wonder how many days I will have her at my feet for comfort.

This isn't really the place for soul-searching perhaps, for such heartfelt ponderings.  But we all have our griefs don't we?  It is our human condition.  Oh, but I look toward the sky and as the sun sets in a blaze of purple-golden light, I think of Heaven.  I know mother will be freed soon from her sad time of waiting.  I know that I can trust Him with Agatha, with all the burdens of my heart. And I'm comforted, by the thought of mother tucked into her bed tonight with a cozy blanket, with her little stuffed dog at her side.  I'm comforted as my good dog, Agatha, dances with eyes alight, saying clearly that it's time to go back home.