Called to Bear Witness

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

Last week was a rough week for my family. We lost our 14 year old dog, Sandy to a stroke. I suspected that his time was growing short, but his passing still caught me by surprise. When my children were in school, he was my constant companion. When I worked from home for a year during Covid, he was always on his bed next to my desk. He had been a big part of my life for a long time.

I almost didn’t write a post this week because it’s just been a depressing week, but then my daily devotion changed my mind. I’m reading Acts and Paul was sharing what he knew about Jesus. The writer of that day’s devotion said, ” Like Paul, we are also called to bear witness to what we’ve seen. What have you seen today that speaks of God? What have you seen that you can share with others?”

I felt convicted.

While it had been a hard week, I was thankful for all of the years we had with Sandy. He literally showed up at our house and brought my family so much joy and I caught a glimpse of God.

This week, when we had to take him to the vet, one of my sweet co-workers texted me to see how I was doing and I saw God. The next day at work when another sweet co-worker emailed me and told me she had been praying for me, I saw God and when she came to my office just to give me a hug, I saw God again.

When our newest edition, Annie, met me at the door after work, wagging her tail, and bouncing up and down with pure puppy joy, I saw God once again and I was completely humbled by the fact that He knew a month ago, when we decided to adopt her, that Sandy was going to be passing. He knew our hearts would be broken and He knew she would bring us comfort.

As I was walking at work the next day, I couldn’t help but be in awe of fall the leaves on trees. The seasons are changing and we are entering into a season of Thanksgiving and even though I feel a little raw, I am thankful, thankful that God made dogs, thankful that He made Sandy, thankful that He sent us Annie and especially thankful for the friends and family that He has surrounded me with who regularly show His love and grace.

To answer the earlier question, even in a particularly painful week, I saw tons of examples of God’s presence and in the end, I felt called to share.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂