God has allergies? Devotion by Dianne J Wilson

I have horrendous pet allergies. Does this stop me having pets? (Three cats, three dogs *cough*) Nope. I wouldn't choose to live without pets if you paid me. I get by with lots of hand washing after cuddles and a permanent stash of allergy tabs within reach.

Just this week I'd gone a bit overboard on the cuddles and rubbed my eyes without thinking. Anyone who suffers allergies will understand. Once you start rubbing, it is almost impossible to stop. That small oversight cost me an entire night's productivity as I had to down some strong allergy tabs to calm my system down. Pretty soon my brain turned to mush and the best option for me was to find my bed and sleep it off. I'm sure I gained a few years in wrinkles from rubbing my itchy eyeballs.


Needless to say, I wasn't keen to touch any of our fur-babies the next morning. They trooped in with tails wagging for brekkies and their morning loves. They just got brekkies. I didn't dare touch any of them because I knew it would set me off and I couldn't spend the whole day doped up on allergy tabs. 

By the time we left the house, there was none of the usual warm, fuzzy, happy-to-be-a-family feeling left. They'd taken turns being naughty and I found myself getting angry rather than teaching them right and wrong in a peaceful way. I left the house that morning feeling awful.

Then the Holy Spirit highlighted it for me. It was something like that with us and God. We are all born with a sinful nature. If you don't believe me, think of it this way - who teaches their offspring to be cheeky? No parent I know of. That stuff has to come from somewhere. 

So God, our Heavenly Dad, wants nothing more than to love us and keep us close, but he dare not come close to us in our sinful state. Our loving fellowship is broken and we are split apart. How would He fix this problem? 

Enter the perfect spiritual allergy tablet: Jesus! When Jesus is applied to our lives, we become acceptable to God. We no longer make His eyes stream or His chest close up. We are forever free to cuddle up close to Him with no bad side-effects for Him or us. Loves and cuddles are restored and the warm, fuzzy, happy-to-be-a-family becomes a permanent part of our lives. How lovely is that?

Allergies and God... I know it's not perfect theology, but I think you get the point. 

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She is working on a three book YA series, Spirit Walkers, for Pelican Book Group / Watershed.

Finding Mia is available from Amazon, Pelican / Harbourlight, Barnes & Noble and other bookstores.

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Amazon & Smashwords.