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.

Devotion: Getting God's Attention

"See, God has come to save me.

I will trust in him and not be afraid.

The Lord God is my strength and my song;

he has given me victory."

Isaiah 12 v 2

Health, finances, family relationships, your job situation, infertility... whatever your issue is.

Today's devotion is aimed at anyone who is struggling to trust God. Maybe you've been praying for breakthrough for a long time and you just cannot see anything shifting. Or perhaps you are in such a desperate place that if God doesn't come through for you, you are sunk. I'm right next to you in this trench.

Bear with me for a moment and let me tell you the story of my cat, Sleepy. She is a sweet little thing who has a built-in alarm clock in her belly and is vocal enough to let the neighbourhood know when she is hungry. Sleepy will come and meow for food from exactly an hour before suppertime and continue to do so until those biscuits hit her bowl. She has stamina for nagging that would see most athletes through the Olympics.

I was in the kitchen last night, trying to wrap my brain around all I needed to get through before bedtime. Feeding the cats was already crossed off my To-Do's, so when Sleepy came nagging, I ignored her. She didn't give up. She came right up close and licked my leg. Three times. I kid you not.

That got my attention like nothing else. It made me laugh and remember again, just how much I love this goofy animal. I looked around and saw that her water bowl was empty. One refilled bowl later and I had a happy cat.

Unlike me and my cat, God never ignores us. Psalm 35 v 15 tells us that 'the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous, and his ears towards their cry.' He won't ignore us but I have a feeling that it tickles Him pink when we seek Him out. He loves nothing more than being with us, otherwise  why would He have sent Jesus to make a way for us to be with him forever?

So I encourage you today, no matter what you're facing, give Him your attention. In whatever way you are able. Lick His leg if that's all you can manage.

I'm standing with you in this trench and together we have front row seats to His miracles. Let me know when yours arrive!

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters. She has just signed a three book contract for a YA series, Spirit Walker, with Pelican / Watershed.

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

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

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.

   

3 Cats, 1 Mom and God

We have three cats. They are sisters, so they share genes. They’ve grown up in the same home – ours – and we’ve done our best to make sure they get equal rights, privileges and love. In spite of that, their personalities are completely unique.

This is Gwinny. Short for Guinevere. She is a complete lady, secure in her charms. Having perfected the art of the flop, she can melt hearts in 2 seconds flat. All she needs to do is run across the room with the purring-meow thing she does, flop on your lap (your book, your work, your laptop … the effect is the same) and you are hooked. Smitten. Stuck until she moves. She is the fluffiest of the three and somehow commandeered the soft fur genes.

The beauty on the right is Ginger. Her fur is more coarse and from day one, she has been less open to being loved.

The third is Sleepy and she doesn’t feature in today’s thought. Sorry Sleepy.

Back to the other two – I love cats. In spite of hideous cat allergies, they make a house a home and add so much life and love. But here’s the thing that struck me – Gwinny lets me love her. When I bend down to rub her head, she purrs and pushes against my hand. Ginger cringes and pulls away. Not all the time, but mostly.

Guess who gets the most evidence of my love...

I love each cat just as much as the other two, but that’s not what it looks like to someone who doesn’t know me. That got me thinking about God and His love for us. When He draws close to show us how much He loves us, do we press into His hand, secure in His love, enjoying His attention? Or do we pull away?

There are many reasons to hold back, to be wary of opening up to Him. I know that. But I also know that not one of those reasons comes from His heart.

Interesting thought, hey?

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, 

because fear has to do with punishment. 

The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 

We love because he first loved us. 

1 John 4:18-19

Dianne J. Wilson writes novels from her hometown in East London, South Africa, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

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

Shackles is available as a free ebook from Smashwords.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her sporadic blog Doodles.