My First Steps With Jesus

If anybody ever says God doesn’t listen they’re wrong. I’ve had a couple of experiences in my life where it seemed like I put in a special order and God delivered EXACTLY what I wanted.

In March 2004 we got an adorable 6 week old miniature dachshund puppy. Buddy was the runt of the litter and black. He became the ruling member of our household in no time. Buddy had personality plus and always kept us laughing. In December 2006 2 year old Buddy went into kidney failure and died. We were heartbroken and I was sick for days. After Buddy died I wanted a new puppy but didn’t want to get attached to anything again. Don felt we needed to get another puppy when the time was right. I told him I wanted another mini dachshund but this time I wanted a red female. I loved the breed but I didn’t want it to look like Buddy. Four days after Buddy died our vet called she had a 2 year old, red female miniature dachshund available for adoption, did we want her. I at first said no but Don convinced me otherwise. The next morning we brought Ellie home. Ellie has some of the same quirky characteristics that Buddy had but she is different enough that we love her as Ellie, not Buddy’s replacement. God knew what we needed and what we wanted and he delivered.

Fast forward 2 years. We’re ready to buy a house. We had slight differences in what we wanted. Don wanted something small, like the first apartment we lived in. I felt that was too small and wanted something a little bigger with 3 bedrooms. We both knew we didn’t want to put a lot of work into the house and we knew where we wanted our payments to be. We also knew we didn’t want to live in the city. We wanted something more rural. I would have been happy with acres of land but Don wanted something that he didn’t’ have to do a lot of yard work. We also knew we needed a fenced yard for the dogs (yes, Ellie has a sister named Stretch). We looked for a couple of days and as we were heading back to the realtors Don mentioned a house on the list that we hadn’t seen yet. We looked at one 2 blocks down on the same street but this one we overlooked. The realtor turned around and went back. This house had only been on the market for 15 days, actually was listed on my birthday. When we walked in the house was perfect. Small, between 1000-1100 square feet, 3 bedrooms, eat in kitchen, attached garage, fenced in yard on ¼ acre it was move in ready with fresh paint, carpeting and tile throughout. As a bonus all appliances were included with a washer/dryer and freezer in the garage. It’s in a rural area surrounded by farms and open fields. In fact we have cotton fields across the street from us. But we’re about 6 miles from the city and shopping. To top it off the asking price was about $20,000 less than the other’s we’d looked at. We made an offer on the spot and it was accepted. The inspection went well and the inspector said it was one of the best houses he’d seen. There were some problems getting the paperwork in order but God came through and everytime there was a glitch He worked it out so smoothly. Now everything is in place for us to close next week. Now that I think about it, God listened to our wish list and gave us exactly what we wanted. He even found a balance in the points where we differed. This house was a special order and tailor made for us just as Ellie was.

God is good, All the time.


Mark 11:22-25 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.