Thunder

THIS WEEK thunderstorms emptied themselves over the city for days, and God showed Himself through them. My dog, Sugar, is a little shi tzu who comes up to my knees. She's about ten years old, and as she gets older she is beginning to hate thunder more and more. When it rains, she gets very nervous. When the thunder roars, she begins to tremble uncontrollably. As the storm goes on, she looks for someone she trusts to protect her. You see, there are things my dog doesn't understand about the weather. She doesn't know that thunder does not mean the world is ending. It's the same with fireworks at New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July. For a little dog, it seems like the sky is exploding, or like some monster has come to strip the house away from the earth. She has super doggy ears but she can't understand what she's hearing. So all she can do is run to one of us, her family, who don't seem to be worried about the calamity that is surely iminent. It's gotten so bad lately that we had to get her a bottle of calming pills with camomile to help her relax. But she doesn't want to take them, and even when she will swallow it, it doesn't calm her shivering. All she wants is to be with her family. She's still scared, but when we are near her she has hope that she will see tomorrow. Getting to be the one Sugar runs to showed me something about God. He loves to be there when we need Him, and He loves when He is the One we run to. It's the same thing a shepherd does with his sheep. He makes himself present and takes care of every need for each sheep. God calls us His sheep repeatedly through the Bible, to tells us that we both need Him and have Him. Jesus makes it very clear in John 10:27-28 when He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." Holding on to little Sugar and trying to make her feel safe made me think of how God takes care of us. It reminded me that while receiving grace is a free gift, it's also a covenant. Jesus' blood made a new covenant for us that's beautiful and eternal: believe grace, receive grace; seek Him first, be provided for; let Him be your treasure, and have no lack. This way God will be glorified, and we will be blessed. This is really what I needed Him to remind me this week. I'm thankful for the storms, even if they did give Sugar a terrible week. And I'm thankful for the night when one of my life verses came up on my phone unexpectedly. It felt like God really wanted to remind me of it, even though I've turned to it a hundred times: Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." If we will seek God faithfully and wholeheartedly, He will provide faithfully too. Sugar doesn't understand the weather or thunder or rain, so she runs to somebody who loves her. I know about thunder, and I understand that she doesn't have any reason to be afraid. I know she's going to be okay. But as long as she is scared, I'll help her. God knows about thunder. He fills the food dish. The lightning doesn't scare Him, and He knows that when it's all over we will still be safe with Him. What He wants is to be the One we run to when the rain starts falling.