Devotionals for the Heart: True Love

An Inconvenient Love
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”—Luke 6:38 NIV

Have you ever gone from discomfort to devotion?

At the risk of sounding heartless, I’ll make a bold confession: For most of my life, dogs made me really, really uncomfortable. They were fine at a distance, or if they were super old and gentle.

But most dogs are boisterous and messy, and they like to lick and slobber and jump up on you. There’s very little sensible control when it comes to dogs, at least in my experience with them.

My husband, Matt, brought a huge German Shepherd named Scout to our marriage ten years ago. Scout helped me get used to dogs and learn to love them. But while Scout was my first dog, he wasn’t really mine. He was Matt’s. I wasn’t “Mommy”, even though Scout loved me. I was part of the pack, and I belonged to Matt in his eyes, so he loved me too. But he was fully grown and trained by the time I came along. When he passed away a couple years later, I was sad, but Matt was devastated.

Then, in 2021, I decided it was time: I knew how much Matt missed having a dog, and in my heart of hearts, I knew I needed to bend and grow. I needed to understand what it was like to be a dog person as well as a cat person. So we adopted Captain, a fuzzy, floppy-tongued, six-week-old German Shepherd puppy … and just like that, my world turned upside down. That first year was one of the hardest in my life. I learned firsthand how to do everything that goes with having a puppy. I had no idea how much work it would be! But in that work, I also learned what it was like to truly know and love Captain.

We’re at a sweet spot now, almost three years in. And today, I’ve learned what it means to be a dog mom. Captain is definitely my baby. When I get home, he brings me his toys and whines in utter joy, and my heart leaps at the sight of him. When he’s scared or bored, he cuddles in my lap (I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s the size of our cats). Sometimes I wake up and have to give him a big kiss, just because.

Now, my cats are amazing… when I get home, they sidle up to greet me. They blink with their cat smiles and show how much they missed me in their own special kitty ways. “Welcome home, special human one,” they seem to proclaim majestically. But with Captain, it’s different. It’s like his whole world was wrecked when I walked out the door, and now that I’m home, life can start anew. “Everything is right in the world again because you’re here, Mom!” he tells me with his wild, enthusiastic eyes as he vigorously circles me again and again, covering every inch of my pants in dog fur.

My cats loved me and missed me, but life still went on. But for my dog, it was like a piece of him was missing the whole time I was gone. It got me thinking about how we humans love and treat each other in this world. Imagine with me a moment: What would the world be like if we all were to love each other like a dog loves us? Minus the licks and doggy slobber, I imagine it would be a lot like we all used to get along in kindergarten—curious, mostly friendly, and boundlessly enthusiastic. And yet that’s usually not the case with adults, is it?

Many times we greet loved ones with barely more than a quick “hi” before rushing on to whatever else we need to do. We avert our eyes in stores rather than make small talk with neighbors, and lie “Oh, I’m great!” when someone asks how we’re doing. And that’s just social courtesy. What about really showing love…caring for others in their sickness and hunger, sharing our basic life needs together, such as clothing or money or shelter…how does that look?

It usually looks quite different from what I believe our Savior (Jesus Christ) intended. In Matthew 10:25-37, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart and our mind and our soul, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. As an example, Jesus gave us the “Good Samaritan” parable about a man who cared for a perfect stranger in an extravagant way, tending his wounds and paying for medical care. There’s nothing convenient about this kind of love. Loving this way is decidedly inconvenient.

Honestly, that’s how my dog loves. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing when I get home. If he’s asleep in the corner with his foot in his mouth, he wakes up and races for me. If he’s scratching himself or eating a treat or having some silent communication with one of our cats, he drops what he’s doing and races for me. He stops everything because I am there. Nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter what I look like or smell like, if I’ve been spending time with other dogs, or if I’ve been gone for a couple of days. It doesn’t matter if the last time he saw me I scolded him for being naughty.

He just loves me and he’s happy to see me. Do I love the people in my world that way? Sadly, sometimes I don’t. Grudges get in the way or my own selfish concerns. But what if I were to model a little bit of my dog’s kind of love? What if I treated others, those I love and those who are strangers, with the same boisterous care and enthusiasm my dog bestows on me? I imagine the world would be a much better place, the kind of place Jesus commanded us to create.

This week, let’s see what we can do to love each other better, whether our inner circle, our neighbors, or strangers we encounter. Let’s love from a place of inconvenience. That’s what Jesus would have us do.

Let’s Pray: Lord, please help me to love others with wild, boundless, extravagant care, knowing that the love I show reflects Your perfect love. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Love God Love People” by Danny Gokey. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning journalist, author, blogger, editor, writing coach, and devotional writer with thousands of articles to her name. 

Since 2010, she has served as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, which has won 123 journalism awards during her tenure. Her latest book is Preparing Our Hearts: An Advent Devotional to Draw Closer to God at Christmas.

She has won more than 100 writing awards. Jessica is a seasoned speaker and frequent contributor to Christianity.com, BibleStudyTools.com, and Crosswalk.com, among many others. She has a weekly faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com and is part of the team at Wholly Loved Ministries, with her work included in many of their devotionals and Bible studies. Jessica also produced a free eBook, A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed.

Jessica holds a Master of Arts in English. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in communications/print journalism from Florida International University. Born and raised in Miami, Jessica now lives in Lexington, South Carolina, just outside Columbia. She has also lived in Ohio and in the mountains of western North Carolina. She and her husband, Matt Brodie, have a blended family of four teenage children and stepchildren.

Jessica has written several novels and is actively seeking publication through her agent Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Garden won the 2018 Genesis contest for Contemporary Fiction from American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and her novel Tangled Roots won a third place Foundation Award in Contemporary Romance at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in 2019. She is finishing the third in the series, Hidden Seeds, now.

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Website: https://www.jessicabrodie.com/
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Devotionals for the Heart: God's Love

A Doggy Kind of Love
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

I’m not my dog’s Number One person—that role belongs to my husband, Matt, who I’m quite certain Captain believes hangs the moon in the sky. Still, it staggers me to experience the enthusiastic, passionate, and lavish love Captain holds for me.

We adopted our German Shepherd when he was about six weeks old in the summer of 2021, and it immediately began a time of intense learning for me. I’d never had a puppy before, and I often joke that if I knew going in how much work was required, I would have nixed the whole idea. Thank goodness my husband has had dogs his whole life and knew what he was doing. A lifelong cat mom accustomed to the independent I’ll-cuddle-with-you-when-I-feel-like-it feline way, I had no clue how much effort and interaction I was in for, from potty training to leash walking to not treating my favorite winter jacket like a chew toy.

But, oh, what joy it has been as well! No wonder everyone loves dogs so much—for now I can say I’ve become a true dog-lover, too.

What strikes me most is the fervent joy Captain has merely over being in our presence. If I walk in the door after work or even a ten-minute errand, he literally leaps in happiness, spinning around and around as if he’s saying, “You’re back! This is the best thing ever!”

If I’m working on my laptop on the couch while he’s sound asleep next to me, and I get up to go work at my desk for a while, he stirs himself awake, trots along at my heels, then settles himself right back down again at my feet. “Where you go, I follow, Mama,” he’s saying. I swear he did somersaults for me one afternoon when I picked him up at doggy daycare after a business trip.

My cats adore me, but it’s on far a different level—they show it best by blinking their eyes at me contentedly, or coming up for a quick head-nuzzle. It’s like they’re saying, “Heyyy…thanks for coming back,” a laid-back two on a scale of one to ten in excitement. But Captain? He’s a ten on the excitement scale. Maybe a twelve.

It reminds me a lot of the unexpected enthusiasm and love shown to the prodigal son in Luke 15. Also called the parable of the lost son, the story relates how this son took his inheritance early and then squandered it on wild living. Destitute, he eventually returned home in shame, hoping only to be his father’s hired servant. But to his astonishment, his father was overjoyed at his return and welcomed him home with open arms, celebration, and much honor. As Scripture tells us, “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for hm; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20 NIV).

I can imagine this father, quite literally running toward his son, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks and laughter bubbling within his chest. “You’re home! My precious boy—I thought you were dead and gone forever!” I imagine him shouting. If he were Captain, he’d also be doing backflips and somersaults in glee, a dance of pure, unadulterated doggy love filled with fervor and zeal.

That’s how God loves us, in truth: so much that God chases us down, calls us back from the depths of the wilderness, forgives our sins and welcomes us home. So much that God sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, pay our sin-debt, and create a place for us in eternity with him forever. He loves us with the perfect, pure affection of a German Shepherd greeting his favorite people after a long time away.

I wonder: Do we love God back with that same fervor and zeal? Does that extraordinary love and gratitude fill our hearts and overflow in our actions, or do we tuck it down, keeping our emotions steady and our faith zipped in tight?

Today, I urge you to stop keeping your own feelings and love for the Lord buttoned up and socially “appropriate.” Instead, risk looking like a proverbial Jesus freak and let your passions ignite and explode when you worship, pray, and serve the Lord in your daily life. He loves us even better than a dog loves his master, and in honor of that, let’s love him well in return.

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Lord, thank You for the incredible and exuberant love You have for us and for the relationship You invite us to experience with You. Help us be filled with joy and enthusiasm for this precious gift today and every day. In Jesus's Name I pray, Amen.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning Christian novelist, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach and the recipient of the 2018 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Award for her novel, The Memory Garden.

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism. Learn more about her fiction and read her faith blog at http://jessicabrodie.com.

Jessica has a weekly YouTube devotional and podcast. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and more. She’s also produced a free eBook, A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed.

Summer Stories: Teacher's Pet

Teacher’s Pet
A guest post by Gail Gaymer Martin

Although Teacher’s Pet is the name of my new release with a story that has nothing to do with my experience, the title rings true for the novel and for me. I was a high school teacher, later a counselor at the same school, and I loved animals. We owned two cats and two dogs. As time passed and the pets grew older and with lots of tears, we said goodbye to Teddy, our samoyed. Along with two cats, we still had our oldest pet, a small terror, named Jinx who lived to be twenty.

As Jinx grew older, he began to lose a few of his faculties, but he was still a loving dog that meant so much to us. One day, we let him out in the backyard and not thinking when a meter reader had gone into the backyard, we didn’t check after he left. He forgot to close the gate.

When I opened the door to let Jinx in, he was gone. I panicked and we drove up and down the neighborhood streets and didn’t find him. Next, we called the humane society since dogs were not allowed to run loose in our neighborhood. I also called the police department to let them know. Jinx did wear a collar with his license number on it, so we put up signs in stores and everywhere we could with his name and how to contact us. I heard from a couple of people, but when we searched their home area, it was either not Jinx or he had already moved on.

We waited and waited with his licenses number by the phone. After a week of crying, my husband and I faced the truth. He had been hit by a car or someone had taken him. Every day I looked at his food and water dishes and kept telling myself to dispose of them, but I didn’t have the heart.

One day I received a telephone call from Jinx’s veterinarian. He asked if we still owned Jinx. I said yes but told him Jinx had been missing for over a week. His comment startled me. “We think Jinx is here. The clerk saw him outside the building and recognized him. She asked me to take a look and I think it’s him. He’s wearing a license. Do you have the number?”

My heart pounded as I shifted the paper in front of me and read him the numbers.

“It’s him. He’s a bit bedraggled, and the pads of his feet are worn, but otherwise, he is fine.”

I could barely speak to say thank you a ton of times and to tell him we would be there. My mind reeled, trying to image Jinx finding his way to the veterinarian’s office which was at least nine miles away with two major highways to cross with four lanes in each direction.

We left home for the vet’s office unable to understand how Jinx had survived that journey and that he’d found his way to his veterinarian’s office. When we picked him up, he smelled awful and his little feet were worn, but we didn’t care. While my husband drove home, I hugged him and let him lick me as I thanked the Lord that somehow Jinx had found his way home.

My one regret was that we should have contacted a newspaper with this happy ever after story. But I’m telling the story now, even though Jinx had been gone for many years. I still have wonderful memories, and I’m still amazed.

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Author Bio:

Best-selling and award-winning novelist, Gail Gaymer Martin is the author of contemporary Christian and sweet romance and romantic suspense with 81 contracted novels and over 4 million books sold. 

Her novels have received numerous national awards, including the ACFW Carol Award, Booksellers Best, and RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. 

She is the author of Writer Digest’s Writing the Christian Romance and is a co-founder of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). 

Gail is a keynote speaker at women’s events at churches, civic and business organizations as well as a workshop presenter at conferences across the U.S.A.

She lives in Michigan with her husband.

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Book Blurb for Teacher’s Pet:

Molly Manning loves dogs, and she uses shelter dogs with her Teacher’s Pet special education school program to provide discipline training and love for her students and the dogs. 

But her dream is a building of her own to run her Teacher’s Pet business, and Brent Runyan has that building. But Brent, a workaholic businessman, is not interested. He’s trying to raise his orphaned nephew who has special needs, and Brent is failing. 

His tragic past puts dogs on his no interest list, but Molly is persistent. Soon Brent finds himself and his nephew, tangled in Molly’s dream and, even more, in Molly’s life.

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Buy Gail's book on Amazon

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Connect with Gail:
Website: www.gailgaymermartin.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gail.g.martin.3
Twitter: http://twitter.com/GailGMartin
GoodReads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/83354.Gail_Gaymer_Martin
Google+: https://plus.google.com/collection/sAX1kB

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