{"id":862,"date":"2012-09-17T02:55:24","date_gmt":"2012-09-17T02:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ultimatejoy.wordpress.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2012-09-17T02:55:24","modified_gmt":"2012-09-17T02:55:24","slug":"my-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/?p=862","title":{"rendered":"My Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

He stood surrounded by dogs desperately trying to locate mine. This amazing dog sitter harbors the dogs in his house rather than in kennels, also giving them free run of his considerable backyard. As such, he is in high demand and takes very few canines. Few being around ten. Trying to separate mine so I could take her home, all of the dogs swirled around his feet vying for attention. Finally, in desperation, he called me over to help.\u00a0 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All I did was say one word, \u201cLily.\u201d Immediately, my black German Shepherd, jerked her head up, removed herself from the pack, jumped over the gate delineating the \u201cpeople\u201d side of the house from the \u201cdog\u201d side, climbed over the owner\u2019s living room couch to sit motionless at my side. It was graceful, fluid and sweet all at the same time. No obstacles were going to prevent her from joining me.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, she was also quick. There are rules in this house; both husband and wife of this dog sitting couple are also Master Dog Trainers and quite strict. I was pretty certain Lily just broke about 10 of their doggie edicts! Thank goodness with all the commotion going on, the fellow wasn\u2019t aware of Lily\u2019s inappropriate behavior.<\/p>\n

It set my mind to wonder: \u00a0I was created to pursue God. I was created to know God \u2013 to be satisfied in Him and Him alone. To worship Him and Him alone. But even as a believer, do I leave my pack and run to God the way Lily ran to me? Am I so content surrounded by the swirling demands of my schedule, my relationships, my activities that I\u2019d fail to hear my Master\u2019s voice and leave it behind to run to the true source of my satisfaction and hope?<\/p>\n

One tiny word and Lily ran to me without hesitation or regret. John 10:27 says, \u201cMy sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.\u201d She knew my voice and she wanted to follow me.<\/p>\n

God turned a beautiful display of loyalty into a valuable lesson. \u00a0Lily left the clutter of the other dogs because she heard my voice. She recognized me as her Master, knew she belonged to me and longed to be by my side. Like her, I must turn away from anything that muddles my faith and place my trust in Jesus Christ. We were created to be set apart, to live set-apart lives and the only way we can live that kind of life is by spending time at His side.<\/p>\n

Who or what are you trusting in today? Are you ready to show your loyalty to God by running to Him; by finding contentment just being by His side?<\/p>\n

Today, may you feel the incomparable peace of your Master\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He stood surrounded by dogs desperately trying to locate mine. This amazing dog sitter harbors the dogs in his house rather than in kennels, also giving them free run of his considerable backyard. As such, he is in high demand and takes very few canines. Few being around ten. Trying to separate mine so I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,4,5],"tags":[6,9,13,48,18,19,23,36],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myrawells.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}