Count It All Joy

Last Wednesday I took Marley for her annual visit to the veterinarian. For a healthy dog like her this should be a non-event. The visit would consist of a couple of painless injections, an ear examination, a look at her teeth, a few other cursory checks and of course her turn on the weigh scales. She jumped into the back seat of the car with the usual tail wagging enthusiasm. She panted happily at my shoulder as we made the journey together. Unfortunately, when I pulled into the parking lot, she quite simply shrank back in horror and started to shake uncontrollably. Unfazed by this annual routine, I secured her leash and attempted to pull her out of the car. It is a good thing that dogs cannot grab onto objects or we would still be there. Once out of the car she attempted to make a run for it towards the road. I pulled her back and indeed wrestled her with great difficulty through the door into the waiting room. Indeed I am the only one in the family heavy enough to complete this rather strenuous job, otherwise I would have gladly given it up.

For the uninitiated, vet offices are disturbingly like those of your medical practitioner or dentist except that each person waiting is holding a pet on their lap or near them on the floor. Some pets behave well and some do not. The seats in reception are always filled and a twenty minute wait is considered immediate service. For twenty-five minutes long minutes my fifty-one pound dog shook uncontrollably, pulled on the leash toward the door and stood up on her hind legs so that she could stare directly into my eyes and plead for mercy. The small dog beside her who looked perfectly calm when we entered was shaking uncontrollably within 10 minutes. Marley can even spread the panic!

The visit in the examining room consisted of me holding a large strong shaking dog up on the examining table while the vet did her thing recognizing with good humour the extreme stress and reluctance to be there demonstrated by Marley. With the exception of Marley being declared a little overweight, all went as well as could be expected. At that declaration, I imagined Marley thinking rather peevishly that “I am just big boned, not overweight!” I settled up the account back in reception while holding on to a now acknowledged very heavy, soon to be on a diet, dog pulling me all the while towards the exit. It took me two days to remove all of the dog hair on my clothes, rest up and get over our adventurous afternoon.

Marley’s performance reminded me of my own approach to trials. She was facing a trial in her mind and simply wanted to escape from the difficulty by any means possible. She believed that I could help her escape, and indeed I could have done just that if I had been so inclined. I wonder how many times I have prayed fervently to be simply released from a trial. God may indeed grant that prayer, but more often than not, He chooses to keep us in the trial and expects us to pray for His help in weathering the difficulties at hand. He does not promise a trouble free life here on this earth, but He does promise to help us through each and every trouble. Both James and Peter address this issue in The New Testament. In James 1: 2-4 we read:

2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.


In 1Peter 1: 6-7 we find a similar theme.

6 ¶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

The Lord gives us every opportunity to exercise our faith through trials and to grow as a Christian through them. Often this growth is not apparent to us or others through the trial. When the storm has passed, however, it is often possible to see the growth. We are told in the Bible that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. (Is. 55: 8) Lozanne and I have not been strangers to trials in the last three years. The Lord has effectively narrowed my abilities to serve Him until I started to write this blog. I am not at all sure if I write it for His use, the reader’s benefit or indeed for myself. I find the continual research and writing has deepened my faith daily. I have been blessed through trials!

His ways are not my ways nor are His thoughts my thoughts!

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