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Inspirations from my Border Collie – When God Says to Let Go…

How do you know when God is saying to let go?  I learned a lesson about this from my Border Collie.

There are some things in life that are acquired tastes.  Foods like onions, coffee, wine, beer and dare I even mention sardines (yuk!) with strong flavors or bold features that make them unappealing to some people.  My husband loves sardines with cheese and crackers.

The mere thought of eating those little fishies with bones makes me gag but I buy them for him to enjoy.  Even if he does feel the need to wave them under my nose to see me make faces and squeal,  I think that makes them taste even better to him.  Men are grown up little boys after all.  Lol!

The same thing applies to many things in life not only food related items.  Border Collies, for example, are not for everyone.

They are known as one of the smartest dog breeds and for good reason.  Recently, we adopted a 3 year old Border Collie named Nili.  Nili, in Hebrew, means “success” or “truth”.

We didn’t name her but I love the name and meaning and, buddy, does she ever KNOW her name!  In “Texan-nese” her name comes out more Neely than Nili but that’s ok.  She’s smart and is able to translate.

Nili was a goat herder by trade for the first three years of her life.

She came from a breeder in Oklahoma and went to school to learn to obey all of the specific commands for herding.  She obeys immediately and would be awesome at herding, if it weren’t for the dang goats.  Herding was a fun game to her but the goats didn’t realized it was just a game.  Her first owner said she wasn’t aggressive enough and the goats were beating her up.  She put Nili on facebook and my vet found her for me.

I loved Nili immediately because of her happy nature and interesting markings.  She is smooth coated, all white with half of her face being black and the other half white.  I wasn’t familiar with Border Collies and did not realize the learning curve we were in for when bringing home a 3 year old dog who had never been in a house, owned a bed or a toy and had not been allowed to play…ever…her whole life.

The first attribute of my goat herding girl I noticed when we got her home – she smelled like she had lived on a goat farm and had grown up in a barn, because she had!

She probably got the first bath of her life at my house because she kept trying to bite the water hose and it seemed to hurt her feelings. The second difference I noticed about her that is not like other dogs – she didn’t know how to play.  I bought her toys and tried to play tug with her and fetch but it irritated her for me to take her toys and throw them.  She would go and get them and take them to her bed and herd them all up and guard them.

Then, I thought would give her a treat if she brought me the toy.

I didn’t take it from her because she loves her toys so very much.  Slowly over time, she learned that bringing it to me wasn’t a bad thing and I wouldn’t steal it from her.  After a few months of that, it was easier for Nili to trust me with her treasures and now we are learning to play together.

At first, she would bring me her toy tucked close to her heart with her head down wanting so desperately to please me but still not fully trusting me with her most precious items.  I would say, “drop it”.  She would drop it at my feet…then fall on top of it to cover it up.  This made me laugh because God showed me this was exactly what I was doing to Him.

How do you know when God is saying to let go?

God had told me for many months before I retired, it was time to give up His children’s ministry that He had trusted me with for the last 5 years. I think I had become so obsessed with it, I had forgotten that it wasn’t really mine but His.  It was my baby.  It came before everything in my life, except God.  I would run to any family that needed me and I dearly loved all of the children.  I loved ministering to God’s families and I knew it was God’s will in my life because I had seen Him work powerfully to grow and use that to help so many.

I kept bringing it to Him in my prayer time because God was constantly putting it on my heart but couldn’t fully give it to Him.

I held a tight hold on it tucking it close to me just like Nili and her treasured items.  Eventually, I would lay it down at His feet but then fall on it and cover it.  I couldn’t fully trust Him.  I worried about my people and what would happen to them if I left.  I loved them all so much.  Families are under attack and hurting so much in this world.  I felt protective of them.

I had written my letter of resignation because I knew in my heart it was what God was telling me to do but I couldn’t turn it in to my pastor.  I even discussed it with him.  My pastor didn’t want me to quit but to consider a Sabbatical.  I prayed about it but God helped me see something new after the story in Matthew 10 when Jesus sent out the disciples to preach and to teach.  In Matthew 11:1 it says, “When Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples…He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.”  I had read this a million times before and not fully seen it says, “their cities“, until then.

If you have never used “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers as a devotional, I highly recommend it.  I have gleaned so many useful tools for digging deeper into God’s word from this book.  Oswald Chambers taught from Matt. 11:1, “If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself.”

When we stay where God has told us to leave, we actually are hurting the people that we love and keeping them from Jesus.

When we are disobedient, we block His way to His people.  The disciples were told to leave, THEN, Jesus went in to their cities.  I kept telling myself that I “had to stay”.  Those people needed me, it was my duty to stay.  I was basically telling God I didn’t trust Him with my treasure, just like my Nili with her toys.

Lately, God has been talking to me about being still and resting.  This is something else God is teaching me through Nili.  She and I both are working on being still in the house.  She thinks she has to work constantly and struggles to be still.  Well, guess what?  So do I, apparently.  We are both learning to be still, trust our masters and enjoy this season of waiting.

Psalm 37:34 says, “Wait on the Lord and keep His way.”  In The Message version of the Bible it says, “Wait passionately on the Lord, don’t leave the path.”  I love that waiting isn’t a completely, do nothing, kind of thing.  I’m too hyper to do nothing but I can passionately wait for Him, seeking Him and His way.  That verse goes on to say that He keeps working while we wait.  Being still is an active thing.  Even Nili, while she is being quiet and still in the house is watching and listening for my next command ever in tune to me.

While we wait for the next command from our Master, let’s keep our eyes and ears tuned to Him, stay in His word, loving Him and loving others.

Trust is hard and obedience is even harder but that’s faith.  “Being sure of what we hope for and trusting Him with what we can not see,” Hebrews 11:1.  We’ll talk about that more next time…until then my friend, remember the old hymn.  Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey…

Love,

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