I am currently the owner of the most adorable, tan and white Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix. Yep, it’s a dog, and I’m not a dog person. Or rather, I didn’t use to be. I was more of a cat gal, but hadn’t even owned a feline in almost a decade. I mean, who has time to sweep up all that hair?! But I think God gave me this dog to humble me, to show me that I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.
You see, I was one of those people who didn’t understand terms like “fur baby.” I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. I rolled my eyes when people talked like a baby to their pup, and dressing them up? Forget about it. I mean, it’s not like I was an animal hater or something. I just could take them or leave them. And I certainly couldn’t understand people who “loved” their pets. They did know it was “just a dog,” right?!
Yep, that’s what I used to say. Oh, my gosh, it’s just a dog. It’s not a human child, for goodness sake. I think I even got offended over how people could ignore the homeless and support abortion, but get bent out of shape when you left a dog outside.
Point being, I never saw myself really loving a pet. But then Lizzie happened.
Y’all, this dog. This morning I was walking into the kitchen with her to take her outside. I never did anything before coffee, but letting my little doggie outside for her morning constitutional had taken precedence over the past year. As we headed towards the door I spoke to her, with full intention that she understood, and my tone was one of syrupy sweetness. Just before I opened the door she looked up at me with her precious, chocolate eyes, and I couldn’t help but melt at her gaze. It was one of true adoration, and as I looked back at this tiny dog who thought I had hung the moon and stars, I realized I absolutely and totally loved this dog.
It caught me off guard a bit. I mean, I knew she was adorable and my little “cutie, patootie, sweet baby,” but it really hit me at that moment that I held deep affection for this animal. Something I never imagined possible.
As I looked at her tiny, puppy face smiling up at me I felt like God spoke to my heart, “it’s because she loved you first.”
Lizzie was a free, little girl we found on Craigslist, and it was divine appointment the way it all worked out. We had been looking for a small dog for our daughters for about a month, and we’d been coming up empty handed time and time again. Initially, Craigslist had only garnered me sexual propositions and scams instead of a dog. Every shelter we visited only had large breeds on the days we went, and each one we found online that we thought was going to work out, never did. Our daughters were absolutely smitten by a tiny, blue chihuahua we found at a pet store, but were quickly disappointed when the $4,000 price tag made it a resounding no! Our middle child had even decided on a name for that blue, pet store pup. Lizzie.
As we had left the pet store in silent disappointment I had the sudden urge to try Craigslist again. I searched “chihuahua puppy,” and the first listing that popped up in my area was the cutest tan and white girl. I texted the number available, not expecting much in return, and the guy on the other end responded back right away. A soldier being deployed overseas, he just wanted a good home for his dog’s new pups, and he happened to be just down the road from the out-of-the-way pet store we had ventured upon. Within 15 minutes she was ours. We had a 45 minute commute back home, and as we drove along I realized I had not asked him her name.
Imagine my surprise when I texted him one last time asking for her name and he replied back, “we’ve just been calling her Lizzie.”
As I looked lovingly at her this morning it’s that trip back home with her that first night that came to my mind. She had been so frightened. She was so small, and I’d never felt a dog shake so strongly. She shivered from head to toe, and I could feel her tiny heart hammering through her chest. She had been seven months old, at the time, and I remembered empathizing how scary going to a new home must be.
I had taken her in my lap and held her close, whispering reassurances. Finally she had laid her long, thin neck across my arm, and there she surrendered. It was then and there that we bonded. I soothed her, and I became mom. It had grown from there. She decided she loved me the most, and she had spent every day since letting me know just how much. When God had spoken to me about that darn dog in the kitchen this morning, I had realized the significance. There’s that verse in 1 John that says, “we love because he first loved us,” and I chuckled to realize I couldn’t help but love this dog because she loved me so much. She had loved me first.
When I came home from work, Lizzie was the first to run to the door. She was always the most excited. She was always in my lap if sitting and attached to my heels if up, slept at my feet, and I told my husband last week, “I think that dog loves me even more than you do (which was saying a lot).”
I remember when I first became a mother that the Lord would speak so many truths to me through my young children, and especially during such a frazzled season of life, He had spoken His special love for me through those babies. He still does, but I think now He’s added a fur-child as another vessel through which He can reveal new things. Who’d have thought?! He’s shown me to never be so proud that I assume through what medium He may work. That dog has shown me that God can show His love in more ways than I ever imagined. Yep, I stand corrected. I get it now, the whole loving a dog thing, and I’m grateful for the gift He gave our family with this little dog.
SIMON KAMAU says
Thanks, I keep only chicken. I will be more sensitive too.
Karen Tober says
I loved your story. How could anyone doubt the divine connection? Lizzie is a gift from God.
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you!
Dave says
I have commented on so many of your posts Brie until I can’t remember all I have written about my life experiences with God but this post struck me as similar to my lesson God taught me through a dog! Now I have always been a dog person having had one off and on since I was a toddler according to my mother! She told me of Jack who was my first dog and how she saw Jacks devotion to me as a toddler! I know I have told before here on your blog of how I was a prodigal from a teen to up until about 2004! As a preachers son I just rebelled against everything I was taught about putting God first in my life! God first of all gave me a wife that gave her heart to the Lord shortly after we married but I still was wandering in my own way trying to dispel what I saw in her life of growing in God! All through my years at Disney she prayed me through a tough job I was in dealing with ruthless people who didn’t care who they hurt in their climb to the top of the hierarchy in Mickey Mouse land! I saw her prayers answered for me but still wouldn’t submit to the God who was loving me in spite of my running! It took a dog in 2004 to show me God’s love and faithfulness! Now grant it, God gave me the best example in a Godly wife but stupid me wouldn’t humble myself and thank her! I wanted to show her I still didn’t need her God or going to church with her! But God literally took me to a dog’s level! I took my grandson with me to pick out a dog at the local shelter! We looked and looked but kept coming back to the sad looking little black dog who they said no one wanted and she was destined for the gas chamber back when they still did that! The little black dog stole our hearts when she just pressed up against us with love and chased the ball as we played with her outside the shelter! I adopted her and upon leaving the shelter she laid her head on my lap as I drove and there she always was when I took her anywhere! I named her Sam at my daughter’s suggestion after the Bewitched character Samantha! Sam was always by my side and God spoke to me in my spirit and said, “if my creation Sam loves you and is so devoted to you then just think of how much more I, God, loves you and wants to be forever in you and with you! God, Sam and certainly all my wife’s efforts and prayers got me to admit I needed God directing my path! Sam was a gentle dog and easy for me to accept and love but God has used another little dog that showed up on my back step recently to teach me about accepting and loving all people! This little dog is a hyper jumper and God knows I do not like being around hyper and loud people and certainly a hyper dog but He is teaching me that He loves all His creation whether hyper, loud, laid back and no matter what color and He wants me to be more accepting and loving too of all! Isn’t God amazing how He uses His creation to teach us! I just saw on a Christian show how God used trees in all their majesty to teach a guy who was an atheist how to realize that God is real! Our amazing God! I thank Him always for stories I hear like yours Brie of Lizzie! What an amazing reveal to you! Praise Him always!
brieann.rn@gmail.com says
Thank you for sharing your story. It really made me smile!! I love how God reveals so much through creation. If we never stop seeking, He never stops revealing.
Dave says
Amen to that!!