Lost and Found

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Some days I feel lost but I am never lost in Christ. People may disappoint me, churches may disappoint me, denominations my disappoint me, and the world may seem without hope.

But. God. Never. Disappoints.

I have learned, after a long time, to trust only in Him. I was lost but I’m always found in Christ and I am grateful.

We are thine, thou dost befriend us,
be the guardian of our way;
keep thy flock, from sin defend us,
seek us when we go astray.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!
Hear, O hear us when we pray.
Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!
Hear, O hear us when we pray.

Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us – Verse 3

What was lost is now found…our dog Buddy

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BUddy

My dog Buddy came to us in the most unexpected way. He was dropped into my huband’s arms after answering the door late one night. The person took off running and never looked back.

My husband stared at me in wonder. I took one look at this messed up and battered puppy and ran into the bathroom to begin the process of removing fleas from his matted hair. He had more fleas than I have ever seen in my life. My oldest daughter rushed over and it took us until two in the morning to rid him of these pests. We ruined my husbands hair clippers in the process.

It was all worth it.

I dutiful took him to the vet, had him scanned for a chip (no chip), realized that HE (I never had boy dogs) was not fixed, and watched for lost dog reports. As the proud owner of three rescued female dogs, we had absolutely no intention of keeping him but were intent on finding him a good home.

I named him Buddy.

Buddy was great with our dogs. They loved him and welcomed him into the pack. It was not until we went for walks (specifically an ill-advised animal shelter fundraiser) that we realized he was not socialized and obviously had led a rather harsh young life. He was in full on protective mode. Buddy had issues.

We made one attempt to place Buddy with another family but I couldn’t do it. There was something about this young man that pulled at my heart; so he was adopted into the Hutchinson clan. My husband, who was against this decision at first, became Buddy’s biggest and most loyal advocate. To this day, Buddy follows him everywhere and waits for my husband’s return from work. In a house full of women, I think they have a “bro” code that I can’t break.

What does this have to do with God? To me…everything.

God takes the most broken, beaten and abused people and can fix them. He loves us just the way we come to Him. When we misbehave, He still loves us. We don’t have a “code” with God…we have a covenant. His love is unconditional. His grace is sufficient for our needs. We are His favorite. We belong to Him.

We are redeemed…just like Buddy. We are no longer lost. We are lucky indeed.

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. Luke 1:68

 

God’s lost and found.

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Magazines and experts regularly tell us how we can get papers organized, file cabinets de-cluttered and our in-box emptied. It all seems so possible…until you try. This crazy quest for an orderly life.

I have given in to defeat on organization and decided instead to work on trying to get things in better shape and not to berate myself when things aren’t so. I want to enjoy life and not fret about what is lost or left undone. It takes too much energy to worry all the time about everything having a specific place in life.

Life is messy. Business is messy. Love is messy. Kids are most certainly messy.

Perfection is impossible to achieve but the sooner we recognize that there IS glory in simply trying, the more able we will move on to be more loving people to those around us. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to clean up our act…it just means that sometimes we are able to accomplish great things out of disorder.

To wait for everything to be perfect will be to wait forever.

A dear old friend once told me a motto she repeated to herself daily. I use it all the time. When I’m feeling lost, I say to myself: “Nothing is lost that’s found in Christ.”

…and that is absolutely true.

For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost. Luke 19:10