The other night, a while back, I was relaxing in my recliner, watching a movie and munching on a chocolate brownie.  My dog, named Cheyenne, was sitting next to me, waiting for me to share with him.  I share everything with Cheyenne.  I always have.  He is almost 15 years old now, but from little on I would share my snacks, my treats, and even part of my meal sometimes.  I can’t look into those loving, brown eyes and say no.  Except at certain times, and when I was eating my big, thick, chocolate brownie, it was one of those times.  I wanted so bad to give him a nibble, which of course would encourage him to beg for more.  However, I knew that chocolate was bad for dogs and could cause sickness or even death.  In fact, we almost lost Cheyenne when he was just a young ‘in. He got into a chocolate cake that I had cooling on my kitchen table.  He had jumped up on a chair and then onto the table and ate a good portion of that cake.  My husband and I had been out to lunch and came back discovering the almost devoured cake.  Cheyenne was laying on the floor and looked up at me with eyes that told me, “I don’t feel very good.”  He gradually got worse and worse and to the point he couldn’t lift his head.  I called the vet and she guided me through a couple of steps, including pouring corn syrup down his throat.  It was a very close call, but with many prayers and the vets help, he survived.  I never want to go through that again.  It was awful and when he was begging me with his eyes to share my brownie, I had to tell him no.  Not once, not twice, but at least three times.  I tried telling him how harmful it was for him but he just looked at me, not understanding why I wouldn’t share.  I knew it was because it was best for him that I didn’t.  I was actually preserving his well-being, if not his life.  I said to him, “Cheyenne, I wish you understood why I have to say no.”  Boom!  Immediately my thoughts turned to God, my heavenly Father.  He has at times told me no as well.  I would ask him more than once, “Why?  Why won’t you answer this prayer?  I just don’t understand.”  It looks like a good thing to me, but I realize now, God had known better.  It was for my own good that He denied me my request.  Somehow, He was preserving my well being in one way or another.                

How many of us have been there?  We ask God to help us out with something, we ask that He give us our desires, not understanding why He would say no.  But just as I knew why I could not share my brownie with my sweet Cheyenne, God also knows when not to grant me those things I may ask for.  Now, when he seems to say no, I try to look at it through my Fathers eyes.  He knows what every tomorrow will bring. He knows my heart and my soul, weaving every detail of my life into a beautiful picture, and some things just cannot be a part of it.  If they were, the beautiful picture would be flawed.

  I am looking forward to Spring and warmer days. I have plans to do this or go there and maybe try something new.  However, I find peace, knowing that God directs my steps, and He will work in my life according to His divine plan. Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. So, if He must tell me ‘no’ to some things in my life, so be it.  I will trust Him and know that He holds me safely in His arms. There are just some things that are not meant to be.  I’m sure I will thank Him later when my eyes are opened to the pain He prevented or the faith and love He has brought into my life.  

God wants us to come to Him with everything.  He desires that we come with the smallest of details to the great big important decisions; He wants us to bring them all to Him.  But when we do, and when we don’t get the answers we desire, don’t become bitter.  Close your eyes and tell him, “Father, I trust you in this and in all things.  Thank you for your guiding light and always doing what is best for me. May your will be done.”

   The next time I’m munching on a snack or treat, I will make sure they are ones I am able to share with Cheyenne.  But when the time comes that I can’t share with him, and must tell him no, I will look into his eyes and say, “Sorry, sweetie, you can’t have this.  I love you too much.”  “Thank you, Father, for saying the same to me.”