Tanna, our rescue dog is getting fatter. Even though I
know that all I have to do is shake a few kibbles out of her
measuring cup when I feed her, it is hard to do this. If I am faithful, over the next few months, she will
gradually lose the pounds until she has her svelte doggy figure back
again. I know this works for dogs; it is logical that it should work
for me too.
I did this doggy diet before with my
big dog Max. I had to be very careful to only give him his normal
measured food every day. He tended toward chubby if we let him get
away with any snacking. This was probably because Max had some...
starvation issues? From his childhood.
Some years ago, I wanted a dog. I've
actually always wanted a German Shepherd because I love the
breed--the way they look and their intelligence. I started praying
for God to help us find the right dog, but my mind was saying, "German Shepherd, please." The summer of 2001, my husband
Gary was out in the yard and he saw a dingy gray/brown skulking
animal hiding behind the ferns at the bottom of our yard. It looked
like a coyote, but coyotes are usually shy of people, so he assumed
it was a sick one if it was in the yard in broad daylight. It could
have rabies. He didn't want a sick coyote to bite our dog Shela, so
he picked up a stick to try to chase it off.
Standing on the bank with the stick in
hand, he saw a tail wag from behind the rhododendron bush, so he knew
there was a dog hiding instead. Gary called out, “come here, c'mon
fella.” And our future in the form of Max came to him squirming and
wagging wildly with joy at the sound of human kindness.
I opened my front door to see Gary
standing there with a sheepish look on his face and next to him, what
looked like a huge rat-dog. We later figured that Max was likely half
German Shepherd and half wolfhound, but starved and about six months
old, huge head and paws and half his fur lost from starvation. He was
absolutely infested with fleas and stink. He was the ugliest dog I
had ever seen. He was so hungry though, we fed him and put him in the
garage because it too late in the day to bathe him.
In our garage, he had projectile
diarrhea. Many of the things in the garage that were not covered in
stink, he broke in his panic and fear.
We TRIED SO HARD to find another home
for that dog, but we couldn't discover where he came from or where he
should go. His fur slowly grew back. We came to appreciate his
intelligence but mostly his loyalty and his gentle spirit. He became
truly beautiful. One time, he saved my husband Gary from a pit-bull
attack and got bitten badly himself. He was a once-in-a-lifetime dog
for me. I have never loved a dog that much, and likely never will
again. I finally became grateful for him, but it took a while.
Three reminders for the day: #1. Don't
hold so tightly to your plans that you don't allow God's surprise
blessings (sometimes in disguise) to get in.
#2. If you want to gradually lose a bit
of weight, you just have to cut out a few kibbles a day—but you
have to faithfully do it most every day.
#3. Hard childhood events can mess up
how you eat when you are a grown up. You should continue on the
journey to figure out the how and why of that particular brain
short-circuit. Work to figure out where and how those old ghosts are
affecting you in order to further the healing.
Bless you.
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