In the Stepping Up study, Beth Moore asks participants to begin every day or every study session (unless physically unable to do so) prostrate, face-down, on the floor before God. She promises that whatever God wants us to learn in this study, He will tell us when we are on our faces because in God’s economy, the way up is down.
So yesterday morning, I lay down on my office floor. As I began to pray, Poppet started hitting my back with the little stuffed toy in her mouth, making it squeak.
Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak, squeak.
Here I am, trying to be in an attitude of worship, and I’ve got a dog bouncing a toy against my back. It soon became obvious that she wasn’t going to stop until I got up off the floor. (Note to self: Shut Poppet out of room when I lay down to pray. Kneeling is safe. Lying down is not.) Needless to say, my prostrate time before the Lord was cut short, and I’m thinking how nonspiritual I am that I can’t ignore a little dog while I talk to my Father.
A short while later, I was reading my lesson for the day and came to the part where Beth talked about the experience of being prostrate before God. She instructed that while on the floor to "put your own words to your personal act of reverence and surrender," then she shared the prayer she spoke the morning she wrote this part of the study. Here’s the next paragraph:
The whole practice probably took no longer than a minute. Sometimes I linger longer if I’m particularly distressed or filled with a heightened cause for praise. Sometimes I abbreviate if I forgot to leave my dogs in the house and they’re fretting over my head, fearing I’m dead.
LOL! On Tuesday I was marveling over how God put the tools together to start my year off as He did, and today He’s showing me I am not alone, even in the pestering dog department. I am not a spiritual weakling with the attention span of a gnat. Even Beth Moore shortens her prayer time when the dogs are worrying over her head.
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
What a sweet reminder that He cares about the little things in my life, not just the big things. He didn’t want me to fret over that abbreviated time on the floor, and He cared so much that He even had it written into a Bible study many months ago.
How cool is that?
In the grip of His grace,
Robin
What a great story!! As a dog owner, I KNOW this reaction.
God is so intimately acquainted with us… but it’s great to see Him demonstrate it now and then.
Too funny about your dog. Mine do the same, and they go nuts if I dance around. 😉
Blessings in 2008 to you, Robin.
Rachel
Rachel, if I start dancing, even just a few moves, Poppet starts barking like crazy and bouncing all around the place. Papillons remind me of Tigger on his pogo-stick tail. Boing, boing, boing. Her shrieking kind of bark pierces the ears, so I usually stop dancing for fear I’ll go deaf in a matter of seconds.
Robin
I can just picture you and Poppet! How cute. I am missing my little dog a lot and think of her when praying. Thanks for sharing your experience.
God is awesome! Great story!