There’s a Blog in That Dog!

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. Psalms 18:19

We fell in love again in January. It was, and it wasn’t a chance meeting. It was because she was picked up by a good Samaritan and taken to the animal rescue shelter in our hometown. It wasn’t because at Thanksgiving, at a beautiful dinner we almost missed, we met a young lady who works at that same animal shelter. We talked dogs…a lot. We expressed our love for Golden Retrievers and our search for another Senior Golden to walk out the remaining years with our ten-year-old Maggie. I gave her my phone number, you know, ‘just in case.’

‘Just in case’ happened at 3:07 pm on January 5th. Our new friend sent a text and a booking photo of an older Golden Retriever brought in late the night before. The good Samaritan said she was running down a busy main road in our hometown. The text read, “Would you like to meet her and maybe foster her until she becomes available for adoption?” Um…let me think about it ( one, two, three seconds later) “Absolutely!” I texted back.

We were told that this good girl was in a separate room from the other inmates since they knew we were coming to look at her. She was kept separately because there was some sickness going through the shelter, and they didn’t want her exposed. She wasn’t chipped, so there was no record of her master. It seemed obvious she had a life at some point that included training, though. She was kind to every person and other animal she encountered.

We walked into the office, and I immediately dropped my purse on a desk and hit the floor. Down on a floor who knows had been mopped last, on eye level with a dog that who knows when she had been bathed last. She came right to me and buried her head into my body, and her tail wags began.

I spoke softly to her while I checked out every part of her bony body, including the ribs practically piercing through her skin and the nails on her feet three times the length they should have been. I felt the many mats in her fur and the layers of dirt as I petted her and told her hello. I smelled the horrific breath from her mouth every time she looked up at me. It was almost like she was thinking, ‘Really? Just like that you take me in”? Yes, girl, just like that, I love you. I was delighted by her immediately.

A few minor paperwork details sent us on our way back to our home with an unexpected, sweet blessing. We stayed on the down low for the rest of the evening as Maggie and this stranger got to know each other a little. But, mostly, the first couple of days and nights, this girl slept. It was like she hadn’t slept in months, and the warmth of the perfectly sized round dog bed on the floor was just too good to pass up.

But she kept her eye on me, woke up, and got up if I moved. So, for her to sleep soundly, I moved her bed to the end of the couch where I was sitting, thinking it would offer her more security. She slept for four hours with her head or foot on my foot. And somehow, she and I both knew she was home.

On Sunday, we went back to the shelter to finalize her adoption. The process took about an hour, and just like that, we were on our way home with the newest member of our pack. That evening, I told my husband that the name Maci kept floating through my brain over the weekend. I decided to look up what it meant. The name Maci may be related to the Hebrew name Matthew, meaning 'gift of God.’ Ok, we’re good! Maci it is.

A vet check on that Monday put us on a path to recovering at least some of Maci’s health from being neglected for so long. We are honored to walk the last few years of her journey with her, and we pray it is THE best walk possible. Everyday.

Our Maci has settled in and is learning her pack members' routines. He gives the best and longest scratches, she feeds us and takes us on our walks, and the older sister can be tons of fun as long as I stay in my lane. She wags her tail non-stop, and even though she has some inconvenient consequences from the world she came from, she manages to wag that thing every day, and each time she sees one of us come into her vision. I told my husband she is so wonderfully quirky, "there’s a blog in that dog!”

Maci now walks with fierce but kind confidence I’ve rarely seen in a golden. It’s almost like she knows she’s been rescued from death, and this life thing is a pretty happy place. To be sure though, she still sticks pretty close to my side, both day and night. She’s a hilarious mix of love and joy and happiness. With the lessening of the fear from a past that becomes increasingly distant with every present day, we’re watching her transform before our eyes.

Like Maci, I was exhausted from my prodigal journey over twenty years ago. I came home covered in filth and stench, and yet the very God of all there is got down on my filthy life floor that hadn’t been mopped in a long while. And when He did, I pressed into his body and blood and was overwhelmed by his love. He spoke softly to me as He told me, “Welcome home.”  ‘Really? Just like you take me in”? I cried. "Yes, girl, just like that, I love you.” And I slept soundly for the first time in years knowing with all my past, He still delighted in me.

I have some consequences from the world I came from. I stay close to Him both day and night.  But I walk with confidence I’ve never known before. I walk as the daughter of a King and the servant of my rescuer. Every time He comes into my vision, I smile with gratitude. And I am eternally grateful. Me and Maci, we get it. Do you?

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