I had just come home from morning service at church when I noticed that the dog had made a mess. She had gotten into the garbage and pulled out some stuff that no one would really wanted to clean up. And to make it worse, this was not the first time she had done this. So, I pointed to the mess and said sternly to my dog, “What is this?” She immediately looked at me and put her tail between her legs and drooped her head acting real sorrowful. I decided as I walked into my bedroom and sat down that since this was not the first time she had done this that she should have to wait and suffer being bad for a while before I was going to forgive her and let her be a good dog again.

At this moment, the Lord spoke to me loud and clear, “Don’t you not forgive that dog!”

I should have been surprised that God was speaking to me about my dog, but I was more upset at what she had done, AGAIN, and was not interested in forgiving her at that moment. So, I responded to the Lord, “But God, she made a mess.”

The Lord replied, “Don’t you not forgive that dog!”

Again, I was not happy with this situation. Couldn’t God see that she had again gotten into the garbage for like the fiftieth time and she needed to be taught a lesson. I replied, “But God.”

The Lord interrupted me, “She has come to you sorrowful, repentant and asking for forgiveness, don’t you not forgive her.”

At this point, I should have, I should have listened to the Lord, but I didn’t and burst out almost in anger and said, “But she made a big mess again for like the fiftieth time, she needs to be punished.”

And then the Lord said something to me that hit me to the very core. He said, “The next time you mess up and come to me all sorrowful and repentant and asking for forgiveness, would you like me to not forgive you so you can be taught a lesson?”

Well, that did it for me. With some tears forming in my eyes, I replied, “No sir!”

God added, “Now, don’t you not forgive that dog.”

Immediately, I called her up on the bed and asked her if she was sorry. She licked my cheek, which is what we have established as her saying she was sorry, and then I told her she was a good puppy again and forgave her.

What struck me about this was how much God was serious about forgiveness and how no matter how many times we come to him having fallen, stumbled, and sinned again for even the fiftieth time, he will always forgive us. And he calls us to do the same.

Ever since the car accident, my right knee had been hurting. In fact, it would hurt so bad at times that I could barely walk on it. Because of this, I visited the doctor and he believed it was cartilage damage and there was some pills (actually natural) that I could take to elevate the pain and sort of lubricate my knee joint. I got those pills but they really were not helping much and I was just living in pain and coupled with the lack of ability to bend my leg very far.

So, when I arrived at the church on Tuesday night and Pastor Chuck asked me to help move the podium, which would require being on my knees, I was hesitant to say the least. However, I did not say anything and just decided to be obedient to the need that had arisen and suffer through the pain.

There were four of us set to move the podium as I got down on my knees. It hurt, but I just did my best to push that to the back of my mind as I focused on moving the podium. We needed to slide the podium and due to the Plexiglas the podium had to be moved from the base and nowhere else or it might break. And I for one did not want to tell my pastor I broke his podium because I was too lazy to follow instructions. The podium moved slowly across the floor as I pushed on my knee. Suddenly there was a loud pop coupled with a large pain followed by two smaller pops and corresponding pain. Honestly, I figured that it could not have been much worse even though it hurt because as it was there was days I could barely walk.

We finished moving the podium and I stood up ready for the shock, and shocked I was. There was no pain. Let me say that again, there was no pain. I went from great pain and discomfort to no pain. Here is the funny part, as much as I wanted to believe that I was healed, I didn’t say anything for fear that my knee might have been in shock and that later I would feel the pain. Well, I went through the night and the whole next day without pain. It was then that I discovered that I had back my full range of motion on my knee. I was so excited that I just about leapt in the air (but I didn’t because I did that once playing touch football and tore ligaments in the very same knee, but I wanted to jump).

Now, I could have told Pastor Chuck how I was feeling and I am certain that he would have excused me from moving the podium (I know this because he started to yell at me when I was testifying that I didn’t say something, but eventually was praising right along with me). But then would have been healed Tuesday night? I could have wound up missing my healing by bowing out of the service that was needed of me at that moment in time. It makes me wonder how many other blessings we might miss because we don’t jump in and help when asked or when we see the obvious need.

One thing is for sure, I am healed and very excited about it.