This little dog, well, puppy, has stolen my heart!  Bandit, as he is known, was given to me for my birthday last month.  He is a tiny little pup and won’t get much bigger.  I have wanted a small lap dog for a while now and Bandit is just perfect.  He fills the void left by our Buddy that we lost in February.  He is so much company when Andy is working late.

Bandit also has helped me by keeping me moving.  Pups move a lot more than I remember.  He loves to be outside even though he is an indoor dog.  When we are outside, he explores more than he walks.  I find that as I walk slower and look around on these walks I am more aware of the beauty of God’s creation all around me.

It also gives me time to talk with God.  It’s amazing how in the quietness of morning or night and even some afternoons I can hear God’s still small voice and I know His presence not only on the inside but on the outside.  I see God’s majesty in the beauty of the changing of the seasons or the time of the day!  It may be the sun shining bright or the fog so close it feels as if I could touch it and sometimes the moon and the stars just take my breath away.  What a wonderful world God has given us to enjoy!

It’s at those times that I just overflow with prayers of thanksgiving for so many blessings.  GOD IS SO GOOD!  No matter what is going on in my world, these outdoor times take me to a world of wonder and thanksgiving.  These are the times when I don’t just know in my heart that God is in control but I see proof positive all around me that God is in control and there is peace in my soul.

Psalm 46:10   New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 95   New American Standard Bible (NASB) 

O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving,
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
³ For the Lord is a great God
And a great King above all gods,
⁴ In whose hand are the depths of the earth,
The peaks of the mountains are His also.
⁵ The sea is His, for it was He who made it,
And His hands formed the dry land.