Sweet Old Jack

So my husband and I have two dogs.   A 3 year old Boxer Lab mix,
(Boxadore...or boxadorable as I like to say) named Maggie, and a sweet, 10 year old Beagle named Jackson.    Jack has been with me for a long time.   Before I met my husband, he was the man in my life.    He kept me company on lonely nights, has been with me through many tears, and many triumphs and continues to be a sweet part of our family.   Over the last year or so, he has been having a series of health issues, The newest of which has been his hips.    Hip Dysplasia I believe is the term.    We switched his food and that helped for a short time but then during the cold months of winter he began to become less and less active.  Struggling to walk,  eating less, never wanting to play.  Disinterested in anything but sleep.  Over the course of just a few days, it got so bad that one evening he began to shake and pant heavily. Worried I began to plan for a trip to the vet....as awful as it sounds, dreading it because I knew what they would probably say.   That it was the end of the rope for my little buddy.   My husband did some research and read that sometimes aspirin can help dogs with arthritis and hip pain, so we gave him some in hopes that it would ease some of his discomfort.    To our surprise, it seemed to help.   We decided to give it a few days and see if he would recover at all, I bought some joint vitamins to try and I prayed.    I prayed for healing for Jack, and comfort for us.   I prayed that God would restore his little body somehow.     

Well I don't know if it's the weather, the vitamins, or a miracle, but just a few weeks later he is almost completely back to his old self.   He even played with me in ways he has not wanted to play in a few years.  Like his youth has been restored.    Running, barking, chewing on his toys....almost like a puppy.   He even played with our 3 year old dog....which he has never done before.       I was pondering this and thanking the Lord, and I heard the Lord very clearly say to me "I can breath new life back into old dreams, I can restore what you may think is lost."    I sat in my chair, looking at Jack, tears in my eyes thinking about those dreams I have had for so many years.    The ones spoken and the ones unspoken.   in awe that the Lord would use something so simple yet so tangible to me to remind me of this truth.    

I think of the story in the Bible, you may already know the one, where God promises Abraham, a 99 year old man, that He would make him extremely fruitful.  That his descendants would become many nations.   Sarah was 90.   90....let's just let that sink in for a minute.   If I were Sarah, I would have long assumed my dream of a giving birth was gone.   She was many years past the age of childbearing, and calls herself a "worn-out women".  The scripture even tells us that she laughs at the visitors who come in Genesis chapter 18, to tell them that the following year she will give birth to a boy.  
How many times have I done that?   Thought things like, "oh it's to late for that", "My time has come and gone for this to possible" "It's been so long I'm sure it's no longer God's plan for me"
There are instances when the dreams I have for my life change as I grow, mature, and become closer to the Lord.   And there are those dreams, the ones that I have already seen the Lord bring to fruition in my life.   But then there are those dreams...the ones so much a part of me that I know only the Lord could have put them there.   The ones I can remember feeling even as a child.   That I have yet to see come to light.   The ones that seem so far away that they are growing more and more impossible.    I believe God is speaking to those dreams.    They are not forgotten.   They are not forsaken.   They are there for a reason and He can breath new life into them.

We serve a God who is faithful.    A God who does not go back on His promises.  
Just like Abraham and Sarah, who were given a baby boy, a miraculous child that fulfilled His promise in His perfect timing.    He is our loving Father and He knows what we need before we even ask.    And He has shown us throughout scripture that He will not fail.   Maybe He is waiting on us to ask for a breath of new life.