Catch With A Puppy

I have always liked dogs.  My dad has always liked dogs.  So, at various holidays or when I wanted to just let my dad know I was thinking of him, I would get him something with a dog in it or on it - a calendar, a stuffed animal, a picture - anything that related to dogs.  On my way driving to Pennsylvania in May, I found out my dad was in the hospital with cancer and the prognosis wasn't looking good.  So, before going to see him, I stopped by the gift shop to get him something.  And there it was - a cute stuffed puppy with floppy ears.  When I went to the room, I was almost in shock in what I saw.  The man who was my rock growing up now lay there very frail, but as I approached his bedside, his eyes lit up.  Then I handed him the puppy and he smiled, squeezed it and put it right next to him in the bed. 

My dad and I were always close growing up.  You could say I was a daddy's girl.  We just had this way of relating and didn't necessarily have to say a word.  I remember when we lived in New York, he would run in Central Park and I always wanted to go with him.  He told me it was long and didn't want me to get tired, but I would go.  We would be gone for hours.  Sometimes talking about the future, and sometimes not saying a word.  No matter what, he always encouraged me to be myself. 

Back to the puppy.  My dad was getting more frail even in the 5 days I spent with him.  One day he surprisingly grabbed the stuffed puppy and threw it at me in the hospital room.  I threw it back.  We then had a catch with the stuffed puppy.  Yep, right there in the hospital room.  The nurses walked by and were smiling and joking with us.  It must have been a funny sight.  As it turned out, those were some of his last surges of energy in this lifetime and the last time I would see him. Once again, we connected.  He was hardly talking at this point and the vim and vigor that I remember as a little girl was gone.  But, as always, we related and connected to each other without saying much - just smiling and laughing!

I can imagine his mansion in heaven: there must be puppies all over the place!  What a time he must be having! And what another sweet memory I have of the man who was always saying to me growing up:  Ellen, just be yourself.  Just like he was himself.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.  (Psalm 16:11)

Friends...This is Gonna Be Good!

Here we go!  So, it's been on my heart to start a blog.  Why "Wonderfully You?"  Why not?  We serve a wonderful God, who made a wonderful you!  "Yes, but Ellen, you haven't seen me when I first wake up in the morning or when the kids have just thrown up all over me or when I am covered in Clorox from cleaning up the latest mess!  I really don't feel so wonderful then and I surely don't look it!"  I like to think God smiles at us during those times and still sees us as beautiful, precious women.  The Bible tells me that He has loved us with an everlasting love.  Doesn't that include the sleepy eyed one looking back at you in the mirror each morning? 

But I think so many times we measure ourselves by our shortcomings, when God is rejoicing at our successes and looking at the destiny He placed in each one of us.  He knows our end from our beginning.  Be it a project, a ministry, a business, any goal - we look at it from the beginning stages, but God is looking at it from the end back to the beginning. 

In Genesis, after God made the heavens, the earth, the animals, the stars and us, He saw that it was good!  We need to know that we know that we know that!  God doesn't make junk!  We need to have the confidence and reassurance in that! 

I have ten very dear nieces and one dear nephew who are so precious to me.  I am constantly telling them how cute they are, pretty they are, handsome they are, loveable they are.  One day, after telling one of my nieces that she was so cute, she boldly took no time to respond: "I know".  As I chuckled at her confidence, I said, "How do you know?" and her response was "Because you just told me!"  DUH!!!  As if I didn't know!  But did you know that God has ALREADY told you how precious you are to Him; how beautiful, how handsome, how wonderful, and awesome you are?  Sometimes we may need to be reminded, but once we really get it, we can boldly answer, like my niece did, "I know!"  I know who and whose I am.  And once we get that settled in our heart, all I can say is: lookout because that confidence will take you further in God that you dared to dream!  Friends. stay tuned, because this is gonna be good!