So I didn’t go to church today. I woke up with some nausea that might mean a migraine was coming but that wasn’t the reason I didn’t go. I sat and prayed beforehand and I felt like I was being directed back to bed. I wanted to argue because I don’t like using my migraines as an excuse to not do things, especially church, but God reminded me that He’s in charge of the migraines and is trustworthy. I went back to bed.
When I awoke, I took my dogs on their well anticipated walk and listened to the missed Grace sermon given by Pastor Logan McAdams.
I picked a rock on the path as he tied in his words with the message last week. What is it I am holding onto instead of trusting it to God? I’d been thinking about this but wasn’t landing anywhere.
Logan went on. He talked about the beauty of the Hebrew poetry in Genesis 1. He talked about how God was calling us to define ourselves by His image instead of by what we do. How resting is a part of God’s calling as He, Himself, did on the seventh day.
By this point, I was feeling pretty validated for staying home to rest but God wasn’t done. The rock thing still eluded me. It didn’t seem like the migraines fit.
I had to pause the sermon when one of the dogs, the 2nd most reliable, disappeared. It made me retrace my many steps back down the path. This always irritates me. The dog was nowhere to be seen and I was beginning to panic at the thought of the trouble he was getting us into now. Feeling powerless, I turned to prayer.
“You are good, Lord. You gave him to me and You’ve got him in Your plan for me. I trust him to You and relinquish my angst. Help me in my unbelief.”
Abruptly, Usko the dog, his name means faith, appeared and began to trot the long way back by my side. Walking by faith if you will…
I restarted the sermon: Logan continued. Rest means trusting in God’s provision. I smiled at this theme of my day.
God’s Word tells us that He needs us, me, to know that He has accomplished an end to our striving to earn our worth. As we learn to rest, to pause and focus on Him, we remember it is He Who will care for us because it’s what He does. We no longer need to work to earn love. We can now work because we are loved.
Our culture is saying we are only as good as what we can produce, like an obedient dog? I looked at the rock in my clenched fist of a hand as Logan continued.
Aha! These rocks symbolize what we cling to in our own power rather than giving it to God. And when we don’t give to God that which we believe relies on our own strivings, that thing will keep us from living out of the rest secured for us. It also makes us unable to take hold of what God has for us.
It seems clear that my dogs are on top of my rocky list. I put so much pressure on myself to achieve well behaved dogs and I fail every day in one dog way or another. What if I approached each walk with open hands in anticipation of His glory instead of walking in fear that my best effort will not be good enough?
Logan finished by citing the great commission in Matthew 28. If you follow Jesus, your job is to go. If there are things keeping you from going, (on dog walks?) and Logan suggests there may be more than one ( several dogs), it is time to give them up to God.
God wants to work in and through me to make His name and rest known among the nations, even among dog naysayers.
When we approach Him with open hands free of rocks, He gives us more of Himself and His goodness. Oh the wonders He could do and does! He even uses and, I dare say, specializes in, using the relative commonplace like a lost, disobedient dog named Faith.
Becoming open-handed and rock less,
Anne
Sunday, November 9, 2025
Dog is after all, God spelled backwards!
Week 2 https://graceaz.subspla.sh/n9k4j3z
For Pastor Logan McAdam’s sermon
Tripping with God: Stories of Faith and Inspiration 