The desires of YOUR heart!

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalms 37:4

God goodness is just amazing. I want to share something that God did for me this week. Please know that in my sharing this my goal is to bring all the glory to God. He is no respecter of persons and what He does for me He is more than able and willing to do for another. That being said, I am so excited to share this story.

As many of you know, we breed Golden Retrievers as a source of income for me since I'm a mostly stay at home mom. We have to keep the puppies till they are 8 weeks due to our state laws here and by the end of those 8 weeks, I'm telling you, I'm done with poop.  I have 2 children who still need helping wiping, a baby in diapers, and 9 puppies who not only poop but like to run through their poop! I really enjoy having the puppies and the kids love it, but it is lots of work. 

I was feeling a little discouraged because the income generated from this litter that just went home was not being stretched as much as I had planned. We just have some pretty large needs and even with all the puppies sold we still had some things we needed to take care of. I had to remind myself that the puppies were not my source, God and God alone is and He doesn't need the puppies! 

I still want to be the best steward of what God brings into our home. So, I had a plan for all the puppy income. It was all laid out and planned before we even had the puppies all sold.  God showed us when we started this business that it was a means for us not only to make money but to bless others. And again, I'm sharing this not for our own glory but so that the sowing and reaping makes sense. So there have been several times that God has shown us a family or a family has called us who have a need or desire for a puppy, but due to finances are not able to purchase a puppy.  This litter we had a family who had been on our waiting list for serval months and had planned to purchase a puppy from us. The week before we were suppose to have them come out and select their puppy they contacted us to let us know that they just couldn't go through with the purchase. The Dad had been disabled for years and the financial toll it was taking on the family was just a lot.  And even though they had saved up the money for the puppy they knew there would be additional costs and were having a hard time justifying the purchase.

Have you ever had one of those moments that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you are suppose to do? Well, after reading her email I knew that we needed to give her a puppy. My brain didn't like that thought, not that I didn't want to bless her, I just knew that my own family had needs. So I decided to call Ryan and tell him about the situation and what the lady had said to me.  I never told him what God had told me.  He is a very no nonsense kinda guy and I figured he would just say 'ok, just go to the next person on the waiting list'. Well he didn't the minute I told him he said, 'we need to give them the puppy'. 

And at that point I had to make a decision was I going to trust God and obey or do what made sense to my mind. It wasn't just a choice in obedience but also in attitude. I could happily give the puppy trusting that God never asks something of us for us to lose out, He always asks us to give so that He can bless us more.

So, we contacted the family and told them that we'd like to just give them a puppy if that was ok and also we wanted them to have first pick (always give God you're best, not your leftovers). They were completely blown away and were just so thankful. 

Well, we got to known them a little through the past few weeks and they live about 2 hours from us, but because of the puppy we've exchanged lots of email and texts and such. Well it's been my heart's desire to have family picture on the beach, but again it's just an extra thing and often times not something that is high on the priority list due to the cost. Well this lady is starting a photography business and said as a thank you she'd like to take our pictures!!! How cool is God, and the most amazing thing is that was only the beginning. 

We get to meet so many nice and amazing families through this business, it's really a blessing. We met this sweet couple who were just so excited about their new puppy. We actually only even received their phone call because of a flat tire. We were trying to get to church one Sunday and we went to leave and the van had a flat tire. So, Ryan ended  up staying home waiting for AAA and ended up taking a phone call (at a time we normally wouldn't even be home) from this couple. Even getting the phone call was just God working out a bad situation for our good.  They came out and picked their puppy and were just so kind to us and thankful. They picked their puppy and paid full price for it. A couple of days after the deposits were in on all the puppies God showed Ry and I that there was a family that we needed to bless. My flesh's first response was 'how?'. We were already cutting into our profit and we really did have some needs. During this time we found out that our 15 passenger van needed to be replaced, keep in mind we literally had $0 saved toward that. 

But again, we were given an opportunity to sow, and we took it. This time knowing and expecting that God knows what He is doing and He is more than able to figure out what we need. 

Well fast forward a couple weeks and its time for all the puppies to go home. Well that really sweet couple I told you about was coming for their little man. They had requested to come late one night when they got off of work. So, it was the end of the day for me and I was feeling a little tired; the puppies hadn't been sleeping the baby was teething and I was still dealing with lots of poop. So they come in and we were filling out all the paperwork and taking pictures and the lady says that she's going to run out to the car and out the stuff down then come back for the puppy. Well she comes back with a gift bag. Now this isn't completely unusual, sometimes our customers will bring a gift for the puppies parents some bones or a toy. It always blesses us so much. Well, they leave and I open the gift and there were some toys for Mercy and Samson and another package; I pulled the other package out and it was an IPad!!!

I've been wanting one for some time, but again not so much so that I wanted to spend $499 on it. This couple bought me an IPad to thank me for taking care of their puppy! God is so faithful. He cares so much about the desires of our hearts, He just wants us to trust Him. Sometimes that trust takes us out of our comfort zone, sometimes it requires more from us than we THINK we have to give. But He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

My encouragement to you this week is to trust Him at a new level. He is just waiting for you to open up to Him ALL that you have, ALL that you want, and ALL that you don't have. Dream big this week take the limits off of Him. 

I can't tell you how blessed I was by the IPad. I think it blessed me so much cause it wasn't even a need it was just a want. He loves us so much He wants to bless us. I have confidence that He is going to take care of our need for a new van. If He took time to take care of a 'want' like an IPad how much more will He take care of the things we really need? Be excited and expecting His goodness to follow you this week.

Best part, my kids got to see that God cares about everything that they do!! Big or small.

<3 Faythe 

  

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