Thankful Thought - Levi the Dog

Everything in our life is intentional - even Levi the Dog 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine. Hello and welcome to Shine. Today we will have a thankful thought. Um a lot of times I just kind of jump on and wing it. I'm not gonna lie. But there are times that I have moments or I'm guided a little bit more by the Spirit to share something with you. And today I want to uh talk to you a little bit about my son's dog. Now we are dog people, right? We've um I think we have been through four uh laps in our lifetime. Not sure if I can do another one. It's so heartbreaking when uh they pass or they get sick. Um but otherwise our kids all have dogs. Um we have a total of seven granddogs out of our four kids. And my son, I will say, has a very special granddog. Uh my son, he he's an adult. He he has been in the wilderness a little bit. I'm I'm not gonna tell his story, that is, that is his to tell. But he went to the APL last year and picked up this dog. And at first, when he told me, of course, I was like, oh son, there are days you can barely take care of yourself. Um I don't know if this is a good idea. Well, of course, as it turns out, mom was wrong. And this dog has been an incredible light, um, not only for my son, but for the rest of us. And it turns out this dog's name is Levi. And you know me, I get caught up on names. I I feel everything is intentional. And we know that in Hebrew the word Levi means um attached or or joined, right? We know that when Levi was born uh to Leah, he he actually was given that name because Leah was hopeful that her husband Jacob would be somewhat more attached to her. Um, you know, let's face it, Jacob was duped to marry Leah, so we know he didn't necessarily love her, um, but they did have, you know, quite a few sons. So Levi also became the uh origin of the Levites, who we know uh through the uh scripture is one of the twelve tribes and was commissioned to be the ones to really um take care of, um harbor uh the relationship that the Israelites had with God. They were the priests, they were the ones that took care of the holy space, the holy place took care of the offerings and carried the uh ark, which of course carried the presence of God. So this dog, Levi, sorry, I digress, has been an incredible joiner or uniter not only for uh my son who's been walking uh the wilderness for a bit, getting him kind of back and united to the world, but also uh just with our family. He at some point, well now he is staying with us, so we have a total of four dogs in our house. Um so as a result uh we do take him over to my parents' house during the day, kind of like a doggy daycare. Um, and my son will go over there and see him and play with him, and my parents are not dog people, so I was very surprised when they offered to do this. And as a result, let me tell you, this dog has brought so much joy to my parents, but more so they have noted that where before my son may have not spent a whole lot of time there, or sat and and talked and relaxed and you know been comfortable. They have been able to kind of refresh their relationship with their adult grandson, and it has been so beautiful. It has also been so intentional, I know, through God and through the spirit, that whatever happened for for Levi to end up in the APL, and for my son Elijah to see him and seek him and be drawn to him, all of that was purposeful. And I'm so thankful for that intention and that purpose that is always for good because this little Levi has really formed a bridge and helped unite not only my son, hopefully through the wilderness, but also um the relationship that we have with him. So thank you, Spirit. Thank you for Levi. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.