Perhaps you remember a certain chocolate puppy we thought we would keep for our eight-year-old son last spring. Well, we realized we needed to expand the lineage of our little home business, raising chocolate and silver labs. We decided instead to purchase a chocolate female for Caleb out of a Washington program that had earned a good name.

We were excited. We asked for the puppy to have a vet visit before coming home. The night before she was to arrive, we learned this precious pup had Giardia. Treatable, but not an easy cure. Through consultation with our vet and a mentor, we decided it sounded doable. We simply needed to place Chipples in quarantine, give her some medicine and daily cleansing until she got over this—two to three weeks. We could do that. We’d be on puppy duty anyway with Truffles’ litter of ten.

Wow, we did not know what we were getting into. It was weeks and weeks of keeping her isolated, carrying her to an outside pen, and sterilizing everything she contacted, careful she touched nothing else. While Caleb and I continued our purifying regime with Chipples each morning, Bethany cared for Truffles and her litter of ten upstairs. This process took an hour and fifteen minutes on a good day.

When Chipples passed the 35 lb. mark, I prayed as I hefted her outside, “I can’t do this much longer, Lord. Could you shorten this process, please? I don’t want to wander or get swallowed by this trial. You’ve entrusted us with this to find Your grace and show Your glory. Help us do that well.”

By mid-August all the puppies went to their new homes. We retested Chipples and found she still had Giardia. Who would possibly take over for us when we went on vacation? By God’s grace some friends stepped in. She received one more round of medicine and a lot of love. We returned to immaculately clean conditions and ongoing Giardia. Lord, please, school is about to start. Help us get past this trial.

Then one Sunday morning the phone rang. It was the vet’s office. “Chipples tested negative.”

“You mean…no Giardia?”

“That’s right.”

It was three months to the day.

I stood stunned. I hung up and gave a jubilant Hurray! and repeated the long-desired message to the family. Their faces showed the same for-real? look as mine probably had. Bethany raced for the door, saying, “I’m going to tell Caleb!”

“Oh, no you’re not!” I ran after her, chuckling. “I’ve waited for this moment…let’s go together!”

We all ran to where Caleb was playing with her in the outside kennel.

“How would you like to run  with her?” I asked from across the yard.

“Chipples?” he questioned. “In the yard?”

“Yes!” I beamed, getting closer now. “I just got a phone call. She’s all clear.”

“Really?” His eyes searched mine.

“REALLY!”

His face brightened and he cheered, loud enough you’d think it would have scared her—but then again Chipples thrived on all his boyish impulsiveness, even if their play times had been confined to a 72-inch square. She’d learned to trust him.

He opened the kennel door and invited her out. She lifted one paw toward the new territory, but set it back down. She stared at the ground, then looked up at Caleb. “Go ahead, girl.”

With new courage she stepped over the threshold into the gravel. “Good girl!” And she was off, rocketing into the grass, back and forth, legs stretched then bunched then stretched in air like a race horse, and we were the track she circled. We laughed big billowing laughs, affirming her joy. She leapt a set-free sort of leap that brought tears to my eyes, reminding me of Malachi 4:2 where God says, “But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall.”

Chipples, set free of Giardia, would change our world.

A deep remembrance settled over me of God’s people in the Old Testament. They’d been warned and reminded how to serve God, then severely disciplined, and eventually promised they would be set free like calves let out of the stall. This was the promise of the Messiah, the One who would free them from heavy yokes of bondage to sin.

Do you see the gate open for you? I want to encourage you to step out and connect with the Restorer of your soul. Not sure how? Ask Him. We can come to Him just as we are—willing or even struggling to be willing. Come to Jesus for soul rest. He frees us of the weights that hinder joy and keep us trapped.

Like Chipples, we may be timid of new territory, but oh, the joy that follows!

Prayer:

God, You created our hearts to be filled with You. We can crave the oddest, most unhelpful things sometimes. Help us to listen to You, to let You free us and fill us with Your joy. Amen.