by Victoria Heinecke

Grace accepts us as we are but never leaves us there.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

Annie is a rescue dog who lives with my friend Diane.  She was named for the high-spirited title character in Anne of Green Gables. It wasn’t long after adoption that Diane discovered Annie had more behavioral issues than what was originally known. Although she’d had several dogs prior to Annie, she quickly realized training this exuberant pup was going to be a big job.

“The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that … grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5:20,21b New International Version

I saw Annie again a few summers later, and she’d made huge strides in her behavior!  She wanted to jump but knew she shouldn’t. She understood most of her commands and wanted to be a good dog.

One of Annie’s endearing traits comes from her fear of insects. Perhaps she’d upset a nest as a puppy, but when she encounters a bee, she runs into a flower bed to hide.  This photo was taken when she was “hiding” from trouble.

Annie has come so far since she was rescued, and who knows what she’ll be like when she is an old, happy dog?  Her family doesn’t expect her to ever be totally trained, but they don’t love her less because of it.

We’re all like Annie, and Jesus is our rescuer. None of us will ever attain spiritual perfection on this side of Heaven because we live in a fallen world.  But we have a loving Father who trains us with His Word, who corrects us when we go astray, and who never stops loving us, even when we think we’re safe from trouble in a flower bed.