Annabelle and the Turtle

     One day I glanced out of my breakfast window and saw our Boxer, Annabelle, trying to get something in the grass. I went out to take a closer look. It was a turtle. The turtle was about six or seven inches long. Some of its shell was missing and it was bleeding in its back.

Annabelle was all too interested in this wounded turtle. I picked up the turtle and found a box in the garage. I put the turtle in the box, then brought it inside to get a better look at its situation. Its hard shell was definitely missing in one spot exposing soft tissue and organs. I washed the wound to get the trash out, and left the turtle to get used to the box and surroundings.

About thirty minutes later, I came back to check on the little turtle. It had finally opened its shell and stuck its head out. The turtle realized that it was in an enclosure, and it began to crawl around all the sides to see if it could get out. I just watched.  The turtle would go to a corner and crawl and crawl – going nowhere.

Well, I talk to all of the critters and creatures at our house, and this one was no exception. I told the little turtle that I knew it hated the box, but I put it in the box  for its safety – not to be mean. Of course the turtle did not understand this, but I kept talking to it anyway. I explained that our dog, Annabelle, was highly interested in him and that he needed a safe place to rest and heal with the wounds that he had sustained.

As these words come from my mouth, I realized this is exactly what God does for us. We get ourselves in a real jam, a very bad situation; we find ourselves wounded, bleeding and missing our covering. God gently picks us up and lifts us out of the mess that we are in, and puts us in a safe protected box with walls. These walls are for keeping harm out.  They are not walls for keeping us boxed in.

God keeps us in this protected place because He is good, not because He wants to capture us and keep us hostage. I put the turtle in the box to keep harm from coming to it while it was in a vulnerable, wounded state. How many times has God put a “protective” wall around you only to be mistaken as “cornering” you or putting you “in a box?”

God is a good God.  So many times His intentions for us are misconstrued to be those that would hurt us in some way or just keep us from being “happy.”  God wants to protect us from the life that the devil repeatedly tries to give us.

satan’s design and strategy in his war against us is to draw or entice us out of our place of covering, safety, or protection in order to expose us.  We are then in a vulnerable position.  God, however, wants to “cover us with His feathers” Ps 91:1, and give us refuge “under His wing” Ps 91:4.

God wants to help us.  He wants to lead and guide us.  He wants to be a father to us and provide for us.  He wants to communicate with us.  God is FOR us and not against us.  Everything that God has ever done has been FOR mankind.  He wants us to be His children, and He wants us to love Him in return.  He wants our love, worship, and devotion.  However, He wants it willingly and not that of a dictator  demanding it.

It is incredible at the number of things that God gets blamed for.  He gets blamed for the weather, whether it is too rainy, too hot or too dry.  He especially gets blamed for all of the natural disasters – hurricanes, tornadoes, earth quakes, wild fires, and floods!   He gets blamed for those dying with incurable diseases, and all the starving people in the world.

When disaster hits our life, usually the first question asked is, “God, why did you do this to me?’  We automatically assume that God surely must be to blame since He can control things.  After all, we must blame someone, and He is as good as anyone.  I know from talking to different ones going through difficulties that it is easy to get bitter and angry at God for the bad things that happen.  However, this is the wrong approach and it will get you absolutely nowhere!

About three months after I had my heart surgery, I had someone say to me,”I’ll bet you have asked God many times why this happened to you.”  In truth I really had not asked that at all.  I knew better than to blame God and get mad at Him because I understood one primary principle:  God is a Good God.  I knew God was answering my prayer concerning my health even though I did not relish the answer.

When you truly understand how much God loves you, enough to give His only son to die for you, you know He is good.  When you see the magnitude of His creation and see how big He is, you can only be humbled at His greatness!  When you grasp the fact that He has a good plan to prosper you and not harm you, then you will not fear where He is taking you.  Instead, you will trust Him to make something beautiful out of the ashes of your life.

If we can see the principle that God is a good God, then we can begin to trust Him in all situations in our lives, knowing that He will do us good and not harm.

How do you respond to problems in your life?  Do you withdraw in your private shell?

Do you hide or run from the problem?

Do you blame God for the situation you are in?

Just because something looks bad for us does not necessarily mean it is so.  Laura Story’s song entitled “Blessings” conveys this concept beautifully.

What if our blessings come through raindrops

What if our healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights is what it takes to know you’re near

What if trials in this life, the pain, the storms, the darkest nights are your

blessings in disguise 

     When you are faced with problems in your life, make sure that you have as one of your foundational beliefs – God is a good God.

the “rest of the story”

      Many thanks to the not one, not two, but three turtles who posed for the pictures in this week’s blog.   At the beginning of the week, I saw a turtle from my bedroom window.  He was cruising across the lawn.  It just so happened that I had decided to do this week’s blog on the turtle story.  Last Sunday morning, Michael, my husband came in the bedroom saying, “Sabrina, get up!  You have got to come and see this!”  A different turtle had crawled across the concrete pool deck, up the keystone ramp, across a wooden plank deck, through the propped-open glass door, into my tiled porch, and was headed to the french door when Michael passed and glanced outside.  We thought that was pretty remarkable.  However, on Monday morning, my son and I were walking through the living room and I happened to glance at the french doors.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  A smaller (junior) turtle was over by my plant!  A turtle on my porch two days in a row.   In case you think this is a normal occasion, in the 23 years that a we have lived here, this is the only time we have seen turtles on our porch!  Just how coincidental do you think this is?  Three turtles in one week – the week I am doing a story on turtles!!

This story was taken from the book that I am currently writing.

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