When my husband and I began dating, we took his mom’s dog to the vet. In the waiting room, we paged through a book of dog breeds. I was struck by a photo of a magnificent dog - an Old English Sheepdog. I remember turning to him, “If I ever get a dog, I’m getting an Old English Sheepdog!” 25 years later, we’ve never had a dog and the thought was tucked away in my heart and forgotten until I recently found a lost sheepdog roaming around my neighborhood. I parked, and she was standing in the road, staring back at me. Adorable and fluffy! I called her, and with a smile on her face she galloped to me, as though we were old friends. My love for this unique breed was reignited. We found her family an hour later, and she’d won us over. I’m blessed to say I’m now a proud dog mom of our own Old English Sheepdog, Charlie. He is the fluffiest ball of energy, and we adore him. With puppies, comes training. It’s a big job to train a puppy to be obedient. With the topic of obedience fresh on my mind, I began to think of the obedience of faith. Obedience has always been a challenging concept to me. My natural bend has always been to “do it my way” until I learned to set aside pride, and surrender my will to God. In obedience, I have found blessings. Obedience changed my life forever when plans for a pleasant day at a museum got turned upside down. I had not seen my Dad in 10 years, and had planned a trip out of state to visit with him. We were going to spend the day at an antique auto museum, as he loves old cars. I did not know that 3 months out of the year, they are randomly closed. I was so disappointed! Where else could we go for a nice outing? My Dad said, “well, we can go see your cousin in the hospital” he told me she had tried to take her own life. I remember thinking, would she even want to see me, given the sensitivity of the circumstance? I was nervous about it. But my Dad suggested we visit with her and pray for her, and I felt that it was the right thing to do. He and I said a quick prayer before entering her room that the Lord would help. Words can’t convey what took place in that hospital room - God moved in a mighty, powerful way as we all held hands and prayed! Before we left, my cousin’s mom stopped me and asked if I would call her in a couple days to check in on her. A couple days later, I was back on the highway heading home to Minnesota. The Lord began stirring my heart to call her. And then my “what if” thinking started. What if she doesn’t want to talk to me? What if I say the wrong thing? What if I make matters worse? I stood at a crossroads - I sensed God calling me to call and minister to her - but fear was holding me back. It was a pivotal moment, and I had to either keep driving and let fear win or get off the highway and make the phone call. I chose to be obedient, and prayed for Jesus to help me. I made the call, and my cousin poured her heart out, and we talked, she cried, and we prayed. Jesus was moving us both. As I prepared to write this column, I asked her about the experience we’d shared during this difficult time in her life, as we have continued to stay in contact. She told me something touched her heart that day in the hospital room, and things in her life began to turn around, and her thoughts on life have changed. Being a part of her faith journey has been such a huge inspiration and blessing to me, and it all came to me through a few simple acts of obedience, and choosing to trust God with the heavy lifting.