I know, my God, that you test the heart, and are pleased with integrity.

1 Chronicles 29:17a

Summer was coming and we’d just purchased some new patio furniture.  Putting it together was a real chore so we were very preoccupied with our task, but Sheba was underfoot, as if wanting to help.  It didn’t matter how many times we tried to distract or relocate her, there she was again—right in our way.  Trying once again to get her out of the way, we put her in the big cardboard box that the furniture had been packaged in.  To be honest, we did it partly just to see what she would do, and it sure didn’t take very long to find out!  She started scratching away at that cardboard and before we could even run and grab the camera, her head poked through, and then her whole body wriggled right out to freedom.  A circus clown couldn’t have managed a funnier escape act.

Does God ever take pleasure in watching how resourceful I am in overcoming the obstacles in my life?  When I manage to break out of a confining attitude, belief, or action does he laugh like we did when Sheba escaped her box?  I like to imagine him pointing me out to the angels, proud Father that he is, saying, “Look at her—that’s my girl.  Did you notice how well she did that?”