Meet Annie. Annie is a White German Shepherd/Australian Cattle Dog mix. She was found pregnant and abandoned on the streets of a North Dakota town a few months ago. That’s a picture of her in the shelter. She is now part of our family, and we’re thrilled to have her with us.
Our previous dog, Sasha, passed away over a year ago. It was time to expand our family again, but this time we wanted to get a rescue dog. While Sasha was a puppy from friends of our family and certainly not a puppy mill dog, we wanted to help more. Along came Annie, who stole our hearts. However, there are some challenges adopting a rescue dog. The most formidable are the emotional and psychological scars they may have.
Annie is very sweet, but follows you everywhere, most likely out of a fear of being abandoned again. She startles at loud noises and takes quite a while to trust new people. She loves being petted and having tummy rubs. Nevertheless, if you reach out too quickly to pet her, she cringes in fear.
Annie is broken. So are you and I.
We are all broken and have our emotional scars in one way or another. One of my favorite quotes is, “we’re all broken, some of us just show the cracks sooner than others.” That person who seems to have it all together is broken at some level. We may have a family that looks perfect to others, but the reality is that we have plenty of challenges you will never see or know about. We are all broken at some level and have the scars to prove it. The good news is that we are also rescues.
We have been rescued from the pain of abandonment: we have been adopted. All our scars, hurts, and fears will slowly fade away with the love that now envelops us. God does not care about our past mistakes. It’s a new day. We don’t need to cringe from others who reach out to us in love, or have fear of being abandoned again. We are in our forever family.
As we move into 2021, we may be facing some hesitancy or uncertainty. But let’s not forget our eternal adoption. Though we were spiritual orphans, found wandering through the streets of life, our future is now secure. In the coming year, may we all learn more fully what it means that we’ve been adopted and that our future has truly changed. Our future is in God’s hands.
Blessings for 2021,
Mark Jorritsma
President and Executive Director