We did it! Caring Counseling Ministries is operating at our new location, 11264 Illinois 37, Marion. We are settled in and feeling at home. All of us except Molly, Caring Counseling's four-legged therapist. Molly is my pint-size rescue dog I bring to work. Her job is to wander around, accept some petting, wag and lift spirits. She knows she's a star and normally loves her job. Up until we moved.
Our new location is twice the size, and the back door opens to a landscaped half-acre, complete with pond and boat dock. It's a doggy paradise. Her packmates love going over and sniffing for critters. Not Molly. She slinks around with a pathetic look of terror and tries to escape out the front door. Outside the front door is Illinois 37. Inside the agency and the backyard both offer safety and doggy fun, but she's so freaked out she wants to dash into danger.
Molly liked the old routine. She doesn't care how amazing this change is. To her, it's a looming house of terrors, and the backyard holds the lingering scent of things that might want to eat her (geese, raccoons, and maybe even those dreaded dog-eating deer!).
How many of us can relate to Molly? We snuff out our dreams because we fear change. We keep dating someone it doesn't work with because we fear it may be the best we can do. We live in a town we despise because moving terrifies us. We settle for a job we don't love because we are too afraid to go back to school.
God wants more for us, but He won't force us. Over 1 million Israelites left Egypt and headed for the Promised Land. Only two made it in. The rest died in the wilderness, too frightened to take what God had for them. People with a God-breathed promise wandered around the same mountain for 40 years until they died. Their tombstones could have read: Died of unbelief.
As I look at Molly, so frightened of change, I ache for her and may let her retire. I have two more at home that would be happy to take her place. I love bringing her with me, but don't want to force this on her. I believe God is the same way with us. If we are not willing to take dominion and inhabit our promises, there are always others who will (see Esther 4:14). Oh, but think of the adventure you would miss!
Spend some time in prayer. Let God resurrect those anesthetized dreams. Embrace your destiny. If the dream is so big it staggers you, it's probably from God. Go after it, and don't be a Molly!
• CRIS CORZINE-MCCLOSKEY is director of Caring Counseling Ministries, 11264 Illinois 37 in Marion, which provides counseling from a Biblical perspective. For an appointment, call (618) 997-2129.
