My dog, Her fleas, My revelation

So, it was 9 am..I was about to start my work out. I bend down to put the video in the DVD player. I see a little spec on my foot. I look more closely at it and when I go to swat it away it jumped- that all too familiar quick little jump that I used to see when my childhood cat had fleas. NO WAY. My first thoughts were "I have 3 small children. I don't have time for fleas!" So I go over to our chocolate lab and take a peak around her ears. I see nothing. I move on back to my workout area, pleased that I didn't see any fleas. I get a thought in the back of my head 'Tara, you didn't look to hard now did you?'...then I thought 'Well no, of course not because I don't have time for fleas. I don't want to deal with a flea infestation thank you very much so I'd just prefer to believe that I did not see any fleas. That is all, thank you'.
My whole motivation to work out was heading down the drain at this point. I walk back over to Tanner Reba Bosheeba ( Yes, that's what her name is) But we just call her Tanner. Ok, so I walk back over to Tanner... and I say "Tan Tan, roll over" She rolled over...There it was ...or there THEY were. FLEAS- and more then a few of them. - SO yes, it's been a day of dealing with the issue..it's late at night and I believe it's been dealt with....
As I was rocking my baby to sleep tonight I had a few quiet moments to myself. I thought to myself, how did I not see the fleas before today. My husband had given her a flea bath and he told me there were SO MANY. HOW did we not see them?...How did we not see her scratching? It was as though we were blind to it. Then this thought came to me:

God will take our everyday experiences to teach us something. So I took the flea situation and asked God "are you trying to show me something, or teach me something in all of this?" And this is what He impressed up on my heart:

"You didn't see the fleas because you weren't paying attention to the dog. You were busy with the children and with cleaning and cooking and laundry. You weren't focused on the dog or her surroundings. And just like you weren't paying attention to the dog, you also get so  distracted with the things of the world that  you don't always pay attention to what I'M saying to you. You get so busy 'DOING' that you don't spend enough time just BEING with me, soaking in my presence and LISTENING to me. You need to seek me to know me. You need to pay attention to my voice"

Wow...time to slow down, pay attention. God knows I'm a mom of three young ones! He would never ask me to abandon my children and go lock myself in my room to pray for 3 hours...BUT He would ask me to put my phone down and not spend so much time on Facebook. Hmmmmm...He would never ask me to ignore my responsibility of keeping up with my laundry, but He would ask me to turn the TV off....Hmmmm.  There are some things, I've realized tonight that God may be asking me to bring BALANCE to.... and I'm thankful that my dog did have fleas in a way, or else I would have never asked God that simple question..."What are you trying to teach me?" And I would not have heard Him say- Bring balance.

I stopped...I listened....He spoke....and I heard Him. All I had to do was slow down and focus on Him.

Friends, sometimes we're not hearing from God because the desires of the world blocks out His voice. Sometimes, we're not hearing from Him because we're just not listening to Him- we're not finding that quiet time to ask Him "What would you like to say to my Daddy God". Sometimes we're not hearing from Him because we're afraid of what He'll say, what He'll ask us to do. Let me pray with you...


Lord Jesus, You are good. You are so good. To hear Your voice and to receive your direction is such a blessing in and of itself. When You speak to our hearts, it's for a good reason. When you ask us to do something or NOT do something for that matter it's because you know what's best for us. Lord,I just pray that we can come before you with a quietness and an eagerness and desire to hear from You..not matter what you have to say to us- because what ever it is that you have to say, it is out of love- wether it be a promise that you whisper to our hearts, a vision that you place within us, or even
if it's a request for us to surrender a desire, a dream, a vision...what ever it may be, it's for our good and not for our harm. Lord, speak to our hearts tonight~ Speak what ever it that You want us to hear. Our ears and our hearts are open Lord.. In Jesus name ...Amen