{"id":12,"date":"2009-07-02T10:17:12","date_gmt":"2009-07-02T10:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html"},"modified":"2009-07-02T10:17:12","modified_gmt":"2009-07-02T10:17:12","slug":"never-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html","title":{"rendered":"Never Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">My two dogs, Belle and Tink only differ in weight by five pounds but in Bichon terms that can mean a world of difference. Belle, who is five years old, weighs fourteen pounds and Tink who is three, weighs nine. The most noticeable difference is that Tink can squeeze her body through the fence in our back yard and take off round the lake whereas Belle, with all the will in the world hasn&#8217;t a hope. Most of the time I put Tink on a long tether so that she has freedom to run around the yard but not lead me on a merry dance in front of our neighbors while I am still in my pajamas. But one morning recently I let the girls out and before I had time to hook Tink to her leash of grace, she took off! I called the little monkey&#8217;s name and Belle barked and barked but Tink was free and she intended to be fully present in every moment. I opened the gate and ran after her, making sure that Belle was safe in the yard. Tink would let me get to within a couple of feet of her and then she would dance off again. Finally she tired of the game and let me pick her up. I find it very difficult to even fake being cross with Tink as she is adorable but I gave it my best shot as I&#8217;m afraid one of these days she&#8217;ll get out and run into the road. Well, whatever she received from me did not prepare her for what was about to happen when I returned her to the safety of the house. Belle just lit into her. I watched this mini-melodrama unfold as Belle barked and barked at her and then proceeded to drag Tink into a corner by her ear. Once she had a totally captive audience she let Tink have the whole speech. When Belle was finished, Tink got up and with her tail wagging at turbo speed, gave Belle a kiss.<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span><\/span>I thought a lot about that encounter. Even though it seemed extreme to me, Tink received it in the spirit that she felt it &#8211; love. Belle is protective of Tink and gets very anxious when she is not able to watch over her. <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span><\/span>You and I have a heavenly Father who never takes his eyes off us and no matter where we find ourselves, we are never out of his loving care. Even when we squeeze into tight spots, he is there, able to reach us, loving us all the time. The psalmist David put it this way,<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#000000\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>&#8220;Where can I go from Your Spirit?<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>Or where can I flee from Your presence?<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>If I ascend into heaven, You <i>are <\/i>there;<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>If I make my bed in hell, behold, You <i>are there.<\/i><\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><i><span>&nbsp;If <\/span><\/i><span>I take the wings of the morning,<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><i><span>And <\/span><\/i><span>dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\"><span>Even there Your hand shall lead me,<\/span><span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">And Your right hand shall hold me.&#8221;<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">Psalm 139:7-10 (NKJV)<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#000000\">&nbsp;<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font color=\"#000000\"><font face=\"Times New Roman\">I pray that you know that today, you are loved, you are loved,<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span><font face=\"Times New Roman\" color=\"#000000\">you are loved!<\/font><\/span><span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My two dogs, Belle and Tink only differ in weight by five pounds but in Bichon terms that can mean a world of difference. Belle, who is five years old, weighs fourteen pounds and Tink who is three, weighs nine. The most noticeable difference is that Tink can squeeze her body through the fence in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comfort","category-gods-love"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Never Alone - Honestly with Sheila Walsh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Never Alone - Honestly with Sheila Walsh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My two dogs, Belle and Tink only differ in weight by five pounds but in Bichon terms that can mean a world of difference. Belle, who is five years old, weighs fourteen pounds and Tink who is three, weighs nine. The most noticeable difference is that Tink can squeeze her body through the fence in&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Honestly with Sheila Walsh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-02T10:17:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sheila Walsh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Never Alone - Honestly with Sheila Walsh","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Never Alone - Honestly with Sheila Walsh","og_description":"My two dogs, Belle and Tink only differ in weight by five pounds but in Bichon terms that can mean a world of difference. Belle, who is five years old, weighs fourteen pounds and Tink who is three, weighs nine. The most noticeable difference is that Tink can squeeze her body through the fence in&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html","og_site_name":"Honestly with Sheila Walsh","article_published_time":"2009-07-02T10:17:12+00:00","author":"Sheila Walsh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html","name":"Never Alone - Honestly with Sheila Walsh","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-07-02T10:17:12+00:00","dateModified":"2009-07-02T10:17:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/#\/schema\/person\/64c9f574716146dd7a871c481050388c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/2009\/07\/never-alone.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Never Alone"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/","name":"Honestly with Sheila Walsh","description":"Honestly with Sheila Walsh","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/#\/schema\/person\/64c9f574716146dd7a871c481050388c","name":"Sheila Walsh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/3f8\/3f8c0858419fa3b9c86d206f7443111bx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/honestly-with-sheila-walsh\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/3f8\/3f8c0858419fa3b9c86d206f7443111bx96.jpg","caption":"Sheila Walsh"},"description":"Sheila Walsh is a powerful inspirational communicator and a unique combination of author, speaker, worship leader, television talk show host, and Bible teacher. Sheila is a featured speaker with America's largest women's conference, Women of Faith, with more than 4 million women in attendance. Her unique speaking style combines honesty, vulnerability and humor rooted in her passion for God's Word. Author of the best-selling memoir \"Honestly\" and the Gold Medallion Award nominee \"The Heartache No One Sees,\" Sheila's newest book \"Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know\" releases in 2009 and is a book tailor-made for the times we live in. \"Gigi, God's Little Princess,\" Sheila's line of books and videos for little girls won the National Retailer's Choice Award in 2006. Sheila co-hosted television's \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The 700 Club\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and her own talk show \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Heart to Heart with Sheila Walsh\u00e2\u20ac\u009d on the Family Channel. Sheila is currently working on completing her Masters in Theology degree. She lives in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, Barry, son, Christian, and two little white dogs, Belle and Tink. 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