I believe God speaks to us in ways we can understand. We have his written Word, the Bible, and we have his sweet Holy Spirit, who occupies the mind and heart of every believer with counsel, comfort, and truth. These are God’s basic tools of communication to his children. But he also allows circumstances, people, and yes, even creatures to cross our paths and give us living demonstrations of what he wants us to know. In my life, he used an orphaned dog to speak to my heart many wonderful truths about grace.

She came into our lives on a cold February day—a black Lab puppy abandoned at a park where my husband regularly jogged. When my husband jogged by where she was playing, she ran out and nipped at his heels. Knowing the night was going to be frigid and having a tender heart toward helpless creatures, he brought her home. We tried to find a home for her, but I can honestly say I didn’t try too hard because when our eyes met, we bonded. So when it looked as if the puppy was going to join our family, I decided to give her a name that would be consistent with our other dog. (It’s a girl thing, you know, to match up the names!)

Our other dog’s name was Mercy. She was an elderly poodle who was very self-possessed and had already relegated me to persona non grata. Mercy had her favorites, and trust me, I wasn’t one of them. Any stranger who came to the house got more attention than I did. Mercy was set in her ways and didn’t care what anyone thought, least of all me!

Wanting to have a little redemptive reasoning in the naming of the new puppy, I thought, Why not call her Grace? I had great hopes that her name would fit her far better than “Mercy” suited our little Tasmanian devil in the poodle suit! We would have Mercy and Grace—it was perfect. And so our lives together began. There were lessons we learned from Grace that only could have been taught through an animal who had no idea she was a living demonstration of greater truths.

It was soon apparent that Grace was going to be a very big girl, so I enrolled her in a training class. The first night, I realized that the other twenty-five dogs in our group were pedigreed! Yep, Grace and I were the only strays in this class. We felt the haughtiness in the gaze of the other dogs and owners, but that was OK. Grace and I had each other, and we had a goal. We passed the first week’s lesson—sit. She mastered that with brilliance. The second week was stay. Again, she wowed me and I can only assume the other owners with her quick completion of the instructions. We were on a roll! I was proud of her, and I think she probably was very proud of herself.

The third week of dog training classes came, and Grace and I were ready. Whatever the instructor threw at us, we knew we could handle it. Not only was she to sit and stay, but she was to do so while I walked away from her. All the other dogs were sitting and staying with great intensity—until Grace lost sight of me. She just couldn’t stand it. She broke out of her stay command and ran to find me. When she did, the twenty-five other pedigreed dogs took their cue from her, the wayward stray. Owners, dogs, leashes, and instructor were all in upheaval. The circle was broken, the dogs were awry, and I thought, Oh no, what has happened here!

At that moment, I looked down and saw my Grace, sitting at my feet in perfect form. She had found me, and she was sitting and staying. All she had wanted was me. Despite the barking chaos around us, I leaned down and whispered in Grace’s ear, “Good girl.” She had found me and had no intention of leaving my side. That was all I wanted from her.

Later, I thought of all the times I messed up in something I was supposed to be learning, and yet God drew me up close to himself and said, Good girl. Stay close to me, and we will work it all out. That really is a picture of grace. Grace is not earned, nor is it anything we can do for ourselves. It is solely based on the heart of the Father, who always seeks his own.

God isn’t looking for the pedigreed who have no need. He is looking for the confused and lost who could never make it without him.

I love this scripture that speaks of God’s heart full of grace demonstrated in his son, Jesus:

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” (Luke 15:1–7 NLT)

God loves you just the way you are, and he will spare no effort to find you and get you home safely. That is his pure and wonderful grace!