Finding Your Purpose in Life!

I am 49 years old now and will soon be 50. There was a time in life when I was so far away from God that it was a miracle I ever found my way back. I was like little Tuffy in Oklahoma City. I too had "gone missing."

Even though I had strayed away, God was always right there with me...like the Footprints in the Sand story by Mary Stevenson. God is never the one to walk away from us.

I want to tell you how I made my way back, and I hope and pray it can give one of you encouragement, today!

When I was approaching my 40th Birthday, I realized that my life was quite meaningless in the big scheme of things. I was a fairly good person. I had a lot of friends...a loving husband...and yet, something was still missing in my life.

With no children, I hadn't done anything that would help mankind or change the world. I would have no legacy to leave...no proof to even show that I had ever even been here on this earth.

I had become a Master Shopper...redecorated the house several times, and yes...I was just plain bored and feeling empty.

I was watching TV one day (funny...I don't watch TV at all now ) and I saw Billy Graham talking about prayer. He said we should ask God for the "desires of our hearts."

He explained that this is different than just asking for your wants and wishes. This is different than asking for a new red sports car.

We are talking the deepest DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.

My desire was to be someone who mattered...to be someone who could make a difference in the lives of people...and of animals.

I began to pray for the first time in years. At first, I didn't know if Anyone was even hearing me. The more I prayed, the more faith I seemed to have.

I began talking to God as if He was a friend...because He was! I began to talk to him on a first name basis...as in.."Ok God...here's the deal...."

And...God began talking back to me. Not in words from vocal chords...but in ways so absolutely certain...that I knew God was speaking to me...answering my prayers to Him. It was if He was saying, "Ok Robin...tell me the deal. What is it you need? What is it you DESIRE?" The beginning of our prayer relationship lasted about three years.

Soon, I asked God to please show me my purpose in life. I was pretty sure it wasn't just shopping at Miss Jackson's, an upscale shop here in Tulsa.

I began to feel compelled to find my purpose in life. I told God the talents I thought I had at the time, (as if He didn't know the good, the bad and the ugly already!) and asked Him to please show me how to use those talents...when I found my purpose in life.

I told God that I thought I wanted to find a job maybe. I wanted it to involve music somehow. That's where my education was.

I also wanted it to involve one of my great loves...dogs. I wanted it to involve travel and going to interesting places and meeting interesting people! I told God that I wanted to make a difference in the lives of people and of animals.

That's when I also realized that I wanted to tell everyone I met, about the miracle healing power of prayer...about my "talks" with God, and His talks with me. Yes, I wanted that to be a part of this "mystery job" I was asking God to show to me.

Then, something happened that shook my entire inner core. Life as I knew it ended that day. April 19th, 1997, the 2 year anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a bright and crisp spring morning...a Saturday morning. Dale was out mowing the yard, and I had to call a neighbor to go and get him to come to the phone, from where I was at the vet's office....because I was too upset to drive home.

The love of my life dog, my Nicholas..my HEART DOG, my darling baby boy was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Canine Lymphoma moved into my home and took up residence inside of my precious baby's body.

Nicholas' Story

I couldn't believe this was happening. I mean... I had just found my way back to God, and yet...this horrible thing was happening to me. I even asked God to take this dreadful disease from my Nikki and give it to me instead. NOW HOW BRIGHT WAS THAT I ASK YOU??? Thank God sometimes he sometimes answers with a loud and resounding "NO!"

I told God that now I had my hands full trying to treat Nicholas for cancer. I asked God to please put that "Purpose in Life" thing off for a while, because I had to devote 24 hours a day to seeing Nicholas through this...to the end.

13 months later, Dale and I lost our precious little angel spirit...Nicholas. No matter how many times I had prayed for God to heal Nicholas, it just didn't happen. (It didn't happen on this earth, but I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt Nicholas is healed 100% in heaven...where one day I KNOW I will hold him again!)

I even remember asking God if He could possibly know what it was like to lose a child....as Nicholas was the closest thing to a child that I knew. WELL DUH.

Those few days after Nicholas died, I spent so much time in prayer...just talking to my old Friend...God. I told him I was ready now to pursue that "purpose in life" thing again, if He was.

I also knew I had to get another dog for Bear, our cockapoo who is now approaching 15 years old. He had been Nicholas' shadow and now that Nick was gone, Bear would not even eat. Our vet at the time suggested that we try getting another dog..to see if it would make Bear eat....out of competition.

I found an Internet ad on Yahoo. It said "Bichon Frise Male. AKC Registered. (This was back when I thought AKC really meant something!) $75.00. Webb City, Mo.

That's how I found my first Bichon....my Chipper! That's also how I found my first puppy mill, and the reason each and every one of you are reading these words now!:)

Again, I asked God to please put that "Purpose in Life" thing on hold again for now. I had just discovered something called puppy mills and now I had even a bigger fight ahead of me than Nick's cancer. A fight that could take years.

I began to do research on the computer. I discovered the absolute depths of the horrors going on in Mo...and I began to tell anyone who would listen to me. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!! LISTEN TO MEEEEEEEEEEE PLEASEEE!!!!!!

I went to the AOL Bichon Board, and began to scream it from the rafters. HELP! BICHONS AND OTHER SMALL BREEDS LIVING IN AGONY IN MISSOURI! WE CAN'T STAND BY AND NOT TRY TO HELP THEM!

At first, some thought I was one of those Internet nuts that you read about. Soon, people began to listen to me and we formed a small group of Bichon lovers...and went to our first dog auction.

Soon after that, I began sending out newsletters to about 25 people. Within months we had grown to a group of several hundred. Everyone and their dogs tried to stop us...(some other rescuers, many of whom have now joined us!) but we would not be moved.

All during this time, I kept in touch with my old Friend, God, several times a day in prayer. I felt bad asking Him to delay telling me what my purpose in life was, but after all..I was now on a mission. That "purpose in life" stuff was just going to have to wait.

I guess because I am blonde...it took me quite a while to realize that...GOD HAD NOT ONLY SHOWED ME MY PURPOSE IN LIFE TEN FOLD, BUT HE ALSO INCLUDED EACH ONE OF THE DESIRES OF MY HEART.

Losing Nicholas was part of this journey I had so prayed for. If I hadn't lost Nick, I wouldn't have found myself on the steps of one of the worst puppy mills in all of Mo.

He gave all of this to me...someone who had walked so far away from Him that I don't even know how in the world I found my way back. People, if God would grant me the desires of my heart...He will do the same thing for you!

Is it an overnight thing? No. Is it a one prayer and you're done thing? No. Is it worth getting close to God on an up close and personal level? ABSOLUTELY!

Today, right at 6000 of you are "reading Small Paws!" from all 50 states and in 20 foreign countries, including Communist China. Now my days are filled with helping people and animals.

This weekend I will travel to Jacksonville, Florida for the first Small Paws North Florida Bichon Bash. While I am there, I will try to use my musical talents...talents God gave to me as a child...to sing a couple of songs for you! He even lets me sing, in this magnificent obsession of ours.

Because of God's awesome and wonderful gift to me, in the past eight years, Small Paws has made a difference in the lives of thousands of animals and...thousands of people, too. He has made me whole and complete...and what more could any person ever ask?!

Are there trials and tribulations along the way? You betcha! But over all, the sheer joy of doing what I do overflows from every pore of my body, and I can never ever repay this wonderful gift from God. I can never replay God for the friendships I have made. I can never repay God for the NEW FAMILY He gave to me....when I so desired a family.

If you are in a place like I described...what have you got to lose? Ask God to guide you...and to show you your purpose in life. I am willing to believe that it will give you the joy of a lifetime, and you will be a better person for it! All My Love, Robin

Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant you the desires of your heart."

What is Your Desire?

Your desire is what you long for, what or whom you long to be with. Your desire is where your heart is. Your desire is your greatest treasure and will be your reward.

(Matthew 6:21 NKJV) "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

On December 1, 2006, I will share with you how God granted one of the deepest desires of my heart to me, over the course of a one year spiritual and physical journey.