inspiration
Transparent Moments breakthrough insights with Anita Carman
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liever for help was a lack of faith and that we should instead pray for the Holy Spirit to help someone discern our need. I went to the Bible to ask God to show me if it was more spiritual to remain silent with our needs or if it’s equally biblical to ask for what we need. God brought to my mind Matt. 12:2-4 where Jesus instructed the disciples and said, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This Bible story taught me that God might instruct us to pray for a need to be met or instruct us to go and ask for help as a test of our humility and obedience. God does not always have to work the same way. How God leads us in one season may not be the way He chooses to lead us in another. We all are in training like Prince, and can too easily disobey. Let’s continue to seek God’s voice and follow it no matter what kind of distractions or temptations we find along our path. Anita Carman is the Founder and President of Inspire Women, an organization that inspires women across ethnicities, denominations, and economic levels to discover God’s purpose. It also funds biblical resources and scholarships to train women for missions and ministry. She has an MBA and completed graduate level studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Anita is the author of Transforming for a Purpose and A Daughter’s Destiny. She lives in Houston, Tex., with her husband. They have two sons.
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just between us S P R I N G 2 0 2 0
Lessons from my Canine Friend My dog Prince is a French sheep dog who when full grown will be over one hundred pounds. I never imagined when I started to work with a dog trainer that God would use this time to grow my maturity as a leader. Here are three lessons I learned from training Prince that have resonated with me. 1. Live to Please Your Master. When a dog sits on command, he may be sitting on the outside but standing on the inside. When Prince sits in a lazy way, he is slouched over with one of his legs relaxed and extended beyond the frame of his body. A true sit is when he sits in an erect way with both back legs tucked in under his body like a soldier who is standing at attention. A true sit is also when he’s not looking around but looking for my eyes. When he looks around it means he’s looking for a way to escape and is not truly obedient. An obedient dog looks for my eyes to get his cues from me. He lives to please the master. What a lesson this was to me as I assessed my own life, where I am the servant and Jesus is my Lord and Master. Can I truly look into the eyes of Jesus and know that I am doing exactly what He has instructed me to do? Can I be confident that I am earnestly obeying Him, and not merely going through the motions?
2. Obey Even When God Seems Distant. The trainer began with the sit command while he was standing right next to Prince. Then he put Prince in the sit position while moving away from him, beginning with being five feet away, then ten feet, then twenty feet. The idea was to teach Prince that sit meant sit, and he was expected to sit in that position, even when the trainer walked away from him. Again, I found myself thinking about whether I stay where my Lord and Master has planted me or get restless when God’s voice seems distant. Do I release myself and then find myself wandering around aimlessly because I have disconnected myself from what I last heard God say? 3. Listen for the Master’s Voice. The trainer intentionally invited those around the dogs he trained to put temptations in front of the dogs. For example, he invited those around him to call their dog’s name to show how the dog will not respond to anyone else’s voice. He invited some to put treats in the dog’s line of sight to illustrate how the dog obeyed the command to “come” no matter what temptations were put in his path. This live demonstration of what it meant to obey the Master’s voice was a warning to me on how easily we can stop following God’s voice while listening to the many voices around us. I was reminded to return to the Bible as my foundation. For e x a mp l e , I re c a l l a t i m e when someone was trying to persuade me that asking another be-
