{"id":798292,"date":"2023-02-28T05:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T11:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=798292"},"modified":"2023-02-28T05:01:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T11:01:57","slug":"a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request"},"content":{"rendered":"

After almost 32 years of marriage, my wife and I adopted a rescue dog a couple weeks ago. I grew up with dogs, but Pam has never been around a dog for any length of time. Still, though, we took the plunge after hosting\/fostering this dog for three weekends so he could get acclimated to people in hopes of getting adopted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I asked to host a young, male, active dog\u2014and that\u2019s exactly who we got . . . with emphasis on \u201cactive.\u201d He was high energy and non-stop, but I fell in love with him. He and I hung out together for the weekend, and I did little work. On the day we returned him after the first weekend, my wife cried recurrently. She knew she was going to miss him, but she later told me another, more significant reason she was crying\u2014a reason I\u2019ve not been able to shake: \u201cChuck,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019m also crying because I haven\u2019t seen you so happy and relaxed in a long time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t say it this way, but I suspect she might have also been saying, \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve seen you without a phone or a computer attached to you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The dog adoption actually didn\u2019t work out after the first week, but I learned a lesson nevertheless. You see, I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past (<\/span>see here<\/span><\/a>), but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite what I\u2019ve realized, I know I\u2019ll continue to wrestle with saying \u201cyes\u201d too quickly and relaxing too infrequently. Still, though, I want to slow down, look around, see God\u2019s work, and pay better attention to the gifts of people He has given me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to close my computer more regularly. I want to be okay with doing nothing. I want to rest more in God\u2019s grace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you say a prayer for me today? And, if you face the same issues and want our Church Answers readers to pray for you, let us know by using the \u201ccomments\u201d section below.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After almost 32 years of marriage, my wife and I adopted a rescue dog a couple weeks ago. I grew up with dogs, but Pam has never been around a dog for any length of time. Still, though, we took the plunge after hosting\/fostering this dog for three weekends so he could get acclimated to…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":798294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,195,184,190,175,192,177,191,14796,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-798292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-discipleship","category-family","category-grow","category-how-to","category-lead","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-worship"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Church Answers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chuck Lawless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"headline\":\"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\"},\"wordCount\":420,\"commentCount\":4,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Church Answers\",\"Conflict & People Problems\",\"Discipleship\",\"Family\",\"Grow\",\"How To\",\"Lead\",\"Mind, Body, & Spirit\",\"Monday\/Wednesday Featured\",\"Worship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\",\"name\":\"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/\",\"name\":\"Church Answers\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f\",\"name\":\"Chuck Lawless\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chuck Lawless\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers","description":"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.","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:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers","og_description":"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.","og_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/","og_site_name":"Church Answers","article_published_time":"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chuck Lawless","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chuck Lawless","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/"},"author":{"name":"Chuck Lawless","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"headline":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request","datePublished":"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":4,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png","articleSection":["Church Answers","Conflict & People Problems","Discipleship","Family","Grow","How To","Lead","Mind, Body, & Spirit","Monday\/Wednesday Featured","Worship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/","name":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request | Church Answers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png","datePublished":"2023-02-28T11:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-28T11:01:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f"},"description":"I\u2019m a workaholic. I can get idolatrous about achieving. There\u2019s always more to do, more to accomplish. I don\u2019t relax or rest well. I\u2019ve even written about these issues in the past, but changing this pattern has proven difficult. And, I had grown so accustomed to it that I didn\u2019t even realize it until a dog captured my heart and refused to let me do much but pay attention to him.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Blog-Article-Picture-15.png","width":1200,"height":628},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/a-dog-a-confession-and-a-prayer-request\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Dog, a Confession, and a Prayer Request"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/","name":"Church Answers","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09e294734245d3978e67deffd6991c7f","name":"Chuck Lawless","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b99cf3a5686c69c6ee0fa69473f5a659bee7daaa31ff24217be46675fd10a5bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chuck Lawless"},"description":"Dr. Chuck Lawless is a leading expert in spiritual consultation, discipleship and mentoring. As a former pastor, he understands the challenges ministry presents and works with Church Answers to provide advice and counsel for church leaders.","url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/author\/clawless\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":798293,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798292\/revisions\/798293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}