I was laughing pretty hard a LOT this particular day in the photo – which was a really good thing considering all that had transpired over the previous few months where I had been doing nothing but crying. Nothing earth shattering to most but to me it was life changing. I’m going to share with you in a couple of posts, about speaking life – over ourselves and our dogs! and
Okay this is going to be loooonggg so grab a cup of coffee, tea, coffee replacement whatev, pull up a chair and hang with me…if you like or just look at the photos lol. I’m baring my soul and it isn’t easy at all for me to do – I’d rather share something funny and make you all laugh. That’s far more fun!
Today though, something real and transparent (she said while sweating nervously).
Let me give you the Cliff Note version so we aren’t here all day. My dog King needed a CCL brace (equivalent of the ACL
braces for knee tears in humans) for the same reason people need them, back in late February of this year. This was the 2nd time he needed help with this as he’d never fully recovered from the previous tear a couple of years earlier when I opted for NO SURGERY (nope no way) but definitely natural support. Yep. I’m not one to go for the surgery for these – they’re a nightmare and I know how they often turn out needing the other knee repaired. I wrote about all of this already here on the blog so I won’t repeat here -you can go read the three posts I’ve written King’s CCL tear below:
https://www.aspenbloompetcare.com/2018/03/ccl-tears-in-dogs-our-personal-journey-pt-1/
https://www.aspenbloompetcare.com/2018/03/ccl-tears-in-dogs-our-personal-journey-pt-2/
https://www.aspenbloompetcare.com/2018/05/dog-ace-brace-natural-recovery/
Almost immediately following that we needed a new dryer. Nothing earth shattering just a lot more dollars out of pocket!
Then comes the part that nearly broke me down: we closed our online animal naturopathy school in April. Not because we didn’t have students and many more who wanted to take our coursework the longer we were open. Not because we didn’t have awesome students (sure there were some difficult people along the way but that is just life). We had some of the most amazing students graduate and some will still graduate since we left our doors open to them to complete their coursework (just quit taking new enrollments) until May of next year.
Before this, when my dog Meshach my Great Dane died (we had him put down at the tender age of 15 months due to ongoing cluster grand mal seizures in 2012), that was a major breaking point for me. I wanted to quit everything then. I couldn’t save my own dog. How could I help others with theirs?
Do you all see a pattern here yet? We closed our school not because of students or lack thereof, none of that. It was us – we just could not/would not reconcile our differences. Just like some marriages or relationships. Same thing. Just could not and would not. We were on the same page with health and wellness but not on running a business. At all. Still aren’t.
So what does this photo have to do with anything? What does ANY of this have to do with anything – keep reading and I’ll tell ya or just go look at the photos and hopefully get a smile lol.
Let me detour briefly again – I recently completed Sarah Harnisch’s 2nd GamePlan (her awesome book) Bootcamp. During it she said that her IDENTITY isn’t and can’t be in her business, in what she writes, in what she does – it must be and IS in Jesus. Yep.
And then I knew what had been happening with me. I’ve read the Bible daily for 27 years. I’ve read a couple of books on Identity in Christ. I’ve listened to pastors who have mastered this, Dan Mohler and Todd White (find them on YouTube). A LOT. Like a lot for over two years. Daily in fact – hours upon hours. I have prayed, and cried and wrestled with God in all of this but the fact remains I was finding my identity in what I do. Then feeling as if the failure to save my dog Meshach or help my dog King sooner, or grow and keep our school going defined me. Of staying at the same rank in an MLM I’m in rather than ranking up. Because I was finding my identity in those things rather than in Him!
I knew that God was growing and teaching me all along the way but I wasn’t receiving it, wasn’t living as though I knew it. He kept saying HE is my identity. He loves me. He is the prize! He is the goal! I kept thinking I had to achieve and do and be something else in order to be approved by Him. By you. By my family. By my friends. By even my clients and students.
So this photo represents the me that is learning to let it all go and not allow my failures or seeming failures define me
anymore. The photos were at a Convention this past summer and I have to say that was one of the best days I have lived through all year long. Hanging with my amazing friends Breanne Altherr and Wendy Lovas – this guy at iTovi kept making me laugh (I was getting the button for my friend Charlene Clark Chambers). FINALLY getting to meet and have a THREE HOUR lunch with my friend Thomas Sandberg in a beautiful mountain setting. Having dinner with more friends in another mountain setting. And LAUGHING. Just being the weird, silly, animal girl me. Not defined by a title, a profession, a rank, an income, none of that. Simply being the me God made me to be all along.
The reason for sharing this? To hopefully encourage any of you who are feeling less than, playing the comparison game, thinking what you do is what defines you, thinking about the coulda, woulda, shoulda rather than just being YOU. The amazing, fearfully and wonderfully created, excellent YOU. And finding your identity in the only One Who will grow you into the REAL you, Jesus. Not striving, just BEING who you already ARE! Speak LIFE over yourselves AND your dogs (I’ll share more on that in the next post).
Thank you if you made it this far. If you think everything is peachy perfect now – think again lol. We will need a new AC for next year’s hot season and a new hot water heater this year. But God is good, He has already made provision for both. It is just life on planet earth. And other things that are part and parcel in this life.
New things have come and are coming…. but I’ll share those another time. For now, I just want to encourage each of you to just be who you ARE. And know that is enough. You are enough. You are worthy. You are special just the way you are. Just the way He made you. He LOVES you!! 💖💖💖
In His love….until next time….
Have a pawsitively, tail waggin’, NATUROPATHICALLY healthy day!
Photo Attributions: Copyright 2018, All Rights Reserved, Dr. Kim Bloomer.
Kim Bloomer, V.N.D., N.D. is an animal naturopath as well as being certified in small animal nutrition, with years of experience in animal wellness. Dr. Kim is a published author, writer, and blogger. Subscribe to her DOGgone Newsletter for updates or to her blog via email. Copyright ©2005-2024 Aspenbloom Pet Care, Dr. Kim Bloomer, All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Author/Publisher. This article is intended to be educational. However, it is not intended to be a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a qualified animal health professional. Dr. Kim Bloomer and Aspenbloom Pet Care, do not assume any legal responsibility for misuse of the products discussed in this article. The only essential oils referenced on this website are Young Living.
