Five days ago, we did one of the hardest things we ever had to do—we had to say good-bye to Grace, our 15-year-old border collie. “Grace, you lived up to your name and you were the best gift we ever had delivered to our doorstep. One special day we will be together again.” Until then, here is Grace’s special story, taken from our book, “Loving God, Loving Myself.” I (Denise) was prompted recently by a close friend to write the story of Grace. It is not the story of God’s grace, but of the little black-and-white bundle of a border collie that showed up on our doorstep twelve years ago. Jerry and I were not looking for an addition to our family of “just the two of us.” Losing our Sheltie the p
I (Denise) had a brilliant idea one day to have a greeting card rack right outside our counseling office. The display would only have cards for mothers and fathers, whether for birthdays, anniversaries, or the holidays. One of the assignments we would give each client would be to pick out a card for their mom and for their dad and bring it into the counseling office to share during their session. If you were picking out a card, what would it say? “I’ve always looked up to you.” “You were always there for me—you guided me and supported me.” “Thanks for showing me what a great marriage looks like.” ”I am the person I am today because of you.” (Either that’s a good thing or you have some unreso
