The guilt was too much to bear. It was acim at me on all sides, so heavy that I couldn’t breathe; it consumed me until finally I crumbled onto the floor with my hands on my tear stained face. What was that wailing sound? Oh, it was me. The pain and guilt was so overwhelming that it forced itself out of me like the sirens of the fire trucks that were speeding to the scene several blocks away.
Three hours earlier I had been home to our apartment to take care of our dog, Ajah. I was in a hurry, and my attitude towards her was less than loving. We don’t have any kids, so Ajah is like a child to us, but on this particular day I didn’t have time for her dilly dallying, nor did I take the time to hug her and tell her I loved her. I neglected to cherish her, and now it was too late. As my husband called to tell me that the flames were coming out of our third floor windows, I sensed that Ajah was gone and I would never see her again.
In the middle of my pain, I remembered a quote that I had seen that morning at my chiropractor’s office – “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” So, with a shaky voice and trembling body, I began to thank God for letting me have Ajah for seven years. I poured my heart out to him telling him I would miss her but that his plans are always best and I trusted him. (I forgot that I had cried out to him in my car as I saw the flames, begging him to watch over Ajah and save her because I couldn’t.)
By the end of the night, my husband and I had lost our home and a part of our family. Or so we thought…
Why am I sharing this with you? Well, for one thing, every single one of us needs encouragement in our lives. Most of us don’t get enough of it. I strongly believe that the painful trials I have overcome in my life are not for my benefit alone. They are also for you.
I’ve done all of those…on several occasions. All I know is this…God hears our prayers. He’s waiting to answer them, even if you feel completely abandoned. Sadly, many of us forget to include God in our daily lives, or ask him for anything at all. I know I went through years of forgetting to ask God for help, but after seeing so many miracles over the last twenty-four months that’s no longer the case. I’ve learned to ask God for everything – big and small!
The entire story of how God worked in our lives in the midst of a devastating fire is one that is far too extensive for a newsletter – it’s a book in the making. I will tell you this though. By midnight that evening, we received a call from the Red Cross that they had found Ajah, and she was alive! The picture above is a moment I will cherish forever – it’s the moment I saw our “Miracle Dog” and held her in my arms again. Our little ten pound shih Tzu had survived being in a fire for six hours, and though she was panicked, worried, and stressed out, she had no injuries and no health problems – God had saved her! He heard my prayer even when I was so emotional that I didn’t remember praying it.
God is real; miracles happen every day. You were designed for a purpose, and God is waiting to partner with you so you can live out your destiny complete wholeness of that purpose. My question to you is this…what are you asking Him for?
