We had a big "Clear the Shelter" day at the kitten and cat adoption center I where I help out. It was a nationwide event, hundreds and hundreds of shelters across the USA participated, resulting in tens of thousands of animals finding loving, forever homes. This is so near and dear to my heart and I was so happy to have one of our adult cats get adopted on that Saturday.
Well, that was just the start of the story. It turned into a desperate almost week long search after she got out of her new home after just 2 days. The ladies from my shelter turned out in force. Searching, setting traps, contacting local shelters, vets, rescue groups and colony feeders, posting on social media, getting the word out. I prayed. And I prayed. And I prayed some more. All week long Jesus' words in Matthew 7:7 played over and over in my head. "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. Also brought to my heart was the parable where a man needed bread in the middle of the night for company. He went to his neighbor's house to borrow some. The neighbor was reluctant to open his door, but in an effort to get the man to go away, did so and gave him the bread.* Persistence.
As I was praying again on Friday, I told the Lord, please let me know if my prayers are in vain, if I should stop. There were no sightings of our Mindy. The crew from AASN had been out the night before searching the neighborhood, talking to neighbors, looking in yards, under decks and in sheds....everywhere and anywhere a cat might hide. I thought, perhaps something had happened to her...surely we would have had a spotting or something by now if she was still okay. But I never felt a release to stop praying. And so, my desperate question to the Lord as I drove to work Friday afternoon with heavy hearted pray on my lips. I asked for a definitive sign of release from prayer. And I got it.
Not an hour after I posed this question to the Lord, a text came onto my phone....we had a spotting!! A cat matching Mindy's description had been spotted by one of the local colony feeders! Hallelujah! What a wonderful answer to prayer. Again the ladies went out searching, and again I prayed throughout the night. Saturday morning rolls around, and again a spotting. And this time by a good Samaritan who had a trap. She set it and caught our wayward wandering cat!! She is now back with us happy, safe and sound!! A beautiful ending! But that was only part of it.
Persistent prayer. We don't always see the answers we want right away. My prayers waited over 5 days....sometimes prayers take years to be answered. God does not measure time as we do. He measures faith. Don't give up until you hear or see your answer....that answer may be no. It may not take the form you desire or think it should, and it may not come quickly....but it is never late.
And the other part of the happy ending here, everything happens for a reason, right?.....There were many other cats living outside in that neighborhood that were not spayed or neutered...and the trap/neuter/return team has sprung into action...those cats will be trapped, spayed or neuter. and returned to their colonies and caretakers,...no more kittens being born with no homes to go to....and the kittens already in those colonies? Well, they've come to the start of their journey at All About Spay Neuter...where they will be cared for and loved until they are ready for adoption, ready to find their very own forever families.
God is good. He sees the sparrow that falls to the ground, the cat that gets lost, and the trials and sorrows of His children. Nothing escapes His notice, nothing is outside the love of His heart....that includes each of us and everything that concerns us.
Luke 12:6-7 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
*Luke 11:5-8 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.
Whatever you are praying for, waiting for, be persistent!!
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