An Early Christmas Gift

Gifts come in all shapes and sizes, some are even covered with fur...

 

Lola and her litter mates were born on the farm after I took 2 very pregnant mommy cats (a mom and her daughter) into the rescue a week before they gave birth. If I didn't take in the moms the babes would be born on the streets so I felt I had no choice but to bring the moms home and make them as comfortable as I could. 

Long story short, soon after both moms gave birth 1 of them disappeared in the building they were staying in.  I would see her come and go and nurse her babies then she appeared to stop interacting with her kittens and the other mom took over care of all the kittens.

I knew 1 mom could not take care of 2 litters so I pulled 2 of the smaller kittens and began bottle feeding them.  Before too long, and after getting used to the bottle, they were both purring and interacting with me as I became their new "mom".

A few weeks later Lola, one of the little girls I was bottle feeding, became lethargic and refused to eat.  I took her to the local vet and they said she either had a very large heart murmur or a condition called PDA--a life threatening heart condition.  The vet prescribed Lasix, which improved Lola's problem tremendously and I took her home.

A week later, after spending almost 3 full days and nights with Lola (with neither of us sleeping much), we were in the vet's office in the middle of the night again.  This time she was gasping for air and the vet told me if she survived this incident I should take her to a specialist for further care.

The next morning my friend, Mary Ann, drove Lola and I to MedVet in Columbus.  I prayed continually for the little 9-week-old kitten as she was literally gasping for air almost the entire trip. Miraculously, God got us there safely with Lola breathing on her own.

Once Lola was stabilized with the use of oxygen, the emergency room doctor spoke with us.  He wanted to run tests to diagnose Lola's condition so he could give us an idea of what we were dealing with.  Testing would be expensive as would any life saving procedure and, I barely had enough funds to support the cats in our rescue. How could I justify spending so much on 1 little kitten--1 little kitten that had completely stolen my heart?

I cried and prayed and asked God what I should do.  I asked my friend what to do, I called my husband and pleaded with him to say yes to whatever needed to be done to save Lola. He could not tell me no and said, "If you don't do this you will never forget it and always regret it.  We will find a way to pay for it."

Then in the midst of all the tears and agonizing questions came the calm, quiet voice of God speaking to my heart telling me it was going to be OK.  I felt Him say, "Go ahead, let Lola have the surgery. Give me the chance to show you how much I love and care for you. See how I will provide for this need as I do all your others."  

At that moment I knew Lola would have her surgery and I told Mary Ann several times that day that I felt peaceful about helping Lola and that I knew God was going to take care of the finances in a "supernatural way".

It made no sense to go ahead--create more bills (and stress) when the checkbook said one thing and God said another. But I am learning when God speaks to me about something, even though it makes no earthly sense at all, I must listen and obey.

Because that's when God works best...when our narrow earthly vision sees no way out.  When the end result could not have been accomplished by sheer will or sweat or in any other way we humans try so hard and fail at.

Though Lola's surgery was a full 6 months ago (and I have been paying her bill slowly down) I did not write about it until today.  Why now?  Because I just received a phone call from MedVet telling me someone I have never met has paid Lola's full vet bill off.

I cried for a full hour after I got that call and am still crying now as I write this because the quite simple (yet profoundly complex) reality of God's faithfulness quite simply overwhelms me.

His faithfulness; I sing about it in church, I read about it in the Bible but today, I felt it in my heart because God cares enough to explain it to me in "my language"--a little fur covered gift named Lola.

Pictured above: Lola just before surgery in her oxygen box and Lola recently "climbing" a tree as "mom" closely supervises.

 

Shepherdess Blog December 20, 2013  

Jackie Deems Copyright 2013