Nobody realized that at
three-and-a-half pounds, the teacup Yorkie was small enough to slip
out of the fenced-in backyard. Set outside with the other dogs while
the visiting family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, her absence wasn't
detected until after the meal. By then the dog had the run of the
Oakland streets and apparently wasn't looking back.
Everybody sprang into action. My
brother-in-law and his relatives piled into cars and began the
search. My sister jumped on an app on her phone that put an alert out
to neighbors, asking for help in finding the pet. Then she fielded
the calls that started to come in and directed those in the cars
according to where the dog had been spotted last as they tried to
piece together the direction in which the pup seemed to be heading.
Dot and Ivan had been
having such a great week with their guests up to that point. Their
house had been filled with people and pets, noise and chaos as the
dogs wrestled with each other and the kids raced from room to room.
Happy sounds, all, of family loving their time together... until this
sudden turn of events threatened to destroy the holiday joy. Worse
yet was the fact that the missing pet belonged to little Brianna,
whose seventh birthday was the next day. The only gift she wanted was
the return of her beloved dog. Dot sent me an email about the
situation, asking us to pray.
I felt the weight of their worry as I read the story. Their panic was
becoming mine as I pleaded their case before God. Gently He reminded
me what prayer is all about – the simple exchange of our problems
for His peace..and truly I began to feel the latter as I laid the
situation at His feet and left it there.
The initial reports were not
encouraging. The dog seemed to be continually running away from the
house The night was cold, the hour was late, and at midnight the
searchers returned home empty-handed to try again in the early hours
of the next morning The family posted pictures of the pet and numbers
to call in the area she had last been seen and started checking
animal shelters in the hope she had been taken to one of those in the
city. We needed a miracle, to be sure.
But even as the neighbors' calls
gradually ceased, God started to check in with sightings of His own.
The first was a quote from Ann Voskampf's book that suddenly popped
in my mind: Thanksgiving precedes the miracle...a reminder
that giving thanks to God in the midst of difficult circumstances is
the way to restored joy, no matter what the outcome. Was it just a
crazy coincidence that the Thanksgiving holiday had preceded our need
for a miracle? Or was it an intended reminder of God's words to us in
Philippians 4:6... “Be anxious for nothing, but in all things,
through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving
, let your requests be made known to God.” Quickly I started
listing the many reasons we had to be thankful despite all that was
going on – the love in the family that searched together for the
dog, the help of the neighbors, the fact that although it was cool
for California, the night wasn't rainy or snowy...and again I felt
the peace promised in the next verse of the Scripture start to
permeate my soul.
The next day I suddenly came across the
name Violet in the current bestseller I was reading! A name that
was popular in years gone by, its use went into decline until a
recent resurgence in the last decade or so. It's still not one you
see or hear on a regular basis. That I did so at this particular time
perhaps was a sign that our particular Violet was still popular with
God, as were the people who loved her, and a reminder that He was
still working on the situation even as we went on to do other things.
Lastly came a story in a Joel Osteen
book about a woman who received a grim cancer diagnosis and was given
little hope for survival. In the midst of all the negativity
surrounding her, somebody gave her a little rock that had the words
“Expect a miracle” inscribed upon it. It immediately sparked hope
inside of her, and she carried that little stone with her wherever
she went, through all her treatments, laying it by her bedside at
night only to take it up again immediately the next morning. Finally
came the day when biopsies were to be performed to determine the
success of the medical procedures. Again she was warned that the
chances for a positive outcome were slim, and not to get her hopes
up. But it was too late for that. While she was still groggy in the
recovery room when the testing was over, a lady in white came in her
room, asked if she was the one expecting a miracle, and handed her a
little plaque that read Miracles happen every day. One could
ascribe her story to a drug-induced vision of some kind, except that
to this day the plaque remains hanging on her wall... and her cancer
is gone.
A miracle by definition is an
extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all know
human or natural powers and is ascribed to a supernatural cause.
Nowhere in that definition do we see the word “rare”. Yet somehow
we've gotten the idea that they don't happen very often. Maybe
that is because we simply don't expect them to.
The idea took hold of me. I decided to
enter December this year determined to see miracles every day. It
seemed a bold test of my faith. Big miracles, little ones, it didn't
matter. I would expect to see God move every day in some miraculous
way. I felt in my soul that the first such miracle would be the safe
return of little Violet. And wouldn't it be wonderful if it happened
on December 1st?
It's important to remember that prayer
is a surrender of a situation to God's sovereign control. There's a
difference between being bold in one's faith and bossing God around.
He delights in the former and doesn't think much of the latter. The
key to unlocking the heart of God in a situation is to repeat back to
Him the promises He's made to us in His Word. It's not that He needs
the reminder; He hasn't forgotten what He said. But we need to
hear them again and again because each repetition builds our faith to
the point that we finally believe the words we are saying. God is then able to act on our belief.
And so December arrived, five long days
after the little animal had been lost. All day long on the first of
the month I waited, but there was no new word from Dot. As I
lay my head on my pillow that night I told God that I still believed
the dog would be found eventually, even if not on my timetable. I had
just drifted off to sleep when my phone buzzed on the nightstand
beside my bed. It was a text message from my sister telling me that
she was on her way to pick up the dog from someone who had called the
number on its tag! People in several different households were
rejoicing that night!
May we likewise be awakened from our
spiritual slumber and take Simeon as our role model this
Christmas...a man the Bible says lived in the prayerful expectancy
of seeing what God had promised him. Told by the Holy Spirit that
he would not die until he saw the promised Messiah, he was at the
Temple the day Mary and Joseph brought their Baby in to fulfill all
the requirements of the Law. Can you imagine the tears of joy
streaming down his weathered face as he held the fulfillment of that
promise in his arms?
Our belief is the only gift we can give
God this holiday season that He can't get from any other source.
Thank Him in advance for doing what's right in your situation,
regardless of the outcome you are hoping for, and just see what
miracle He puts in your arms in return. Brianna's delight as she hugs
her newly-found puppy tight reminds me that God still has a heart for
His kids...especially at Christmas.
“O Lord, You are my
God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done
wonderful things, even purposes planned of old [and fulfilled] in
faithfulness and truth.”
(Isaiah 25:1 AMP)
I love how you've woven so much theology throughout the story of little Violet. Praise...faith...hope...so important, even in the seemingly little things of life. Thank you for sharing this lovely post, Elaine.
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