You can listen to this week’s Devotional here
Author: Deborah Voss
And God said, “I will send them without wings, so no one suspects they are Angels”
In our house, it has been a month of loss, when our beloved dog, Jinxy, passed at 15 ½ years. It was a time of trauma when we adopted a sweet 2-year-old male dog from Longmont Humane Society and he turned out to be filled with fear of people and so terrified he jumped our fence immediately and ran wild for 4 days until he was trapped by animal control. It was a time of pain when we had to officially surrender him back to the LHS. We were traumatized and at a standstill, questioning if it was the right time to adopt another sweetheart to fill our house with love. Were we ready, or were we trying to rush into something that it wasn’t the right time for? Questions that we ask so often when we try and fail: Should we try again? Would we fail again? How do we know when the time is right and if the dog is the right dog?
And then came Faith.
For us, having a dog is simply a way of life, a way to love and to feel that love come back to you, unconditionally, every day for years to come. The companionship of someone to play with, exercise with, snuggle with, and simply find joy with — that is truly a God-given gift. And we missed that in our home so much. I remembered a friend who lives in New Mexico and often shares posts from the Espanola Humane Shelter, so I looked them up and there she was – a red healer puppy AND her name was Faith. And it was as if God had answered our prayers and her name was a message just for us. On a Saturday afternoon I called them immediately and said we would be down on Monday (a holiday) to adopt her. We left Boulder after church on Sunday, spent the night in Espanola, and picked her up on Monday afternoon after she had been spayed. We loaded her 5 ½ month old bundle of sweetness into the crate and headed home. She was quiet all the way home and spent her first night with us without any problems.
Her first week was spent getting to know the routine of our preschool; all the parents and children simply fell in love with her. And so on Sunday we brought her and her crate to the toddler room at church and she entranced children, youth, and parents alike with her calm energy and loving demeanor. She lives up to her name, Faith, and has renewed and healed our hearts and filled our home with love. We look forward to what the future holds with Faith and with faith. And we give thanks to God for the Angel they sent us.
