GSU

My parent’s dumb cat Harriet went missing while they were in Florida. Aunt Mary was going over to the house to feed her and make sure she was in at night, but three days in she went over at dusk and there was no sign of H. Harriet would often roam the wooded hills on my parents acreage, but she was all about food so it was very weird for her to miss dinner. Aunt Mary Facebook-messaged me the next night when it had been a full 24 hours of No Cat. She was upset, feeling guilty, and didn’t know whether to tell my parents or not since they were so far away and couldn’t do anything about it. After another day with no H she called them. They were coming home the next day, and I called after they got back to see if the cat had returned. She hadn’t, and my mom was really worried and sad.
Now, no one was under the impression that H was a great cat. My sister and I had picked her out from the shelter three Thanksgivings ago, where she pretended to be super sweet and affectionate. She promptly dropped that act as soon as she got to her new home, disdaining being snuggled or petted, preferring to be out killing cute birds, napping on her own special section of the couch, or running over to her food bowl and meowing loudly for you to feed her every time you went in the kitchen. She wasn’t a people person at all. The only exception was at night when she would snuggle with (only) my mom while they watched T.V. In spite of all this, they wanted her to come home. She was a dud, but she was their dud.

I was going up to a visit the weekend after they got back, and I was looking forward to a depressing weekend, knowing they would still be sad. As I drove their gravelly country road I saw a Missing Cat sign with H’s picture on it, and silently offered up a “God, please bring this stupid cat home so we can have a good weekend!”

As I walked in and set down my bags, I gave my mom and Mike a hug. “Any sign? I just prayed for her to come back!” I said.

My mom shook her head,and Mike was saying he thought a bear may have gotten her. It had been a full week. No one had called in a sighting, and they were quickly losing hope since it seemed less likely she’d return with each passing day.  I stepped inside the kitchen and glanced out the window, where I saw a familiar white and brown hairball picking carefully down the stairs toward the house.

“There she is!” I exclaimed, pointing out to the sunny hill behind the house, eyes wide with excitement. Mike glanced at me sharply. “That’s not funny,” he said reproachfully. “I’m not freaking kidding!” I said, more urgently. I may also not have said freaking, but I was flabbergasted. The timing between my prayer and her reappearance was literally two minutes. They looked, gasped in disbelief, and ran out to bring her in. 

She was thin, dirty, and a bit skittish, but she was otherwise unharmed and of course she ate right away. Mike looked at me with tears in his eyes. ” Is this because of your prayers?”

Yep. God Showed Up, and his timing was perfect.

Prayer:

Please continue to pray for my friend J who has developed masses all along her spine. They are painful and press on her organs. Please pray for God’s miraculous healing and for help with any medical expenses as she doesn’t currently have insurance.