The other day I had my carpets cleaned – a very scary thing for a cat. The machine was very loud, so in fear my cat Skinny ran out of the house and down the storm drain.
It had been a few hours since I had seen her, so I went to search for her. As I came to the storm drain, I heard her meow; there she was! Somehow, she had squeezed herself through a small railing and fell down about 9 feet – into the pit of the storm drain. There was no way for her to get out except with my help.
Being quite concerned, I ran to tell the maintenance man what happened, and we lifted the manhole cover to get her out. Well, she became more frightened and ran into the small hole, went down under the street and disappeared.
With no way to get her out, I knew she’d have to come out herself.
For many hours I called her. For a while I could hear her, then I no longer could hear her meows. Just when I thought it was bad, it got worse! It started to rain; and as the hours went by, my worry turned to panic for my precious cat.
I was calling for her continually! In searching and checking the drain pipes down the hill, I only heard gushing water from the rain.
As I was talking to God about the bleak situation, I felt my usual range of emotions that I go through during times of difficulty. I felt ANGER: “How could you do this to me? Why would you take my precious cat in such a horrible way? Why do you take everything I love away from me? You must not love me!”
Through all these thoughts, I tried so hard to focus. I wanted more than anything to trust God and to believe He could bring her back to me.
In my emotional state, the Lord started speaking to my heart. He was making little comments like, “Well, Annette, when you get scared or angry, you hide from Me too! You pull away from Me, and you go deeper into the storm drains. I’m like you, standing by the manhole calling for you, worried about you, wanting to hold you, clean you up and bring you to safety. But just like you with your cat Skinny, I cannot force you to come out of your hiding place. You have to come to Me!”
I then realized how worried He gets when, just as I hadn’t heard a meow from Skinny for a while, He feels the same way when I don’t speak to Him.
Well, I told God, “I understand what you’re saying to me and that it IS some pretty good stuff You are teaching me.” Unfortunately, I was still disappointed in Him because my cat was still gone.
Finally I broke down, and my tears poured out to the Lord; my hope was almost gone. I surrendered and gave the situation over to Him. I decided to trust that He knows best about things that I don’t always understand.
I went back to the storm drain after giving it over to the Lord; and with little hope, I called for her again. Then, I heard her “meow!”
My heart leaped with joy; I began jumping up and down and praising God!
So, of course I went down into the 9-foot disgusting, wet storm drain pit to wait for Skinny, just as I knew the Lord would do for me. I was hoping she would trust me enough to come to me so that I could hold her again and bring her back to safety.
As I was sitting crouched down in the dark wet pit, waiting to save my precious cat, I began to realize how WORTH it this was, being down there with the bugs and the muck – anything to save my cat!
Then the Lord allowed me to see that He felt that I was so WORTH it too! He sent His only Son to die on the Cross for me because He wanted to save me. Jesus left heaven to suffer and die and then to spend three days in the heart of the earth before He was resurrected. He did this for me!
Then I understood as my cat came out and I held her tightly in my arms…that God had answered my prayer! Not just the one about giving me my cat back. But, in a VERY REAL way He showed me just how much HE loves me.
For all I would do for my little cat, nothing could compare to what my Father has done for me.
Lord, now I know how much You really do love me!