In the Care of God

Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. Matthew 6:26

Yesterday morning my 18 year old “grand”cat passed away. He was my daughter’s, but after she got married him and his brother who died a few years back stayed with me. He loved just laying around outside, watching the birds and sunning himself. We had a love/hate relationship because he loved trying to claw at my furniture and walk on my counters, apparently only when I was home. It was a battle even up to Tuesday. But he also loved to curl up alongside me on the loveseat in the evening.

But yesterday morning instead of him wrapping himself around my legs in the morning I found him laying motionless on the loveseat but when the dogs came in he slowly got up and jumped on the bed and never got off. When I pet him he would purr quietly as I would let him know he was a good boy. But as time went on his breathing became labored and he would shake from time to time. That’s when I thought of this verse and knelt down by the bed and prayed that the Lord who created him and gave him breath would please release him from the bonds of this world. He not only was created by God, but also cared for by Him and I knew He didn’t want him to suffer. It wasn’t long after and He took His last breath.

Now think about it, God cared enough to answer my prayer for a cat, not just because He didn’t want the cat to suffer, but He also was concerned about me and how watching him struggle was hurting my heart. I couldn’t help but thank Him for His loving kindness. We should remember this whenever we are going through a time of pain, crisis and even confusion, that He sees and hears us and our hearts cry! We surely have an Abba whose love for us knows no bounds.