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Topic: Pets (09/13/04)
TITLE: Buttercup By Ann Marie Lindenmeyer 09/17/04 |
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God shows us signs and imprints the Spirit upon our hearts. If we are open enough to see these signs, they are there. During a very angry, depressing portion of my life, I saw these signs. God spoke to me in a way that I didn't quite understand at that time.
My heart had turned away from God. I was facing too many struggles and my mind was in total chaos. Suicidal feelings were engulfing my thoughts. It was a difficult portion of my life and I was in the dark; no prayer, no hope, only darkness. When I would become too angry to deal with the pain, I would leave my home, drive away in my car with distorted thoughts filling my head.
A miracle seemed to happen every time I was just about over the edge. An orange tabby cat would run across the road just far enough ahead of me for my eyes to take notice. It would interrupt my thoughts enough to calm my nerves and I would slow down.
I began to see it as a God-given moment. It was His way of getting my attention when my mind was filled with thoughts far from Him. I finally realized that these instances were not just coincidences, but perfectly planned by Him. The one that really shocked me was when I was about 30 miles from home traveling down a very busy street. My mind was overloaded with negative thoughts of my life, and sure enough, an orange tabby darted across the road. I praised God and smiled at that moment for my head was cleared.
While these instances were occurring, we had a stray orange tabby cat beginning to appear around our neighborhood. We began feeding and caring for him. The colder season of winter was fast approaching and we decided to adopt him into our family. My son named him Buttercup.
Buttercup became very special to me. He reminded me so often that God was with me even when I would turn away or get lost in worldly ways.
Buttercup had a short stay in my life, but an important one as he left his footprints scattered across my heart. Since then I have moved, and so did Buttercup. Orange tabby cats are still in my life. God never ceases to amaze me. He knows that these cats attract my attention and strategically places them in my life. I look back and see them placed in my life before I even came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. It was planned by Him.
When I see these cats, I am comforted and it reminds me that God is with me. I know I am on the right path and need to continue to give my life to Him. What an amazing God, I am so very blessed.