Would God Heal My Pet?

Several weeks ago my wife and and I became the owners of two Goldendoodles, one black and the other gold. About a week after bringing them home, we noticed one evening that the black one (Sophie) was getting pretty sick. White foam started to form around her mouth, and our first initial thought was…rabies! (Even though this is extremely rare) Throughout the course of the night as Janan held her she began having seizures every 45 minutes.

The next morning I drove her to the vet, who was immediately concerned and recommended we drive her to the emergency clinic. The general consensus among both doctors was that Sophie had a liver shunt, a condition that is more common among dogs from a poodle breed. The good news was that it could be fixed by surgery. Bad news? Lots of money.

While on the way to the hospital, at one point I thought she had stopped breathing. It was about this time I remembered the life of my grandfather. He was a man of simple faith, who confidently called on God in all situations. He prayed to God when my father fell headfirst from a hayloft onto a concrete floor and his heart stopped beating. He prayed whenever he needed God to do a miracle in his life, often seeing God bring about extraordinary answers to prayer. Bottom line, he operated by this simple principle, if it matters to us, it matters to God.

Remembering his life, I placed my hand on Sophie and said, “God, you see we care about this dog and right now we don’t have the money needed to make her better, so I ask you to heal her.”

While she continued to be fairly docile from that point, the seizures did not continue. Several hours later the vet took her blood work, prescribed her some antibiotics, and sent us home. The next day he called to let us know that despite their prior estimates, Sophie’s liver and physical condition were in great shape. Fast forward a couple of weeks and she is as healthy as ever!

Now, what is the point of this? If you are not much of an animal lover, you might be tempted to scoff at this and think there are far more important prayers to be prayed. If you aren’t too big in believing the supernatural, you might dismiss this altogether. I get it! But two points to consider:

1. God loves his creation. Just as God sees a sparrow fall to the ground and cares, God cares about each aspect of his creation, even those with no eternal souls.
2. God longs to see our faith increased. When I look back on my childhood, some of my fondest memories are those times when God unquestionably showed up in our family and altered the course of human events. I want my children to have the same experiences. I want them to grow up knowing that God answers their prayers – sometimes in ways they want and other times against their wishes.

Maybe you have a prayer today that might not be large in the eyes of others but is important to you. If so, bring it to God. If you care, he cares.

If it matters to you, it matters to God.