Even in the midst of being angry and feeling abandoned by God, I knew in my head that the truth was that God did love me, does care for me, does have a good plan for my life, and following Him is worth any adversity that comes my way. So I continued to pray, telling God how mad I was at Him, asking Him to help me to see the situation from His perspective and not waste this opportunity to grow, even though I didn't care about growing. I felt like continuing to communicate with God was the best thing to do, even though I was mad at Him and didn't want to talk to Him. I just told Him that and asked Him to help me.
About a month later, I decided to contact the news channels to see if they would do a story on us and air it on the news. Thankfully, the ABC local affiliate picked up our story and aired a short segment on us, and the Dallas Morning News ran our story the following day in the paper. We got one very obscure and seemingly vague tip that we passed on to the police, not thinking it would be helpful at all.
Since there was little to no hope of Gimli being found, we decided we needed to move on and get another dog, so we went ahead and purchased a new puppy, Virginia! Then, about a week before we were picking Virginia up, the cops found Gimli! We were absolutely overjoyed and amazed! That obscure tip ended up leading the cops to find him. The only explanation is that God did a work that only He could do. He heard our prayers and answered with a "yes"!
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| Within minutes of meeting |
We were unsure if we wanted to keep Virginia now that we had Gimli back, but decided to meet her and see how they interacted. The moment we met her, we knew she was ours. She and Gimli immediately began playing and bonded very quickly. There was no doubt she was meant to be a part of our family.
When we lost Gimli, God began to show me what it truly means to follow Him. He has complete and total control over my life, which means I have to trust Him when He gives to me, and when He takes from me. Also, when the storms of life come, I need Him to carry me through, and He WILL carry me through. Even if He had not returned Gimli to us, He would have still been good to us and blessed us through this situation.
When we got Gimli back, I felt like the woman in this passage:
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.” -Luke 15:8-10
I understood the joy that God and all of heaven feels when a sinner repents in an entirely new way. It's so easy to let the joy of my salvation to become ordinary and old news. Comparing the joy I felt at Gimli's return with the joy God had the day I became a Christian made His love for me come alive in a way I'd never experienced. God gave to me twice what I lost- from one sweet dog to two! What a joy the both are to us every day!I am still fearful about what following God's plan for my life looks like, and relinquishing control over the most precious things & people in my life over to Him. Doubt often plagues me about His goodness, His control, and His plan. Also, I have a natural fear of evil people who plan to do me harm. However, when these doubts creep up, one thing I cannot deny is that God did a miraculous and dramatic act in response to my prayers. He gave me an extravagantly generous gift He did not have to in returning Gimli to us. Even when I struggle to believe the truths I've read and been taught about from the Bible, I cannot deny this personal experience. I am so thankful to the Lord for this gift.