It’s been a long time since Delia and Susie were those two balls of kitten fur that cowered together in the back of the cardboard box that the animal shelter provided for transport. I remember juggling that box on my lap and gently talking to the two of them inside, assuring them that everything was okay–as if they understood anything I said. I’m sure I reached inside to stroke them, two giant unknown hands so different from their mother’s soft fur and familiar heart beat. It musn’t have been very reassuring at all.
Now, I’m one large mother substitute and neither Delia or Susie don’t miss an opportunity to snuggle close to either Michael or me. What must have seemed those two kittens’ darkest hour turned brighter on that ride home in that cardboard box.
What seemed an ordinary moment for Michael and me has transformed into wondrous ones. We couldn’t have imagined what joy and contentment those two kittens would really bring into our lives. All I imagined was two rescue cats inside a cardboard box. I never imagined what rescue God had in store for me.
I never imagined a new heart or new mind, a new way of seeing things–the prayerfulness found in cat napping or the calmness learned while a cat sleeps on your lap.
Yes, it’s been a long time since I held that cardboard box on my lap but the joy of opening it and waiting for those two small kittens to be ready to come out reminds me each day: we are all promised rescue, great and small.
Call out. You will be heard.
I will take you from every nation and country and bring you back to your own land…I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart…You will be my people, and I will be your God.
