(Originally written May 1999)
My
eleven year old Siamese-mix cat, Reeboks, is a real sweetheart! He has a
wonderful disposition. He likes to be near me, so if I am sewing, he is
sleeping in that room with me. If I am sorting laundry, he is playing in the
laundry basket. If I am reading he is either nearby or on my lap. He is a
house cat and is a big part of our family.
He
began coughing on a Thursday and I just figured he was hacking up a
hairball. (OK, there is one bad thing about cats, but HEY, we all have
something that we do that isn't fit for company!) On Saturday he began to
wheeze. I figured he was catching a cold. On Sunday he was worse.
On
Monday morning he was a mess! His mouth was hanging open and he was drooling
all over the place. He was wheezing big time. All he would do was lie still.
He wouldn't eat or drink. He was in big trouble. I took him in to the vet as
soon as they opened.
The
vet gave him a thorough examination which included x-rays. When the x-rays
were developed the vet took me into the room where the viewer was.
He showed me where Reeboks' heart was. He pointed out that Reeboks'
heart was too small. That's right! Too small! The vet says that usually
between the ages of 6 and 9 cats with that problem all of a sudden start
exhibiting the symptoms my cat had.
The
reason he was wheezing was because the heart was not pumping the blood fast
enough and fluids were seeping out of the blood. Reeboks' lungs were filling
up with fluid! He was drowning!
The
vet tried to give me some hope but I could tell from the look on his face
that there was no hope. He said the chance he would recover was very slim.
He gave me a diuretic to try to get the fluids to subside and sent me home.
I paid
the bill and took my kitty home to die. It was horrible! I don't usually ask
for prayer, but I began calling and emailing people because I had no hope. I
felt sure my cat was as good as dead. Yes, he was not a young cat at
the age of eleven, but he wasn't old enough to die!
I then
realized that there still was hope. With a God as BIG as ours, there is
ALWAYS HOPE!
I went outside and I began to pray. I
got down on my knees and prayed for the Lord to heal my cat. I finished my
praise and petitions and then remained silent to listen to anything God
wanted to tell me.
I'd
like to interject here that I had been asking the Lord to show me what my
portion was in the Body of Christ. I knew God had been preparing me for
something, but I had no clear direction on what I should be doing. My prayer
partner had told me once that the Lord revealed to her that whatever I was
going to be doing was something big. I was looking forward to hear what it
was, but hadn't received direction yet.
OK, so
I was kneeling and waiting for the Lord to speak to me. When I am praying I
keep a notebook handy so I can write down anything I get from the Lord. I
don't write it down unless I know for sure it is from Him. If I "hear"
something in my spirit and I am not sure it was from Him I ask Him to repeat
it to me. He does. He will continue until I am sure.
I
"heard" the Lord telling me in that still, small voice He uses, "I give you the
authority....." there was kind of a pause. "The authority?
The authority?" I asked. I love that word, authority!
"To speak life," came to me. I repeated what I had heard. "I
have been given the authority to speak life." I thought about it for half a
second and then, BOOM, it hit me! WOW!! I thought about it a little more.
WOW WOW WOW!! OH MY GOODNESS!! The authority to speak life!! WHOOPIE! THANK
YOU, LORD! The possibilities are endless!!
I
immediately went into the house and began speaking life to my cat's heart,
lungs, and the rest of his body! I then danced around the house praising the
Lord!
I
began telling people what had happened. I was so sure my cat would be fine,
I began telling people he would be. Then, I started having doubts. I had to
fight off the feeling of thinking I misunderstood, or never heard the Lord
say that. Most of the people that I told treated me like I was totally
out of my mind. I had two friends, my prayer partner and my praise
partner, that were excited and were praising God with me. The rest of
the people I told tried to get me to "understand" that God wasn't interested
in cats, God doesn't give people the authority to speak life, and that I was
going to be even more hurt when my cat died like the vet expected him to
die.
I
began to rebuke satan
and told him I was given the authority and there
wasn't anything he could do about it. I told the doubters that God
would prevail. I imagined myself holding a shield, a
shield of faith, and began to fend off the fiery darts that were being shot
my way! I pulled out my book of praise songs and began to praise the Lord.
Every once in a while I would go find Reeboks and speak life into his body.
The thought kept
popping into my mind: what would happen if Reeboks died. What would I tell
people? God knew of my struggles with that great amount of faith He
wanted from me and had a friend of mine forward a prophecy from Bill and
Marsha Burns, two modern day prophets.
The
basic idea of the prophecy was that God would take care of His own
reputation. I didn't have to worry about it. If God said it, then it would
happen. God cannot lie. God wants to prove His existence to others and is
aware that His reputation is on the line. Glory, hallelujah!! God is GOOD!
His timing is impeccable! My faith level jumped two notches! He gave
me the authority and, if I was obedient to apply it, then He would make it
so!
The
first sign that something was happening was when I turned around after
speaking life into Reeboks and he was following me slowly down the hall.
He had been lying in the same place for two days. I
petted him and told him I loved him and he went back to lie down.
Each
day there was a sign of improvement. The signs were small, but they were
there. I continued to speak life into him.
A week later, he
was still carrying extra liquid in his body. I could feel it when I
pressed on the top of his head. It was squishy. He was moving
slowly, but was eating canned food and moving about the house. He couldn't
meow yet. You could see his mouth forming the meow, but nothing came out.
(That happened on 5/24/99 and his meower never returned to normal. I
think it hurts his throat to meow. When he really really wants to make noise
he squeezes out a pretty good meowing sound, though. According to the
vet there is a nerve that connects the heart and a cat's voice box.
When cats have heart problems it often affects their meower. Yet, this
is not a bad thing. He used to MEOW MEOW MEOW early in the mornings
and wake me up. Now he doesn't.)
So,
I learned what one of my jobs was in the Body of Christ. Yet, I wasn't sure
if it was a permanent job, a temporary job, or a job that was to be used
only when God directed. Over the years I have asked Him, but was never
clear on the answer.
The
Lord has given me a vision of how the Body of Christ functions. It is
similar to a branch of the military. There are people in charge of certain
groups and areas. There are groups assigned to different tasks. There are
tasks within tasks. There are many, many jobs that are necessary to keep the
entire unit functioning properly. Each person is valuable. In the Body of
Christ each person is trained by the Lord Himself and given the talents
necessary to function in his position.
The
Lord is not going to force us to cooperate with Him. That is why the Body is
not functioning the way it should. Some people are not interested in finding
out what their job is. Others don't seek God's will and do their job their
own way. God isn't sleeping, however. I believe as the time grows short He
will raise up others to take the place of those who won't cooperate with
Him. The Body is becoming stronger and more powerful. I believe we are going
to be seeing some really spectacular things in the near future, things that
will turn people's minds toward the Lord! Gosh, even what happened to
Reeboks is a sign to non-believers and believers, alike!! HALLELUJAH!
It
doesn't end with healing my cat. The Lord has more dead things that need to
have life spoken into them. There are situations, relationships, church
bodies, nations, people, families, marriages, and much much more. I could go
on and on! This story is far from over!
There is another study I did on faith and not wavering that you might enjoy.
It is called
Nothing Wavering.
9/21/09
Reeboks left us 4/21/07. He had kidney failure. It turned out
that I had been feeding my cats the food that had poison ingredients in it,
resulting in kidney failure. |
