My Blessings Counted Journaling: Starvation
2014-10-04 11:41:40, Saturday
Oh, how I long for time with God, prayer, His Word, prayer journaling and Blessings Counted Journaling. I am desperate for it. Totally desperate. And everything and everyone is getting in the way. The everyone part is so worth it. But, I NEED some time with my Daddy, Lord, Savior, Friend, Way, Light, Rock, Sustainer, the Great I AM, Abba, Shepherd, Author and Finisher of My Faith, Love, Holy One.
I long for Him, and His Word, as the deer...
Psalm 42:1-2 Expanded Bible (EXB)
42 As a deer ·thirsts [longs; T pants] for streams of water,
so ·I [T my soul] ·thirst [L longs] for you, God.
2 ·I [T My soul] thirst for the living God.
When can I go to ·meet with [L see] ·him [L the face of God]?
so ·I [T my soul] ·thirst [L longs] for you, God.
2 ·I [T My soul] thirst for the living God.
When can I go to ·meet with [L see] ·him [L the face of God]?
Oh, how I thirst! I am parched.
The moment I write that, I realize how little I really do know what that means. I've never been without food or water, thank God. (Oh, how I tend to take this for granted.)
My thoughts travel to Lady Kara, as we call her. Her name is simply, Kara, but she has a million nicknames. Girlie. Missie. Little one. Sweet one. Miss thing. Miss Piggy. Lady. Miss Kara.
She's the cat who adopted my husband (whom I will call B) and I on Sunday, September 21, 2014... On our thirteen year anniversary.
She's a feral cat. The most lovable thing you've ever met. Tiny thing. Deaf. Declawed. Malnourished. Homeless. Stray. Dumped. Thrown out.
Translation: Starving. Famished. Parched.
Translation: Would not survive in the wild, on her own, much longer.
She knows what it means to truly be parched and starving.
I get choked up as I write this.
We thought she was a kitten. So small. So thin. We knew she was malnourished. But, we had no idea it was far worse than we imagined. We wondered her story. We knew it was grizzly and was what nightmares were made of, but we had no idea.
We've had her in our garage since Thursday, September 25, 2014. It's a massive two-car garage with extra space to the sides and front. And, it has an upstairs. We took our cars out of the garage--and she has the run of the joint. We call it her pad.
At any rate, we wanted to get her used to us a little before we took her to the vet. And, get her fed and get some water in her.
So, we scheduled the vet appointment for yesterday, Friday, October 03, 2014. We found out she is ten years old or so. she is not a kitten.
Ten years old.
And, starving. Parched.
She was defenseless. Deaf. Clawless. Weak. And was on her own, in the wild. It was God alone who took care of the little one.
Then, He put her in our path.
None of us have been the same since.
She knows starvation and being parched.
And, she knows what it means now to have all the water and food she ever wanted. She has had a full belly--and will keep one, provided she eats and drinks. (And, if she doesn't, she'll be taken to the vet and checked.)
Kara knows the stuff nightmares are made of. Now, she knows love, security/safety, food, and water. She also can and will get limitless love.
And, Lady Kara gives endless love as well. It goes both ways with her.
Kara has taught me what God offers me--and what He thinks of my response. She is like me and I am like what God does--in our relationship with one another. How loving and loyal she is, how much she depends on me and B, this is how I'm supposed to be with God.
I spent the last thirteen days watching out for her every two hours or so during the day. Carefully. Vigilant. So, I haven't had as much time for God, B, or alone, as I would prefer. I feel it. I am parched for this time.
I just realized how every moment I am with her, it is a very sacred moment. It's a moment she has never had. Ten years old--and has never known this... How sad and terrible. How heart wrenching.
I've had the sweetest time I've ever had with God--being with her. I've realized it a little, sure, but not like I just have. We are being Jesus in the skin to her. We are acting as His representatives in her life--and she is doing the same with and for us. A little 5.1 pound cat, with the heart which weighs a trillion pounds.
I was starving for, and thirsty, for time with God when I sat down to count my blessings and do some Blessings Counted Journaling.
Or, so I thought.
I've never known starvation.
And, the time with God I have so thoroughly craved, I've had. The time has probably been the deepest, most sacred time I've ever had in my life.
I have a sense now of what Jesus offered others when He was on earth. What He offered, love and health and healing, I am offering Kara girl. We are, B and me.
Does life ever get more sacred than this?
I most likely will never know personally starvation. I pray I never take this for granted again. I've seen firsthand what it does. I know what it's like to pet a cat and be able to count every vertebrae in her spine and tail. I know what it's like to pick her up and hurt her, without even realizing it, because she is so weak, frail, malnourished it hurts for me to pick her off the ground. (When I realized what happened, I was horrified.)
I've seen starvation--with my own eyes.
And, I've been able to slowly bring relief to the starving.
This is what God offers me.
I only thought I was starving for Him and His Word, when I've been having the most sacred time of my life without even realizing it.
Wow. Wonder of wonders.
Thank You, Lord. To You alone be the glory.
What a new and changed perspective, which I never would have had if I hadn't taken the time to sit down to count my blessings and prayer journal.
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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(Images credits: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC September and October 2014.)
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