After pouring my heart out over losing the dog, I went to bed and tried to sleep. I repeatedly "gave" the situation to you, knawing at it like a dog knawing a bone. Even though my intentions were good, I couldn't really let go of it. I would drift in and out of sleep, tossing and turning each time I again "gave" the situation to you.
In one of those "on the verge of sleep moments" where I am not really awake but experience a dreamlike state, I saw you carrying a lost lamb. I was instantly reminded of the story of the good shepherd and how you would leave the 99 sheep safely tucked in and go in search of the lost one. I was comforted by that. Thank you.
I wish I could say that when I awoke that morning I felt as if I could leave the situation in your most capable hands and go about my business. My husband is an early riser. It was still dark when he got up and noticed the dog was gone. I told him I had let the dog out and then drove for over an hour scouring the streets for the missing pet but without luck. It didn't take much for him to press my "guilt" buttons and I went out again to look for the dog.
But I still couldn't find the animal and fought to hold back my tears. I stopped by to visit you in the tabernacle, once again "giving" the situation to you and begging for your assistance and finally letting the tears flow. I kept telling myself that it was ok because you were in control.
When I left you, I knew that even though you told me "all is well," I had to "help" and resolved to ask St. Jude to pray with me for the safe return of the dog.
I love asking my friends, the saints and angels, to pray with me for my current concern. I have a beautiful novena book with short biographies of the saints, beautiful pictures and prayers to offer with each saint for the successful resolution of a problem. I ask help of all of them at different times and for different problems. I have always been drawn closer to you God through the novena prayers and have experienced many miracles.
Because I was feeling frantic and thought the situation needed immediately resolved, I vowed to do what I call an emergency novena. Normally a novena is prayed over a nine day span, but an emergency novena is prayed over a nine hour span. So every hour for nine hours, I asked your help and the help of St. Jude in getting my son's dog back. The prayers took about 15 minutes each hour. I thought St. Jude was the appropriate one to ask because he is the patron saint of desperate or impossible causes. I could conceive of no way to tell my son I had lost his dog while he was away fighting in a war and I was very desperate.
It seems every time I pray a novena, I not only get a resolution to my problem, you also use it to teach me a spirtual lesson. I'll cover that in a different post and finish detailing the saga of the lost dog in this post.
I was calmer when I returned home last night after having completed the novena. All day yesterday I kept hoping that I would receive a call from someone letting me know the dog had been found, but no such call came. I was resolved to continue the novena for eight days if necessary. When I reviewed the novena book--entitled Novena, The Power of Prayer by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua--and discovered an actual emergency novena prayer to the Infant of Prague, so I asked for help from the Infant and from the infant's Mother.
I slept better last night, but when I got up this morning I knew I had to ask for more help. So I asked you Jesus for help from not only your mother and St. Jude, but also from St. Michael and my guardian angel and other saints I have prayed with before. It was like a heavenly search party all out looking for my son's dog. So many different scenarios kept running through my mind. I was so frantic because local law enforcement had not seen the dog. I was oh-so-willing to pay the dog catcher fine and fee and kept checking with them to see if the dog had been found.
At some point today, I knew I would eventually find out what had become of the dog even if it wasn't a happy resolution. I accepted your will, Lord, in the matter and went about the business of the day.
Not too long after that the local law did contact my husband to let him know they had impounded the dog earlier today. The dog was fine--glad to be home and maybe not so anxious to run off.
It was a miracle and I thank everyone who participated in the search. Others might call it a coincidence. I know it was a miracle.
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