"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
One Saturday morning I found a text message on my phone from one of our sons “If you have any prayers going spare, Mogwai just picked a fight with a high speed Honda”. Mogwai is a very small long-haired Chihuahua who had been rescued from Battersea dogs home by my son and his wife 4 months earlier.
I immediately replied “On it. Much love.”
A further text came back “She’s at the vet. Nothing broken but being treated for shock. Possible head trauma. They are going to keep her in and monitor her.”
The Bible Lesson that week was Adam and Fallen Man. I had been thinking about how to approach this with my 7 year old in Sunday School and had a very clear mental image of how to present the idea of the difference between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 modes of thought. I had decided to talk about the 2 versions of Creation and use 2 pages in my pupil’s Sunday school book for the 2 chapters. The Genesis 1 page would have a picture of my pupil the right way up, and on the Genesis 2 page we would stick her picture upside down. God’s creation is the right way up. God’s creation has no mention of evil. ALL is good. Genesis 2 has talking snakes, people made of dust and bone, knowledge of good and evil – it is all upside down.
With these thoughts in mind I prayed for Mogwai and claimed that she is always part of God’s creation, upright, free, safe and knowing only good. She may be small but she has an enormous character and zest for life. I had recently seen a lovely photo of her taken as she was running joyfully towards the camera and captured in mid air with her tail flying out behind. This really captured the essence of this little dog and I thought of that and claimed it as her eternal being.
I sent another message to our son – “stick to Genesis 1. No knowledge of evil in God’s creation. All is good. NO talking snakes.” He replied that he was now home but very shaky. I recommended Psalms, hymns and a cup of tea. I sent him the words of “Everlasting arms of Love” and “He that hath God his guardian made” which he appreciated as his hymnal was not to hand.
Over the course of the next few days we exchanged text bulletins, my husband and I prayed for Mogwai. My son and his wife prayed too. We thought about her purity and innocence. Also the innocence of all involved, so there could be no guilt or feeling of blame. I worked with the idea that there is no lapse from and return to harmony, no separation from good. On Sunday night I was dreaming about the dog and praying in my dream too.
On Monday Mogwai’s condition deteriorated, there was a difficulty with her urinary system, and it looked as though she wasn’t going to make it. The vet gave them the opportunity for emergency surgery in case something could be repaired. They accepted this option and went home to wait and pray. I was alerted by another text message which I received while in London on a trip to a concert with a friend who is also a Christian Scientist. We prayed there and then.
My daughter in law who has a very spiritual outlook but a different faith background posted a message on facebook asking their friends to support in thought too, and received many supportive messages. This tiny little dog has touched so many hearts, she is a “gentle beam of living love” and that phrase came to mind as I prayed. It was quite difficult to keep my thought steady, particularly in the middle of the busyness of London. Sometimes the prayer felt more like worry. Sitting in the concert, and listening for some inspiration I suddenly got my angel message. It was a visual image, no words. I remembered a statue I had seen on a recent holiday which had touched me at the time. The statue was of a knight (Galgano Guidotti) who lived as a hermit in the 12th Century. Tradition has it that he renounced all worldly life and symbolically thrust his sword into a rock where it remains to this day. The statue depicts the man with his sword at his feet, looking upward with his arms lifted and a wonderful expression of trust and devotion to the heavenly Father-Mother. It reminded me of Fenella saying to us all “put it in the Father’s hands, lift it up to God”.
I just put Mogwai in the Father’s hands and knew that she is always there – no matter what the senses tell us. And I felt a sense of peace and calm.
On the way home, the text came in from our very happy son, “she made it through surgery!!. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayerful work. Much healing still to be demonstrated over coming days, but she should be on the road to recovery”.
And so she was. Mogwai went home 3 days later. Within a couple of weeks she was enjoying her walks in the park, jumping on and off the sofa and wagging her tail off when we went to visit.
Our son later told us a few more details – of how completely the situation had been cared for. Five days before the incident, they had set up a pet insurance policy and registered the dog at the vet, including a visit to say hello. When Mogwai was hit by the car, which didn’t see her at all, the car behind stopped and was able to take our son and the dog straight to the vet for care. The wonderful surgical team at the vet was there at the right time to help when it was needed to stich her ruptured bladder up. The whole event was beautiful evidence of divine Love meeting a human need and we are all so very grateful.