The miracle of life: a cat's birth story

On Monday evening, our little Mercie Mae gave birth to four healthy kittens. Go ahead and laugh at the new country peops... we thought she was too young to get preggos. Turns out a kitten "becomes a woman" quite earlier than a human. In our ignorance, we started letting our NOT-fixed kitty freely roam our country locale, and before you know it, one too many late nights led to a very bulging abdomen.

As the end of her pregnancy approached I kept lamenting, "I'm not even a cat person!" I was thinking, "Yeah! This is JUST what I need! Because I didn't have enough stuff to do around here already." When her behavior changed significantly on Monday morning, it became QUITE evident we'd be helping her birth those kittens soon. I had read on the Internet (what in the WORLD did we do before Google???) that because of her young age, there was a high chance that Mercie would have a small liter, give birth to dead kittens, and/or have no interest in the kittens. The Internet gave details on how to help your cat give birth just in case she showed no interest. "Ewwwwww!" I screamed out to God after reading the instructions, "I can't be a cat midwife! I didn't even like being in the room when I gave birth!"

Well, Mia Peiffer, my friend's daughter, wanted to be informed when the kittens were born. She called on Monday night to check if they were here yet. I told her no kittens yet and hung up the phone. Within five minutes of that call I heard the first kitten mewling. It was like she was prophetic! I quickly called John, and we stood watch to "help" Mercie with her labor. What happened amazed me and filled me with wonder at how great our God is. (I'm not gonna lie it also made me gag SEVERAL times.)

Our Mercie Mae, still really a kitten herself, knew exactly what to do. She did everything just like the Internet said she would. AMAZING! How did she do that? I didn't buy her a kitten version of What to Expect When You're Expecting. She just KNEW. The instincts God gave her kicked in and she just KNEW!

What an amazing God we serve! What an incredible Creator! He took the time to make sure that EVERY SINGLE creature on this earth would know EXACTLY how to bring new life into this world! This silly little kitty knew exactly how to bring those kittens into this world. She has also become QUITE the great momma cat, caring for those kittens like a pro.

It reminds me of "consider the lilies of the field..." If God cared THIS much about cats, how much MORE does he care about you! You are so much more precious to Him then a cat! You are created in His image! You are the apple of his eye! You are important enough to Him that He sent His ONE and ONLY Son to die for you! Do you really think He doesn't see your problems? Do you really think He doesn't know about your pain? Do you really think He doesn't care? Pshaw! He sees. He knows. He cares.

P.S. Stay turned for a "Free to a good home" post in a few months!

More on honesty....

Mmmkay even though I got some really good insights after my last post they still didn't really answer my questions. I think I didn't ask them right. So I'm gonna try again....

Back when John had brain surgery, and people would ask me how we were doing, there were times I wanted to SCREAM, "I'm terrified I'm going to lose my husband!" or "I'm hacked off that for the past four months we have been walking through the fiery furnace and EVERY time we absorb one blow another blow is RIGHT there!" or "I'm sad that this terrible situation had to enter our life." But being the good Christian girl that I am, most of the time, I put on my cheerleader smile and cheerfully uttered a Biblical platitude, "His grace is sufficient!" "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" "Rejoice in the Lord always!"

So tell me my faithful friends, how honest am I when everything in me wants to rant and rave at someone, "What you did to me was AWFUL! You hurt me and I wish I could sock you in the face!" But instead I gloss over my feelings with a smile and forgive 70 x 7? How honest am I when I want to scream I'm doubting God, my faith is floundering, and I'm tired of standing strong in Christ. But instead I calmly say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord?"

I guess that was what I was trying to say the other day about honesty. Lately I've been pondering how to reconcile letting Christ's love filter my feelings with the commandment to not bear false witness. Aren't I bearing false witness when someone wounds me and I want to scream, "Ow! That hurts!" Yet instead I show kindness and gently forgive?

Then taking that situation a little further.... For someone like me who consistently denies her anger, pushes aside her fear, instead donning the love of Christ... How do I combat the tide of negative emotions that surges against the dam of godliness I have erected. When there are just a few negative things pounding at the dam, I'm fine. But the year I have had has been like a monsoon, and the waters behind my dam are dangerously high!

Recently after MONTHS of extending grace, covering a sin over with love, and forgiving a grievous hurt done to me, a raindrop of accusation came my way and I WENT OFF! The floodgates were opened and the bile and anger the dam had been holding back SPEWED from me and all over the person who had hurt me. See I know THAT was not the godly way to handle those feelings, so what is? We are only human! When someone hurts us, even if we put on love and forgive them, there will be pain.... There must be a godly way to open up the floodgates and release some of that buildup... but how?

So I've reasked my questions:

How do we stay truthful about what we are feeling while being Christlike at the same time? Especially how do we do that when what's been done to us and our feelings about it are ANYTHING but Christlike.

AND

What do we do when we have a backup of un-Christlike feelings in our heart which is a result of filtering them out of our words and actions? How do we release those in a godly way?

If you have any more insights or ideas... PLEASE give them to me because I am still a bit befuddled.

It's all about love....

Palms sweating, heart racing, knees knocking she willed herself to enter the room. Seated on the couch, the mother who rocked her to sleep, taught her right from wrong, and wiped away all her tears. Only this was NOT right and even a mother's love could not wipe away these tears. Behind the paper in his favorite chair, her daddy, strong and sure, always firm but loving, never angry or worried. Yet this time she feared he would be both. For what she had to say would change it all. "Mom, Dad," she said her voice shaking, "I'm pregnant."

I've known that girl over and over: a cheerleader, a student, a youth group kid. In fact, I'm the child of that girl... a young scared teenager carrying love in her belly. You know what that girl taught me? You know what her tears told me she needed? Love! Love! Love! It's all about love!

So often in the Christian world, we hit that girl with condemnation, judgment, disapproval. We try to teach her a lesson about her sin. Let me tell you what.... LIFE is going to teach that girl a lesson over the next 18 years. We don't need to present our silly little lessons. And there is therefore NO condemnation! And judge not lest ye be judged!

I've heard it said that Christians are the only ones who shoot their own wounded when they are down, and I have seen that to be true. Time and time and time again when a fellow Christian has fallen (or been shoved) face first in the mud I watch other Christians walk right over them shoving them deeper in the mud, delivering a well placed kick as they pass by adding to their mud covered pain, or tossing out a quick "I told you so!" to deepen their shame.

It makes me sad that so frequently the very place we should run in our darkest hour, becomes a place of ridicule, shame, and pain. The church should be where we can go to find acceptance, forgiveness and LOVE when we are swimming in the consequences of our bad choices.

Dreams crashing, heart breaking, eyes welling up with tears, she jumped from the couch and rushed to this child that had come from her womb. Grabbing the face of her precious baby between her palms, she wiped away the tears with her thumbs and said, "I love you and we WILL get through this." She pulled her pregnant baby into her arms and held her sobbing body close. Their sobs mingled, and the girl whimpered, "I thought you'd be mad. I thought you'd hate me." She pulled back a little, sniffed aside some of her sadness and told her baby girl what she had been saying since the girl was a baby at her breast, "I love you when you're naughty and I love you when you're nice."

When I was about 20 or so, my dad had this Plymouth Laser. It was a GREAT little sports car. He loved that car! One day at home on break from college, I had to drive that car to a doctor appointment. On the way home I totaled the thing. I remember the fear and terror in my heart. I did NOT want to tell my dad I had totaled his precious car. I trudged over to a nearby McDonald's to use the phone while the police cleared the wreckage. I remember standing next to the fryer, the smell of french fries in my nostrils as I told him, "Dad I had an accident, and your car is ruined." I waited for the screaming and anger. I waited for the disappointment in his voice. But you know what his response was??? "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" That was all my dad wanted to know. That was all he asked. When I said I was fine, he said, "I'm on my way. I will pick you up in a few minutes."

See that's how I envision God when I sin. I don't see Him barking out fiery destruction in His RIGHTEOUS anger. I see Him broken by my sin, but still arms open wide. That's what I aspire to be when confronted by the sin of those I love. Broken and damaged by the effects of their sin, but still arms open wide to pull them in with my love. I may not always be as gracious as this fictional mom I created here (or as my real life dad). I may not remember to love first and leave the lecture for another time, but I aspire to be JUST like that when faced with the sin of someone I love.... arms open wide... with nothing but LOVE for them.