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| Dixie and Josh |
“There
is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They
speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of
overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” Washington
Irving (19th century author)
Have you ever had one of “those”
kind of days where life seems to go from bad to worse? Wednesday was one of
those days…on top of a week…on top of a month where adversity has parked on our
doorstep.
Our beautiful, blue-eyed Australian
Shepherd, Dixie, suddenly became ill a week ago. No overt symptoms, just mild
diarrhea and some lethargy. She seemed to rebound and then relapsed. Monday we
took her to the vet, and all her blood work returned normal except a slight
elevation in white count and slightly low red blood cells. They started an
antibiotic, but by yesterday she still wasn’t better. Another blood draw
revealed a further drop in red blood cells. We were referred to a larger vet
clinic with an empiric diagnosis of an autoimmune disorder. With treatment,
Dixie would have a 50/50 chance of survival. We had a difficult time wrapping
our brains and hearts around this prognosis. Our very small hope disappeared on
the ultrasound screen—an enlarged heart with a cancerous tumor in it. Terminal.
I’ve never liked that word. L
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| A few summers ago |
If you’re not a pet lover, maybe
you won’t be able to relate to our devastation, but for almost eight years,
Dixie’s been part of our family. Death is part of life, though it’s never easy,
whether it’s a friend, relative, or pet. We will grieve her death and
eventually get over it, but that is then and this is now.
It may seem like a trivial prayer
request, but would you please keep my family in your prayers, especially Josh,
as he grieves the loss of his dog? He has a few days, maybe a couple of weeks,
to share some final memories with her. Her passing will leave a huge hole in
our lives. Each time we go for bike rides and she’s not there, or go out to
play in the yard, she won’t be there to chase tennis balls or squeak toys (her
absolute favorite). When we sit on the deck, she won’t be there to nuzzle under
our arm to lay her head in our lap. Only memories and empty places where she
once was will remain.
God has comforted us during this
difficult time, and we have no doubt He’ll see us through what lies ahead. We
take comfort in this promise of eternity from God’s Word:
“He
will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning
or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4
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| Dixie and me |
If you have a prayer request, I’d
sure love to hear from you. I hope by sharing my request you’ll see that no
matter how small or large you believe others will perceive your problems, if
they hurt you, they also grieve God. He cares. Would you take a moment to pray
for others who leave comments or are on the prayer list at the top of the blog?
Thanks!
God bless,
Laura
✞
©Laura Hodges Poole
