A benevolent God

I don't know what it takes for people to believe. I also know that there's a lot of things that we do when we are experiencing problems that help us to deal/cope with the problems, or perhaps to leap beyond them. A miracle? A healing? I think that if we believe in the eternal and in a power greater than ourselves, we often come to the belief in a benevolent higher power, whatever we choose to believe that power to be. I know I have. I have come into contact with, and been touched by, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the saving and redeeming power of Christ and His cross.

Having said that, I think that there are certain times that God uses things around us to help us and to benefit us. Some people call these things coincidences or the like. That's fine. It's what they believe, and what works for them. I often think that it's more than that.

Last night I was having a bad night. It started getting worse while I was downstairs watching a movie. The pain was getting worse and worse until I felt emveloped by my body's pain and I sat, alone, wrapped in a feather quilt, watching television and trying to take my mind off myself and my body's pain. I finally went to bed.

While I was lying in bed I prayed, as I often do, as I find it a good way to end the day as I go to sleep. Last night I prayed that somehow God could give me a bit of comfort to try to lift my mind up off myself and go to sleep in peace. As I finished my prayer FreeBSD, the cat who owns me specifically, and who always sleeps at the foot of our bed all night, did something she never does at night. She got up and came up further on the bed and curled up against my chest, purring and snuggling up to me. She never does this at night, and rarely during the day. She's a lap cat, and sleeps at the foot of the bed, as I said. Coincidence? Perhaps. Perhaps it was a way that God worked to make me feel that comfort and peace that I needed to be able to go to sleep. A miracle? I think that life is full of small miracles, but I also think it's particularly nice when one of those small miraculous things can happen to me. I also think that our pet family members are much closer to God than we will ever be, and so can be an instrument of God's love in ways that we don't always recognize. I'm glad I recognized this...