Excerpt from Children of Dreams
Guest Post by Lorilyn Roberts
…Shall we accept good
from God, and not trouble…
Job 2:10
Back many years ago, my ex husband and I lived in Augusta,
Georgia. He was in medical school at the Medical College of Augusta and I worked
as a court reporter putting him through medical school. One morning on my way
into work, there was a long line of cars backed up on Greene Street. Brown
Court Reporting, Inc., the company I worked for, was at least several blocks
down the road. People had turned off their engines and were meandering around
on the road waiting.
I got out of my car and walked up the street to where some
people were hanging out and asked, “What’s going on?”
The man said nonchalantly, “Apparently a dog got hit by a car.”
Being a dog lover, my heart welled up as I wondered how
badly the dog was hurt, who he belonged to, and if he would be okay, but the
man didn’t know anything more.
I waited a few more minutes, not sure what to do. When it
didn’t look as though things would clear out any time in the immediate future,
I turned around and went a different way to the office.
But throughout the morning, I kept thinking about the little
dog that had been hit by a car. I wanted to know more. I walked downstairs and
started checking around with some of the people in other offices on the street
to find out if anybody knew what had happened. Someone told me they thought he
had been transported to a local veterinarian. I scoured around and found the
vet to which the poor little dog had been taken. I called to inquire.
“No,” said the person on the other end. “The owner hasn’t
been located.” They didn’t know who she belonged to, but she needed immediate
medical attention or she would die. Her leg had been badly injured and needed
to be amputated.
“How much would that cost?” I asked.
“About $200,” the woman replied.
That was a lot of money back in those days, but now that I
had involved myself this much, how could I hang up the phone and not help.”
“Okay,” I told her. “I will pay the $200 for the surgery if
she will live.”
“Are you sure?” She asked me. “It’s not your dog.”
I was sure. My only worry was how I would explain it to my
husband and what would I do with Fifi after the surgery. I knew he wouldn’t
want another dog.
We already had a little dog, Shelley. She was a stray who
showed up on our back porch in Atlanta one day a few months after we were
married. Not that much different from my childhood dog, Gypsy, who had walked
into the house one evening with my dad when he returned home from buying milk.
I wasn’t sure if the two would get along. Shelley had never had to share us.”
“When can I come by and meet her?” I asked.
“Why don’t you wait till later this afternoon after the
surgery?”
I spent the rest of the day imagining what the little dog
looked like and how I would explain to my husband that I had rescued a dog from
certain death, that the dog was an amputee, and I had paid $200 for surgery on
a dog I had never met.
Finally the veterinarian’s office called and said the
surgery had been successful. Fifi’s leg had been amputated without
complications. I could come see her but they wanted her to remain overnight for
a couple of days until she was well enough for me to take her home.
“Have you heard from anybody claiming to be her owner?” I
asked hopefully?
“No,” she said. “We don’t know who she belongs to.”
Late that afternoon, I dropped by the animal hospital on the
way home from work. I told them who I was, and they were glad to meet me. I
gave them the check for $200 and thanked them for taking care of Fifi.
“Do you want to see her?” The tech asked me. “She is in
recovery.”
“Sure,” I said.”
They took me to an adjoining room and I poked my head in the
door. Before me was a scroungy looking tan and white terrier, with large floppy
ears and strands of hair covering her closed eyelids. Fifi aptly described her,
a hurt, orphaned dog in need of love and a home. She lay curled up in a little
ball with one huge bandage where her back right leg used to be.
I left the vet’s office with mixed emotions. I was glad I
was able to save her life and give her a home, but I was wondering when I got
home how I would explain it to my husband.
“You did what?” He asked me, as I was about halfway through
my prepared speech, when he realized I had something more important to talk
about than just the weather.
I tried to justify everything I said, saying we would find a
home for Fifi and I didn’t plan on keeping her. Of course, he knew me better
than that, but by the time we went to bed that night, he had acquiesced and
given a half hearted yes to the new addition to the family, provided that Fifi
and Shelley got along okay, which I was more than willing to accept. I would
make sure of that.
Two days passed and we were able to bring Fifi home. We made
her a bed and slowly introduced her to Shelley, just a few minutes at a time,
several times throughout the evening. At night we crated her to keep her safe.
Fifi was still wearing a wrap where her leg used to be and was still hobbling
around getting used to having only three legs. After a few days we settled into
a routine. I was elated that things were working out. Even my husband had quit
complaining about the extra work involved.
A couple of nights later, the phone rang. It was the
veterinarian’s office.
“We wanted to ask you a personal question,” the woman said.
“Okay,” I said, not sure where this was going.
“We just wanted to know how things were working out with
Fifi.”
“They are working out fine,” I replied. “Fifi is starting to
get along well with Shelley.”
“Why do you ask?” I wondered. “Did you find the owner?” Not
really wanting to know.
“Oh, no,” she said. “It’s just that we had a client in today
with his sick dog that passed away. There was nothing we could do for him. It’s
just a strange coincidence that Fifi looked like their dog. The old man is
heartbroken,” she went on, “and we thought if things hadn’t worked out well,
maybe you would be willing to let him have Fifi.”
“We could meet and talk,” I offered, “and see what happens.”
After I hung up the phone, I wondered if she had told him that Fifi only had
three legs. Not everybody would want a three legged animal.
The old man called me the next day and I promised to come
home early from work to meet him. By this time, I wasn’t sure I could let Fifi
go. She had become a part of our family.
I arrived home and waited. A short while later a car pulled
up in the driveway. I walked outside to greet the old man. As I watched him
exit the car, I noticed something different that forced me to do a double take.
He had a cane. He put the cane out to steady himself and then dragged his bad
leg behind him, pulling himself out of the car with a great deal of effort. The
man was a cripple.
How could I ever doubt God’s providential hand? I was only
the keeper of Fifi until her new master picked her up—someone that could
understand what it was like to have three legs. Fifi’s story would live on as a
testimony to God becoming a man, fully human and fully God, but one who
understands our hurts and weaknesses.
For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to understand
and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities
and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in
every respect as we are, yet without sinning (Hebrews 4:15).
……………
Children of Dreams is being showcased by the John 3:16 Marketing
Network as part of their August Book Launch Event. Be sure to visit http://bit.ly/Christian_Books for
a chance to win a Kindle, a $25 gift card and a $10 Starbucks card, as well as
purchase Children of Dreams.
Lorilyn Roberts is a Christian author who writes children's
picture books, adult nonfiction, memoirs, and a young adult Christian fantasy
series, Seventh Dimension.
Lorilyn graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of
Alabama, which included international study in Israel and England. She received
her Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Perelandra College and is a
graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature.
Lorilyn is the founder of the John 316 Marketing Network, a
network of Christian authors who are passionate about promoting books with a
Christian worldview.
