TENDER MERCIES FOR JACK AND ME....

I have 3 cats..this cat Jack, seems to find his way into my blog posts lately....

I could have entitled this post many things...but I am so grateful for the
tender mercies of the Lord at this time, so hence the title.

So, the amazing story I promised to tell you...well, it is amazing to me,
filled with His amazing grace to me and to Jack...so here it is.
~~~~~~

"Me and Jack and Our Dear Lord's Tender Mercy"

The other day I had 5 of our grand children here for a party and a sleepover before school was to start. We had such a good time...they loved spending lots of time in our hot tub, we sat out in it and looked up at the stars and the milky way and we talked and talked. The next morning they wanted to get in again, so we had the music on loud and they were having a great time.

I was in the house baking up a storm...making lots of food for our up coming family camp out. I thought to myself, I think I'll run down town to the post office and get my mail. So I jumped in the car and off I went. The post office is about two and one half miles away and I drove about 65 mph..wanting to get right back.

I ran in and got my mail and as I was coming back out of the post office, a orange-ish looking cat ran out from under my car and dashed across the highway. I thought; that cat looks kind of like my Jack! But no, it can't be him! What if it is?! I then called out..."Jack"...the cat kind of halted, turned like he didn't know where he was...and then turned back and ran across the highway again toward me but then off he went down the street.

I jumped in my car and turned it around and followed in the direction the cat was running. I rounded the corner and parked off the road. I thought I had seen the cat run into a yard there on the corner. The house on this corner is owned by people who don't live here full time, so I went into the yard, calling..Jack, Jack, here kitty, here kitty in the voice he would recognize and know.

I was looking all over this huge yard and came to some very thick, old yellow rose bushes in the corner of the yard. I thought I could see a orange cat deep in the bushes. I stopped and called to him...not knowing, but wondering if this could some how be my Jack or was it just some orange cat? The cat sort of looked at me and gave a tiny meow! I got down on my knees and tried to see it more clearly and I kept calling, but it wouldn't come. I thought, well, maybe I can get closer to it if I go outside the fence. So I left the yard and went around...no cat...I could not see it in the spot that it had been. I walked the length of the fence and bushes calling. I went back inside the yard again and looked and looked and called...I could not see a cat anywhere!

I thought to myself, well, it was most likely a stray cat and has gone of to places that it knows here. So I got back in my car and drove home, when I got there I walked all around our property calling my Jack. He always comes running when I call him but this time only his little budding Samantha came. I went into the house and finished some things, called my daughter to come get the kids. I then went back outside looking down by the hay stack and everywhere for Jack but he wasn't anywhere.

Now, I started to cry...what if somehow that was Jack? Could he have been under my car or in it somehow and I didn't know? There was no place that I could see, that he could have been up inside or on it. I started to feel SO bad...This was the little cat that I had found out in the middle of no where...injured with a broken shoulder and cuts all over him, he was as sick as can be and limping around on 3 legs. I had brought him home and nursed him all winter long until he was now strong and healthy. This cat is so gentle...too gentle for his own good...my special needs sweetie-cat Jack.

I prayed...asking for help, guidance, for a tender mercy for me and for Jack. I got in my car and went back to town and to that same house and yard. I walked every inch of this yard calling and calling until I was almost hoarse. I cried and cried...what had I done?!

I went home...thinking, well if it was Jack, he had his claws..he knows how to catch a mouse..but where could he have gone? What direction could he have run off to? Where was he hiding? Dear Lord...please answer my prayers!!!

I tried to keep busy...maybe it wasn't Jack, maybe he's just off in the fields for the day. I would be doing something and just start sobbing...this was more than my heart could take! This went on all afternoon, my eyes were all red and swollen and my heart hurt at what I had done. When Ron got home, I told him all about it and he said; "Well, lets go up and look one more time." We loaded up our 2 little dogs and our golden and off we went. (Later we told each other that we each, had the feeling, that we should take the dogs along because Jack loved them all).

We took the dogs and split up and walked all over that yard...nothing! I thought; "this cat was long gone". I went along praying and looking and calling out...as I stood by those same yellow rose bushes, I thought I heard a tiny meow...no, I was just wishing it...then I heard a tiny rustle in the bushes and out pops a little head...I thought, could it be, YES, IT WAS JACK!!!

I scooped him up and held him tight, I could hardly believe it was him but it was! He began purring that loud purr of his...but he was scared, he kept trying to get down and run, but I held him tight by the nap of his neck and close to me. I called out to Ron, "I've got him!"

We all loaded back into the truck...Jack settled right down in my lap next to our little dog and he started to purr. Off we went for home and as we pulled into the driveway, I held him up so he could see where he was and he looked all around...seeing his chickens and his horses and his barn and haystack...he knew he was home!

He was so happy..he couldn't love on us enough, I put him on his shelf in the garage so he could get a drink and eat but he didn't want anything but to lay down in his favorite spot... and then he fell sound asleep.

I said a prayer...thanking my Father in Heaven...thanking him for keeping Jack in that same spot all day long...thanking him that we didn't give up but went back to look, one more time. Thanking him for blessing a very scared little cat to finally get over the shock of it all and come out of those bushes to the people who loved him. Thanking the Lord for the great faith he has given to me, to always, always turn to him no matter what!

I am sure that to some, it would seem so silly for a grown woman to love an animal so much that her heart would break over such a thing as this was...but I had nursed this little animal back to health and I had done this awful thing to him...carried him away from his home and into a scary place and then left him there. Yes, it broke my heart in two...but through God's wisdom and love and understanding and tender mercy...He answered my prayers and lead us to bring this little Jack home again.

My faith has always been strong all my life...now, it is even stronger, now my love that I have always carried in my heart for my Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer, is even stronger. All my life, they have been teaching me...by these kinds of experiences and many more as I have been a wife and mother...to have total faith in them, and I do. They know all things and can do all things...their way is my way, their tender mercies and miracles are the very thing I need as I go through this life...I am SO grateful for lessons learned.

I am here to testify to you...Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are REAL...they love us and are here for us...to help us through the hard points in our life. They will never leave us alone, we can always, for any reason, call upon them for their help...for their great and tender mercies, always.

So there is my story...I share it with you my friends... I hope you won't think it silly. I hope you will know of the truth, as I testify to you of these things, that I know to be true.

Sending all my love to each of you, hoping that in your life you will know that these things are true... that you will know that this is the way...the Lords way for our faith and trust in Him and the way of our happiness in this life and the life to come.