Pam Padgett ... teacher
Nearly a month ago my dog had an infection which required
medication for her to recover. At the vet's office I was asked if she had been in any
lakes or ponds. At first I didn't think so, but then was reminded of a pond on the golf course behind my
house which the dog had gotten into. We believe this is where the dog
was infected. Since then, I have been careful to not let the dog get
into any of the ponds.
However, the past few days she has started having diarrhea similarly
to what happened with the infection. Since she hadn't been in any
ponds, I thought maybe this time she had just eaten something that was
causing a minor problem and it would get better on its own. But when
she woke me multiple times one night needing to go outside, I felt
it was time to get an appointment setup with the vet. One of my neighbors takes her dog to the
same vet and had told me a couple days earlier she had tried to make an
appointment but the vet had no openings for 2-3 days. Because of this I expected a delay.
When I called the vet's office I didn't even consider they would have an appointment available that day and asked if there was any way to get an
appointment for the following day. I was told time was available on the current day and the following day. Strangely, it was so strongly in my mind that there would be a delay because of what the neighbor said, that I set the appointment for the following day rather than taking the current day's appointment.
Then I remembered to pray.
I was immediately reminded that when the dog had gotten into the pond
almost a month ago, I had put her in a wading pool to get cleaned
off before taking her inside for a bath. I drained the water
from the pool and set it aside but didn't clean it. It had not been used again until this
past weekend. When I got it out, it was a little dirty, but I had forgotten this was from the pond. Knowing the pool would be even dirtier
after the dogs played in it, I didn't clean it.
Being reminded of this "woke me up". I realized the dog was probably infected again and needed medicine as soon as possible before the infection worsened. I called and rescheduled the vet appointment for the
current day.
We can be far more affected by what people say than we may realize.
How important it is to turn to God with each thing we face, not relying on our own understanding. We don't know the best way to go and may even be affected by what someone else has said without realizing it. But God knows the best way for us and is able to lead us in that way.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.