Thanksgiving, the cat and the rattlesnake
11/19/2008
I did the unthinkable on Saturday night, I left the garage door open, and as I said in another From Gini’s Heart, “At certain times during the year, the rattlesnakes are very active.” Well, one did mosey in and was going to stay the winter in our garage. It found a cozy spot amongst our junk. The snake enjoyed his cozy home for about a day, than Sunday night, we could say, all hell broke loose for the snake and us.
Our cat likes to hunt around the garage at night, I guess because it makes her feel like a big-game hunter with the bugs and all. And she was doing just that, when I felt this urge (The Holy Spirit’s leading for sure!) to go get the cat even though she had just been in our garage for about 10 minutes. I opened the door and called her. As she was walking over to me from the same direction the snake was, I heard this loud rattling sound. My first thought was, “the water heater is certainly having a fit, then it hit me like a ton of bricks - we have a rattlesnake in the garage”. To make a long story short, my husband pulled the cars out and found where the snake was coiled. He called the fire department and off it went to a new winter home. (Hopefully, not in someone else’s garage!)
As the fireman was leaving, he said, “That is a big snake, he could have easily bitten your cat”. A chill ran through me! Then I knew God had warned me of the danger to our cat (as well as us). I still don’t know why the snake was so alarmed and the cat wasn’t, because it just makes sense the snake was rattling its tail off because the cat had been snooping around it. I can’t explain how the cat wasn’t bitten, except that God in His infinite love protected the cat. Was it a miracle? I wish I knew, but I do know that this woman is mighty thankful to our God, who watched over a small gutsy cat that means a lot to us but no one else.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts (temple) with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing. Psalm 100:4 & 107:22 NASB®
Because of His protection and love, Gini I am thankful for all of you!
PS I know some of you have read this and are thinking God didn’t protect my ____. Well, 7 years ago God didn’t protect our other cat and it was killed by a coyote. So why does God allow some things to end in a positive way, and others not? Read my two devotions on - Why God allows suffering and Where is God when I hurt… to hear my thoughts on this.