Unpoisonable

“They will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:18, NKJV).

My household is now living proof of this Scripture. A few nights ago, our three cats were inadvertently exposed to rat poison that was put into a trap with some food. Hadwin and Alexander were soon showing the effects of having consumed some of it. To this day, we are not sure if Charlie had any.

I was away on a trip at the time. My daughter Anna called me sobbing at 1:00 in the morning. Hadwin is her kitty, and she is deeply attached to him. He was a provision from God in helping her through a very difficult season of her life. “Mom, the cats ate poison!” she managed to blurt out between sobs. “Charlie is dead!” My heart sank, and immediately I was reaching out for the Lord’s presence and strength.

We live in Iquitos, Peru, a city of about a half a million people in the middle of the Amazon Jungle. There are some veterinary clinics here that we have taken our animals to, but they all close by 8:00 pm. What in the world to do in such dire circumstances in the middle of the night? The obvious answer: you pray.

First, I prayed with Anna. I found this prayer coming up out of me: “Lord, we are asking You to do a miracle!” I almost second-guessed verbalizing this prayer, but it was such a strong impulse in my spirit that I went ahead and prayed those words with conviction.

After that, I got on the phone with my best friend Dawn and asked her to pray. This is the prayer that came out of her: “Lord, just like You did a miracle with that other kitty two months ago, would you do a miracle here now too?” As soon as I heard that wording, I had the confirmation in my spirit that we had our answer on the way. Dawn had no idea that she had just prayed the exact same way that I had a few minutes earlier. This was the Holy Spirit, confirming His message to me and giving me courage.

The other kitty she was referring to belongs to my grandma. She is a kitten. Her name used to be Opelette. In December, she was very ill. She kept getting worse, until she refused to eat. She was on the brink of death. My mom messaged and told me, “Unless God does a miracle, we are going to have to put her down in the morning.” I have such a tender place in my heart for animals. Tears formed in my eyes as I prayed from the depths of me for God to give us exactly that: a miracle.

Lo and behold, when my dad drove Opelette to the vet the next day for the deeply saddening procedure, our miracle happened. As soon as they arrived at the office, she started perking up, and showing quite a bit of spunk. The vet was amazed and exclaimed about the surprising turnaround, ordering new meds for her. She traveled back home with my dad, very much alive.

From that day on, she recovered quickly from the illness. It was so striking that my grandma, who doesn’t yet know Jesus, declared that her name is no longer Opelette, but Miracle! I am getting tears in my eyes again, remembering my joy over the news. No one is going to convince me that my loving Daddy God doesn’t respond to my heart cries!

So, when Dawn brought that kitty miracle into our prayer the night of our crisis, it bolstered my faith even more. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). The testimony of what He has done before, prophesies what He will do again.

To my great relief, Anna then told me that Charlie wasn’t dead after all. He actually seemed to be doing just fine. I called my oldest daughter, Ester, to pray with her too. I told her that I now had strong assurance in my spirit that all three of our kitties would be better than okay.

Amazingly, that very day, a few hours earlier, my husband Israel had seen something vital on the other side of the city. He rode by a sign that advertised, “Emergency Veterinary Services” with a phone number. He had never in his life paid attention to vet ads, but this one leapt out to him. He watched it closely as he drove by it in a motocarro, his head moving to keep looking at it as he passed it.

When the crisis struck, Israel remembered that sign. He got on his motorcyle and drove back to it to get the phone number. The vet answered and was immediately on his way to our house. He told us afterwards that he just “happened” to have the antidote we needed at his home. This is frequently not the case, he added. Isn’t that amazing? My Father made sure that it was the case this time.

The vet got to the cats rapidly. He was surprised to find them not looking nearly as badly as he expected. (May I interject that, this is clearly because God was already answering our prayers!) He went ahead and gave Hadwin and Alexander the shots.

Charlie ran away and managed to escape our yard by running up the tree and over the neighbor’s roofs. As a result, there was no way to get him the shot. Nevertheless, I told Ester that he was going to be just fine. She asked how I knew. I explained to her about the reassurance I had in my spirit from Holy Spirit and the way He had put it there.

Anna stayed up the rest of the night observing Hadwin and Alexander. They were perfectly fine. That afternoon, I got home from my trip. David came and said to me softly, “All three of them are okay.” I hugged him with tears in my eyes, thanking God. And there they were, looking like nothing at all had happened. Charlie had eventually come home, looking for his breakfast, as if to say, “I told you I didn’t need any shots!”

I immediately called Ester again, letting her know the absolutely wonderful news. “Mom, you’re going to make me cry at work, and that would be embarrassing!” she responded joyfully. I also told her all the amazing ways God had gone before us to take care of everything.

Indeed, what an unforgettable moment for all of us, experiencing for ourselves the truth of this promise: “Before [you] call, I will answer” (Is. 65:24). Before the crisis even happened, He made sure Israel saw that sign. And he made sure the vet had the shots our kitties needed in the middle of the night.

Maybe we should change their names to Miracle II, Miracle III, and Miracle IV!

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Do you have any animal miracles stories? I’d love to hear them!