Praying for a catr a c


by Ginger Robinson


and say, “No, we’re not getting a cat. Maybe a dog someday, but not a cat.” We were living in a small apartment that barely had room for us when Chel- sea, then age 7, ran in the door after school one day and said, “Stacy’s cat is having kittens! Can I have one?” I sighed and said, “We don’t have room for ourselves; maybe when we get a house.” She looked heartbroken and walked away. Later that day, Stacy came over and said she was glad we were tak- ing not only one kitten, but two! I had to smile because Chelsea had resorted to other tactics to get a cat. Thinking how much I didn’t like cats, I told Stacy that we were not taking any of her kittens, and the girls went outside to play. Later, Chelsea and I were in the easy chair reading and she proudly told me, “I’m gonna ask God to give me a cat!” As she sat back comfortably, I was shocked that she would go over our heads. The statement was made strongly with the faith of a mustard seed, but I thought, God won’t give her a cat. He knows I don’t want one. A few weeks later, we heard scurry- ing noises inside the bedroom wall. The noises would stop only when somebody began talking, so we determined it must


W


HEN OUR DAUGHTER Chelsea was 5 years old, she started asking for a cat. We would scrunch up our noses


be a mouse and called the landlord. The landlord said, “Thank you for telling me,” but did absolutely nothing.


Finally, the little varmint made its way through the wall and into our apart- ment. We bought an electronic device that supposedly drives mice away, and we put glue traps everywhere.


One day my husband shouted, “I just saw him!” As the mouse raced with terri- fied quickness toward our bookcase, my husband placed more glue traps around the bookcase and sat down smiling. “Oh, I’ve got him now, baby!” he said. I left for work chuckling as the children cheered Daddy on.


All that day I was eager for the procla- mation of a dead mouse. When I returned home, I saw the curtains raised at the hallway entrance and the glue traps still around the bookcase. There was a tuft of brown hair on one of the glue traps, so I asked my husband, “Did you get him?” “No. He was stuck to the glue, but when I started to take him outside he wiggled loose and ran off.” He added, “I talked to Ira today, and he’s gonna let us borrow his mouser to get the mouse.” He looked at me and I nodded as we both thought the same thing: Get rid of the mouse by any means necessary. My husband went to the home of his boss, Ira, to pick up the cat, but it ran away and hid. When this happened a couple more times, my husband said,


“We’re gonna go to the Humane Society and get us a kitten.” However, the day we went to find a kitten, the Humane Society was closed.


“Let’s look in the newspaper and get one this weekend,” I said. I was growing weary of the mouse, and had already con- sented to the idea that we would have to get a kitten to get rid of it. That night my husband tried calling a couple of people, missing one and not being pleased with the next. Our phone rang at 8:00, and a female voice said, “Did someone call my house from this number?” I told her we had called looking for a kitten. She said she had a cat, not a kitten. I was appre- hensive but finally agreed, and we left to pick him up.


I always thought I wasn’t a “cat per- son,” but the cat we picked up to catch a mouse is one of the most beautiful and affectionate animals I have ever met. In less than a week, he was already at ease being a part of the family.


There are many ways I could testify of how God answers prayer, but this is a prayer that was specific to my baby girl—something she fervently asked God for without wavering—and God answered her prayer. The Lord disrupted our lives to cause us to accept a feline into our family and show our 7-year-old that He is faithful.


Ginger Robinson lives in Beaumont, Texas. EVANGEL • SEP 2010 13


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