That sudden urge to get a dog wasn’t something that I could explain. Neither was my adamant refusal to get a puppy or even a small breed. I now realize that God was putting this on my heart. Knowing that my wife would soon be living alone, He wanted her to have a dog! In the end, this was my last purposeful gift to my wife, and it warms my heart to know that while I’m not living at home, she has a big, furry companion.

Kia has proven to be loving and supportive. When she thinks my wife is sad, she will come and sit beside her, raising up her paw to comfort her.

This isn’t the only time Kia will raise up her paw. She also does it to be cute, hoping to get treats, and any other time she is looking to be petted; and my wife can never refuse those soft eyes and that raised paw… Kia knows good and well that my wife is faithful, that all she needs to do is raise her paw and she will get her chest scrubbed!

Unfortunately for those who live in Eastern Canada, after a few days of positive temperatures when the snows all melted and the sidewalks were wet, what they call a “polar vortex” settled over our region, bringing our January temperatures down to -30 with the windchill. The sidewalks and roadways froze over, making ice skates the only sensible footwear. In response everyone threw out salt, and suddenly the very ground Kia walked on was detrimental to her feet. There was only one thing to protect her from the salt: Doggy boots!

My wife asked Kia to sit, and thinking she was about to get her chest rubbed, Kia put her paw up in the air. Imagine the look of total surprise and disillusionment on her doggy face when my wife took the offered paw and put it into a boot! The way she hung her head and pulled back, you would think my wife was hurting her. And perhaps she was! Though not physically, the message Kia gave was clear: I gave you that paw, ever trusting you to pet me; and when you put that boot on instead, you committed a breach of trust!

I see some strong parallels here between Kia’s reaction to the boots and our reaction sometimes to God. We also put our trust in God. We’ve learned He is faithful, and we expect Him to take care of us, to love us and to do what is right by us. A situation arises, and we turn it over to our Faithful Father, ever expecting Him to take care of it for us. Only sometimes He doesn’t. Or at least that’s how it seems to us! Wait! Aren’t those unanswered prayers … a breach of our trust?

To fully understand this, we have to go back to my dog. She doesn’t understand that the boots are to protect her paw pads, thus preventing significant unpleasantness in the future. Could it be that we, also, don’t understand that God’s response—or lack of one—could also be to protect us? To prevent future unpleasantries? Perhaps even dangers?

The thing is, God IS faithful! “…for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6b NIV); “if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13 NIV). He is our loving Father: “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8 NIV). Every gift of His is for our good: “…you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 NIV).

What this tells us is that when it seems like there’s been a breach of our trust, it is because God has something better in mind. He is protecting us, He is preparing something beautiful. Will we follow Kia’s example and get upset? Or will we trust that the apparent “breach of trust” isn’t that at all? That it is simply God preparing and protecting us from what we cannot yet see?

Think about it!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries