When you need to keep believing

On our daily walks, our dog Lucy has become friendly with a neighborhood cat. This cat for some reason is crazy about dogs. Lucy begins looking for Rex even before we get to his house, and when we arrive, she plants herself in the driveway and waits for him to come and greet her. Often, he’s watching for her, too, but occasionally he’ll be stalking a mouse and we’ll have a wait a minute or two for him to break away. Lucy and Rex put on quite a show rubbing against each other.

We’ve come to love Rex who is one of the sweetest cats ever.

So, you can imagine our sadness when we arrived to find a notice on our neighbor’s mailbox saying Rex had been missing for two days. Lucy still stopped but after encouragement, she moved on when he didn’t appear. A couple of days after that, the sign disappeared. We wondered if Rex had been found or if this meant bad news. During this time, Lucy still paused each day to see if he was there.

Later in the week, Lucy came to the house, plopped herself in the driveway, and would not leave. I encouraged, I begged, and I tugged. Nothing. She sat like she was glued to the concrete and gazed toward the house. I didn’t know what to do. There was no way I could carry an eighty-pound dog and Jerry was not at home. It was heartbreaking to see her search for him. I was standing there wondering how to get reinforcements when Rex emerged from the garage and headed toward Lucy.

Lucy knew Rex was there even though I couldn’t see him, and she was not leaving until she had a reunion.

The sight of Lucy sitting in the driveway not giving up until she saw Rex has given me much to think about myself.

God will give us a promise, and it feels like those times we get in the car to drive to Atlanta. The GPS says it will take an hour and a half to reach our destination. We’ll drive for forty-five minutes, and it still says it will take an hour and a half. Sometimes, it feels as if we could drive all day and it would still take an hour and a half to get to Atlanta. And with God’s promises, if can sometimes feel the longer we go, the further away they seem from fulfillment, too.

But we can’t give up. We must plant ourselves in the driveway like Lucy and hold fast that God will do what He says He will do.

We look for fulfillment as if it were already ours, and we are unshakable in our belief.

There’s a little story in Streams in the Desert that has always blessed me. It begins with Mark 11:24, “Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be.” It’s about a little boy who was counting on a stamp album from his grandmother for Christmas. The album did not come but the little boy boasted of it to his friends as if he had it. When questioned about telling a lie, he explained his grandmother said she would get one, and that was the same as having it. After another month passed without it coming, he was told maybe his grandmother forgot it. He would not accept that and decided to write a letter thanking her for the album. A letter in response came in which his grandmother wrote she had tried multiple times to obtain the album but couldn’t and was sending the money for him to buy one himself. To which he said, “Didn’t I tell you?” to those who questioned his belief. “While he was trusting, grandma was working, and in due season faith became sight.”

So, friends, if the promise is long in being fulfilled, remember Lucy in the driveway, and the little boy and his stamp album. Keep trusting and believing. God is at work for you. 

Beverly Varnado is the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, a Christmas novella, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. A memoir, Faith in the Fashion District,  from Crosslink Publishing  is also available as well as her other books, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee. She also has an Etsy Shop, Beverly Varnado Art. 

To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com

Beverly Varnado copyright 2022