..."and a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the way of holiness; evil minded people shall not travel on it, but it shall be for those wayfarers who are traveling toward God. (Isaiah 35:8, adapted)



Saturday, March 03, 2007

When Your Pet Dies, God Cares (Abbey & Meredith)

Abbey & Meredith: God cares about our pets
and our broken hearts, small and big! This story
came to my email box and I wanted to share it.

Some of you may know that our 14 year old dog,
Abbey, died last month (12/23). The day after
she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was
crying and talking about how much she missed
Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to
God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God
would recognize her. She dictated and I wrote:

Dear God, Will you please take special care of our
dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is in heaven.
We miss her very much. We are happy that you
let us have her as our dog even though she got sick.
I hope that you will play with her. She likes to play
with balls and swim before she got sick. I am
sending some pictures of her so that when you see
her in heaven you will know she is our special dog.
But I really do miss her. Love, Meredith Claire

P.S.Mommy wrote the words after Mer told them to her.

We put that in an envelope with 2 pictures of Abbey,

and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return
address on it. Then Mer stuck some stamps on the front
because, as she said, it may take lots of stamps to get a
letter all the way to heaven) and that afternoon I let
her drop it into the letter box at the post office. For a
few days, she would ask if God had gotten the letter yet.
I told her that I thought He had. Yesterday, for Labor
Day, we took the kids to Austin to a natural history
museum. When we got back, there was a package
rapped in gold paper on our front porch. Curious,
I went to look at it. It had a gold star card on the
front and said "To: Mer" in an unfamiliar hand.
Meredith took it in and opened it. Inside was a book

by Mr. Rogers, "When a Pet Dies." Taped to the inside
front cover was the letter we had written to God, in its
opened envelope. On the opposite page, one of the
pictures of Abbey was taped under the words
"For Meredith." We turned to the back cover, and
there was the other picture of Abbey, and this
handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Mer, I know that you will be happy to know that
Abbey arrived safely and soundly in Heaven! Having
the pictures you sent to me was such a big help. I
recognized Abbey right away. You know, Meredith,
she isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me--just
like she stays in your heart--young and running and
playing. Abbey loved being your dog, you know. Since
we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any
pockets!-- so I can't keep your beautiful letter. I am
sending it to you with the pictures so that you will have
this book to keep and remember Abbey. One of my
angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little
book helps. Thank you for the beautiful letter. Thank
your mother for sending it. What a wonderful mother
you have! I picked her especially for you. I send my
blessings every day and remember that I love you very
much. By the way, I am wherever there is love.

Love, God, and the special angel who wrote this after
God told her the words.

Let us be the compassionate hands of Christ
to others. Take an extra minute to be kind.

dogs in heaven




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