A happy ending

Every day Friend Kat walks her three dogs. She noticed a dog in an old abandoned field, that seemed alone and as if no one cared for him. She has no place at home for another dog- she has three of her own- Pepper, Elsie and Max. But every day the face of that dog haunted her when she went home.

The dog

Few days later, her housemate, seeing how upset she was on her return from her doggy walks, brought the fellow home- they had no space for another fellow but they decided to keep him in their yard and give him water and food till they found a home for him. See the apprehensive look on his face.

She sent messages to all her friends and others she knew and finally when no appropriate response came, she posted on groups, that they would have to return the dog to the field where they found him.

Thjs is where they found him and where he would have to go back

One woman wrote back” stop him”- just that- two words-“stop him”. She said “I can keep him for exactly three days while you find a home for him”.

Kat and her housemate drove Flash( as they named him) to the woman’s house- she already had two rescue dogs at home and was willing to open her home to a third dog temporarily. Kat searched high and low for another family that would take this dog.

Meanwhile he made friends with his new doggie mates.

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  Waiting expectangly with his new friends

It has now been six weeks since he has been with this new family. The woman didn’t give him up after three days. She got him checked by the vet. He enjoyed being inside than out in the heat.

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  To the vet

The vet gave him a clear certificate- all good.

I am good and I can stay!!

Now he is on his way to the US with the woman to his forever home.

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  Finally I belong!!

Isn’t that a happy ending?

Recognizing God’s Goodness

This morning I was led to read Daniel 4. Over the past few days, I have been reading of King Nebuchad-Nazer and the various instances where God worked in the kingdom through Daniel. In Chapter 4, King N.Nazer decided to praise himself for the glory that was Babylon. He had been blessed because he had recognized the “mightiness of God’s wonders” and that God’s kingdom endures from generation to generation. Somewhere along the way, he came to think everything was because of his own greatness. And as the old proverb says- pride comes before a fall.

I have had instances like this in my life. Everyday driving to work is an ordeal for me- it is a good 45 minutes drive on a working day to my university. Sometimes I become so complacent and proud and think I drive to work because I am skillful at driving- that I can handle the gears and the car well- I forget that the engine can overheat anywhere on the highway and I can be stranded by the road in the extreme heat. I forget that I often don’t have my mobile phone with me and might have to depend on the kindness of strangers to call for help to get me out of there. Recently I started thinking how my driving had improved and I had become quite proficient in handling the reckless desert traffic, where everyone is in a rush to get out of the heat and into the comfort of an office building. I thank God that I was led to this passage, to remember and thank God that he keeps me safe and that he shows me how to drive and keeps the car cooled when it could easily have stalled and when the road I usually take to my university was closed for huge repairs and with no access road to access my university, he took me to another road, which was even better than my set path which I had been driving on for at least three years now.

Not by my cleverness or intelligence Lord, but by your grace and mercy.

I just cleaned my Mac

Having time with nothing to do is a luxury I get quite often and enjoy too. Especially if I can share that time with just my animals and plants.

Today I cleaned my Mac and I feel relieved that a lot of junk has gone away. Perhaps my computer will work better for the clean.

I have been debating whether to pursue my dreams or not. All the naysayers tell me it is too late- I am 50( just a week more to go to reach my half century mark) and what is the point of doing this degree. On the resources side, everything seems to be in place but as the years go by, I am losing my confidence in my ability to do this. Not actually do it but the fact that I may invest all this money, only to have to abandon the course half or some way through. Is it worth it ? Should I even invest in this?

My supervisor doesn’t believe I will leave. She doesn’t think that a midlife woman would quit a very lucrative job for a journey that can only be termed a ” leap of faith”. Like last year, she thinks I will come back to the job and start over and not pursue my education. Well, I don’t know about that but I know the dream is still inside me and is burning ferociously inside of me. Sometimes I think I will do it when I am 70, if that is the last thing I will do in my life.

My family thinks I need to concentrate on my children and their lives rather than pursue my dreams.

I think I need to give my life a new Clean just like my computer and maybe my life will move ahead better.

Have you ever felt your life is at a standstill and there is still something God expects you to do in life but you can’t do it because of all the materialistic things that pull you down ? I can truly understand now what the Bible meant when it says” The truth will set you free. Faith will set you free.” I think it means that when you truly believe, you can clean your life up and be free of all the attachments that draw you down or make you put down roots where you don’t want them to grow.

Sicknesses and healing

We came back from our last trip home with a daughter who was nursing a severe cold. She was achy and was tired- this time around, I had decided to make sure she would get only home remedies to get her out of this bout of illness. I did Magnesium oil and Axe oil rubs for all the aches, hot broths, herbal concoctions made of ginger, spice mixes sweetened with sugar. Four days of constant nursing and she recovered without having to put her through dose of antibiotics, which we are guilty of having put her through multiple times in the past as quick fixes. She was healthy throughout her entire summer vacation until she left for her college, first days of June.

Few days after she developed her infection, both hubby and I started off with sore throats, aches and pains and the depression that comes along when there is a virus going around. I nursed myself to health with vitamin C and cod liver oil and a lot of hot fluids. My husband who has a lot of other diseases, took it bad. His infection went from his throat, down his larynx and to his bronchi and to even his smallest lung lobules, possibly even his alveoli. He has been wheezing and panting and coughing for three weeks now. I had to buy a nebulizer so he could get a whiff of bronchodilator drugs when he felt he couldn’t breathe anymore.

Many of the drugs my husband is on- they produce more side effects than the actual effect the drug is supposed to bring about. For example, his blood pressure medications often have no effect on his blood pressure but a lot of effect on other body functions- his sugar is often high and he needs to be on blood sugar controlling medications too. Compound all of these illnesses with his current illness which left him literally gasping for air. The nebulised salbutamol caused him palpitations and even worse symptoms than before. It didn’t help at all that the weather is so hot that the Air conditioners need to run full time- the cold air contracts his bronchi even more and he is symptomatically worse in a room cooled with air conditioned air. Having a very furry, hairy cat at home doesn’t seem to help too.

Till yesterday morning,after another night of harsh wheezes and coughs, I had had enough. I prayed fervently for respite and help. There was nothing our Lord couldn’t do, right? So I prayed. It was 5 in the morning and bright daylight outside. I had reached the end of my tether. It struck me that maybe I need to get a humidifier and switch off the ACs in our house. My supervisor had a mold allergy and had bought a humidifier a couple of years ago. I asked my husband and he said, ok, lets go to a 24 hour pharmacy and see if we can buy a humidifier.

We drove to the nearby pharmacy and in the car, my husband said he felt a lot better. I was thinking of taking him out for a drive and away from the air at home. On the way, we stopped at the pharmacy and got a air cleaner cum humidifier. It was rather costly- more than 300 $. My husband vetoed the idea of the drive and we decided to go back home and try the humidified cum air washer. A few minutes after we filled it up with water and put it on, my husband went off to sleep- he slept like a baby- he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since he started off this infection. Four hours later, he woke up refreshed, and his lungs feeling a lot better. Another nap in the afternoon, post lunch and he says he feels even more well.

Sometimes, we try to do the time tested things- antibiotics, cough syrups everything, and nothing works. Then we pray and pray hard and a brain wave hits us. And that is the miracle we have been praying for. I believe we got the idea of the humidifier and the air quality being poor at home because we decided we could not do anything more – we should have handed things over to the Great Physician sooner- but we humans have a habit of bungling along, thinking we know it all and liking to be hands on- a knock on the head is what we require often to make things fall into perspective.

My husband is so much better he has taken off on a trip to Singapore to attend a conference. I can’t believe this is the same man, who was gasping for breath, yesterday morning.