That Time I Was Embarrassed To Pray For Lola

As some of you may know by the pictures Catherine and I posted last week, our boxer Lola has been having some issues with her hind leg. After multiple vet visits and an MRI, it looks like our sweet girl has some pretty severe arthritis on her spine and that’s affecting the connection between her mind and leg. In other words, she wants to use her leg like she always has but the muscles aren’t receiving the message the mind is sending. It’s a tough pill to swallow because there’s really no cure for Lola, just pain management. I’ve had her since she was six weeks old and she’s been with me just about every day since. And yes, leaving her and Ellie for 3 months while filming The Bachelor was the worst part of the whole process for me. Anyway, it’s hard to accept that she’s in the 4th quarter of her life but it’s just one of those things you have to deal with when you have a pet.

The other night Catherine and I went to our bi-weekly Bible study which we do with other married couples from our church who have become very close friends of ours. We always wrap up the night by taking prayer requests. We have one friend of ours who has had some really heart-breaking fertility issues and as a group, we all prayed over her. The leader of our group asked if there were any other requests and although I thought about Lola, I remained silent. I mean, in what universe does a dog with a bum leg compare to a woman who has suffered tremendous heart-break with these fertility issues? The sheer idea of praying for my dog seemed silly in light of the much more devastating and important things going on in the world.

Well as we were all saying our goodbyes before leaving that night, one of the women in the group overheard me saying something to a friend of mine about Lola’s MRI, which was scheduled for the next day. Without hesitation, she said, “Guys, we need to pray for Lola before we leave.” I said, “no that’s silly. We don’t all need to pray for my dog.” To which she quickly responded, “That’s not silly at all. C’mon and let’s pray for Lola.” So the whole group got in circle and she prayed over Lola as if she were praying over a child with a serious illness. I have to admit, I felt embarrassed. I felt like in way it was disrespectful to the woman that we just prayed over.

The next day I was driving and I started thinking about the night before and how I was embarrassed to pray for my dog, and then it hit me: God loves me so much that He cares for my dog too. He understands the joy my dog brings me and no matter how silly I think it is compared to other’s problems, He still cares. Not only does God care about my dog, he cares about all the other “little” things in my life too and I don’t ever need to feel embarrassed or feel like things aren’t “big enough” for God. After all, Paul says in Philippians 4:6- Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

So that’s my message, learn from me and bring everything to God. Big or small, He wants to hear about it because He loves you so much. I also want to say thank you for everyone who was genuinely concerned for Lola. She’s laying at my feet as I type this and snoring her little heart out.

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