Experiencing Divine Intervention: A Miraculous Story of Finding Our Lost Dog
I think a lot if not most of us have experienced divine intervention a time or two in our lives. The following story chronicles an event that really took me by storm. But God was there. There can be no other explanation.
Day 1
July 4th of 2020, the family was out in the backyard celebrating with a smoking hot grill, iced cold beverages and of course, fireworks. As the evening grew older, more people in the neighborhood began their celebration, thus turning the sky into a colorful storm.
Our dog Cleo, like most other dogs, didn’t receive the noise very well so we put her in the house and gave her a CBD supplement that was suppose to keep her anxiety down. She was in the house and out of the picture, so we didn’t think anything of it. It was just a normal 4th of July for us. Off and on we would go in to the house to check on her and there she was lying on the couch, awake but calm. And keep in mind, we have had Cleo since she was 6 weeks old and have spent 7 years, so we never thought that anything out of the ordinary would transpire.
So the night was ending and we were out of fireworks and my other half went in to use the bathroom and noticed that Cleo was no longer on the couch. She called out her name and nothing. She checked the entire house front to back and still, no Cleo. She then discovered after alerting me to the situation that the spare bedroom window had for whatever reason been left open and the screen was ripped outward. Cleo had gotten out. She had gotten loose a few times over the years but never strayed out of ear shot, so we saw no reason for an immediate panic.
It was an hour later, we were still out in the front and backyard calling for Cleo and still, nothing. Fireworks were still going loud and it dawned on us that Cleo could be lost and confused of her whereabouts and cannot hear us over the explosions. So I decided to get in the car and comb the area for her. Nothing. Now I was panicking. I drove around for over an hour looking for her. Nothing.
When I got home I remember saying, “Please Father, let her have found her way back!” Nothing. I stayed up most of the night waiting for Cleo on the front porch but she never came.
Day 2
After getting maybe 2 hours of sleep, I jumped off the couch and went outside to see if Cleo had made her back but still, nothing. At this point my wife and I were an emotional wreck. We just knew that someone had taken her and she was in someone’s backyard scared and alone.
I took the other half to work and kept the car so I could drive all over the north side of town looking for Cleo. I went to the shelters, I talked to neighbors and no one had seen any dog that matched her description. I went back home and starting posting her on social media hoping that someone had seen her or found her and was looking for the owner. There were several responses from people that thought they saw her and even others that were able to take pictures but by the time I was able to make way over to that area there was still no sign of Cleo anywhere.
What can you do when you feel so helpless in a situation? When the illusion of “control” actually seems far fetched? You pray. I drove around for hours on end in tears, desperate to find my baby, but failed at every turn. Throughout the entire ride, I was begging and pleading with the Father to hear my prayers. But as the day grew older and the gas tank emptied, I decided to head home to see if Cleo had made her way back and still, nothing.
It was getting close to time to pick the wife up from work. I stopped by the gas station to fill up and asked a couple of people in passing if they had seen Cleo. No luck.
When we got home, we decided to walk for several blocks to leave behind our scent in case Cleo was in the area and she could find her way home. We talked to more people in passing but no one had seen her. The situation was becoming more and more hopeless by the minute. When we got home we logged on to social media to see if anyone had reported seeing her. Nothing.
Day 3
I took the wife to work and started out on the other side of town. I drove up and down every street in the neighborhood and talked to people in passing but no one had seen Cleo. To this day, I cannot begin to describe the emotional state that I was in. I was on very little sleep, a lot of coffee and full of fear that I was never going to see my baby again.
I remember going into prayer. Only this time, I didn’t beg and plead. I held God to His Word. To His promise to hear my prayers. I began quoting scripture and demanding an answer. ANY ANSWER at that point. I remember a strong feeling of Faith and unusual comfort that began to emerge within me as I sternly quoted the Father’s promises to hear and answer his children when they call out. Suffice to say, I was comforted but confused.
Before I knew it, the day had gone by and it was time to end the search and pick the wife up from work. On the way home we were contemplating on making a few rounds on the south side of town to see if we could locate our Cleo but decided that we were just too physically and mentally exhausted. So we decided to stop by the gas station to fill up before going home and calling it a night.
It was approximately 7:12pm when we approached the stop sign to turn on our street 3 houses down. I heard a voice saying, “turn left.” It literally sounded like I had a backseat driver. I turned the radio down and sat in silence for a split second before I heard the voice again say, “turn left.” I remember saying to wife, “hold on”, as I turned on the signal and made the left turn.
“Where are you going”, she asked.
I just drove and didn’t say a word. As we went down several blocks, I heard the voice again. “Turn right.” I asked no questions. As we approached the next block, I made the right turn just as the voice told me to.
Now this is where it becomes obvious that the Father had heard my cries. As we drove down the street in total silence, I noticed the atmosphere had changed, for lack of a better way of putting it. The sun was setting directly over the street, through the trees and the sun rays were just overlapping everything! It was like the scene of a movie! It was unreal. At least it seemed that way.
In the distance directly in the center of the street, we saw a silhouette of “some type of animal” walking straight for us. My wife burst into tears and screamed, “Is that Cleo?!”
I floored it. As we approached, the sun rays faded away and my view of Cleo became vividly clear! I just jumped out of the car and ran towards her. It was her. Her collar was missing and she looked like she had the roughest weekend of her life, but it was Cleo! Residents were outside watching but at that point, I could not have cared less. My Cleo was right there and at the moment I fell to my knees to hold her, I felt an intense pressure in my chest and the tears of joy just poured out! My Father in Heaven answered my cries and we had our Cleo back.
Here we are approaching yet another 4th of July in 2024 and there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think back to that period of my life when God the Father heard and answered my cries. It will always be a blessing and a wonderful story to tell to anyone that is struggling with their Faith.