Have you ever said a prayer and were surprised by how quickly the answer arrived?
I received the following story and am sharing it today with permission from Riley and Tom, his pet parent. Here’s Tom’s story…Enjoy!
Please Give Me A Sign! - Riley, An Extraordinary Dog with an Extraordinary Heart
Five or six years ago I attended a large conference where they had a variety of spiritual and inspirational speakers whose talks you could attend during the day and evening.
The event was being held at a large hotel, which happened to be pet friendly, so I decided to bring my dog, Riley, with me. Riley loves to travel - spending time in the car, hotels or just meeting strangers while traveling.
Riley is kind of an "old soul". He is good at reading people, sensing when people need comfort and being there for them. We adopted Riley when he was a few years old from a shelter, not knowing much of his history other than he had been abused.
So, I am at the conference and had some time between speakers. I went back to my room and took Riley out for a walk.
When I returned to my room, I had a difficult time finding my hotel room key. I dropped the leash and started digging through my backpack looking for it. After a while I finally found the key and when I went to grab the leash and Riley, I saw that Riley had vanished! This was strange because Riley just does not wander off from me.
I had this momentary panic of fear wondering where he went.
I start searching the hallways and I finally see him at the end of a hallway next to a woman who was crying hysterically. I sprinted down the hallway not knowing what was going on. I am thinking that maybe this woman was scared of Riley, I just don't know.
So when I get there, I ask the woman if she is ok and if Riley is bothering her. After the woman stops crying, she tells me that she was attending the conference since she was having a difficult time processing the recent passing of her dog. She was dealing with a lot of grief and thought maybe she might find some solace attending the conference.
She said that she was returning to her room after listening to one of the speakers. She said as she was walking back to her room she was praying to God to give her a sign that her dog was ok and she was going to be ok too. That is when out of nowhere Riley approaches her wagging his tail. She said when she saw Riley she just lost it and fell to the ground petting him and hugging him.
I will always remember that day!
Thank you, Riley and thank you, Tom for sharing this story of answered prayer!
What has your animal companion done to help you or others? Do they tend to show up in the knick of time as the answer to a prayer?
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