​The Gift of Faith For A Puppy

In Corinthians it talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I have come to understand that Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He has been a part of God forever. (We don’t even know how long forever is). Anyways the Holy Spirit has gifts that He gives to people. These aren’t like Christmas or Birthday presents, they are better.

One of them is the gift of faith. I have experienced this a few times and the best way for me to explain it is by using this example. When a child is little and one of their parents says, “Right after lunch I will take you for an ice cream cone,” and because the parent has always kept their word, the child knows they will do it. The child has a knowing in his/her heart that they are going for ice cream.

Well with the Holy Spirit there is a knowing in your heart that the thing you just thought or said is going to happen. The Holy Spirit doesn’t shout in your ear, “I will take you for ice cream". Sometimes he may give you that kind of message too but in the instance I am going to share it is the feeling.” The evidence is this strong feeling of faith. What does faith feel like? I’m not sure you can feel assurance but that’s what it felt like assurance that it is going to happen. And it is a gift from the Holy Spirit.

I will give you an example from my life.

When my husband was sick with leukemia God lead me to a church in Winnipeg. (That is another story I will write in the future) Anyway a couple of months after we returned home from Winnipeg we found ourselves going back to Winnipeg for appointments on a regular basis.

For months our youngest daughter pestered us non-stop about us getting her a puppy. We had an American Eskimo at home but Brit wanted a kid dog. (That was her phrase. Buddy our American Eskimo was okay with our kids but not really a dog the kids could cuddle.) We looked around home but there were no dogs that fit my specifications. We were going to stop on our way home from Winnipeg one day to see two sets of puppies but by the time we got back to Brandon they were all gone. I turned to Brit and I knew she was going to be disappointed and for some reason I said, “The puppies have all been given away but don’t worry there will be a puppy and we will know that puppy is yours.”

I almost wanted to take the sentence back. Why had I said that? I thought. But at the same time I was feeling that we would know that that puppy was Brit’s. It was a strong feeling and felt good and positive and kind of exciting. So I never recanted my statement. I just believed that what I said was going to happen.

A week later we were in Winnipeg but this time was for our other daughter’s ball tournament. At the end of a game I saw a couple of kids holding puppies. I pointed them out to Brit and we went over to see them. I asked if the pups were for sale. The girls said, “yes” and pointed to her mother in the stands. A girl handed a puppy to Brit. It crawled up her hoodie and went to sleep in her hood. Brit said,”I want this one.”

I talked to the lady for a few minutes. As we spoke she told me that one of the puppy’s names was Ringo. That was my childhood dog’s name. Then she said something about church. I wanted to ask her what church she went to but I thought that would be presumptuous so I didn’t. I wondered if it would possibly be the church that God led me to but I thought the chances were pretty slim because there were probably a hundred churches in Winnipeg. Anyway the nice lady asked us to go to her house the next day to see the pups. She told us to drive into Winnipeg and turn left at the first set of lights. That was the same street we turned on and the same area we lived in when we lived in Winnipeg just a few weeks before.

When we got to her house her husband opened the gate for us and there were eight cute puppies playing and tumbling over each other. The man said his wife was out doing hair. “Your wife is a hairdresser?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said

“So am I,” I said.  

Brit was on the ground playing with the puppies. My husband said “They are collies.” Neil had a collie when he was a teenager.

The man said, “Yes, but they have a bit of American Eskimo in them.”

“We have one of them at home,” I said. I was getting the idea that one of these puppies was Brit’s.
Kelly, the man’s wife came home. She showed us which puppy was Ringo and told us he was spoken for. We weren’t sure which one to get but we decided on the blue mural little girl. Kelly said she would be another week before she was ready to go because she was the runt of the litter. I said “That’s ok because Brittanie would be away at camp for a week.”

“Which camp? My kids go to Turtle Mountain Bible Camp.” Kelly said.

“My oldest daughter is there right now taking a DNT course.” I said in delightful surprise. This camp is an hour and twenty minutes from our home and three hours from Winnipeg.

Then I had to ask “Do you mind me asking what church you go to?

“Spring’s Church,” Kelly said.

That was the church I went to for the six months when we lived in Winnipeg. These people drove the perimeter to the other side of the city every Sunday just like I did, to go to the same church. I was pretty sure that blue mural sheltie collie named Cheka was Brittanie’s puppy. The reason I said “there will be a puppy and we will know that puppy is yours,” a week before and the faith that I felt was all a part of God’s plan.

Within a week I heard a speaker telling of how God told Abraham to look at the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea to remind him that he was going to be the father of many nations. At the same time I realized that we got Cheka as a reminder of Spring’s Church. The information I got there has changed my life. 

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