Debbie W. Wilson

Refreshing Faith

How a Sick Dog Changed How I Look at Easter

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My son and I spent the evening before Easter in the pet emergency clinic. Our female standard poodle had woken up vomiting. Bloody diarrhea replaced her nausea as the day wore on.

By: Nana B Agyei

Four different pet emergencies arrived at the clinic about the same time we entered. The assistant visited with each of us to rank our urgency. A woman and her grown daughter arrived carrying a dog that had been viciously attacked by another dog. She rightly gained first spot and was sent on to the NC State Vet School.

Next, the chocolate-gobbling pooch was seen. Easter candy? The doctor quickly returned with good news. The chocolate was out. We continued to wait for our turn.

Cosette shifted in quiet misery. She looked like how you feel when your body aches with an acute virus. No position is comfortable. Cosette, usually our little sparkplug, barely noticed the other dogs that passed by her.

The vet said Cosette was dehydrated and needed IV fluids. She had to stay overnight. They hoped she didn’t have her older brother’s dreaded Addison’s disease.

That night, the word “substitute” floated through my sleep. I’m not sure why. Maybe it came because it was Easter and I’d been reading Isaiah 53. But remembering the Bible says the Lord counsels us in our sleep, I mused about how it related to my sick dog.Continue Reading

Remembering September 11th

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This post first appeared September 11, 2011. The lessons are still relevant. It seemed appropriate to bring it back in light of all that is going on in the world.

By: Jackie

By: Jackie

“Tomorrow’s September 11th,” I told our daughter.

“I know. I hope we don’t get any weird calls.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Did you know that our center answered the flight attendant’s call that day?”

My daughter works for American Airlines. She was imagining what it would be like to receive a call from someone on a plane hijacked by terrorists on a suicide mission. The thought sobered us both.

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What Good Can Come from Bad News?

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“The vet called. The tests on Max came back positive.” My husband’s words punched me in the stomach. Have you ever felt slugged by unwelcomed news?

IMG_0719Max is our two-year-old standard poodle. If I could use only one word to describe him, it would be magnificent. Max’s beautiful tail waves like a banner when he glides down the sidewalk. His coat is as thick as lamb’s fleece. When he was a puppy, we marveled the first time he watched a distant plane cross the sky. His sensitive spirit knows when to be gentle and when to play hard.

Max also impresses strangers. One man ran out of his house to get a closer look. Another pulled his truck over to ask about him. Perfect strangers want to have their pictures taken with him. Cosette, our other poodle, is cute but Max is magnificent.

The vet had tested Max for Masticatory Muscle Myositis (MMM). I’d hoped Max’s issues were a side effect of Addison’s disease. The descriptions of MMM are too horrible to fathom.

Knowing Max’s challenging health issues, you might think we wish we’d chosen another puppy. Not at all.Continue Reading

Forgiveness Brings FREEDOM, Part 7

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You forgave the person who wronged you even though they never apologized or changed. Now you wonder, how do I treat them when I see them? How do I keep uncomfortable feelings from controlling me?

The M in FREEDOM is Manage yourself.

We must be careful not to confuse forgiveness with tolerating sin. We must also guard against letting another’s wrongs negatively change us. We Manage ourselves by answering two questions:

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