By Lauren Schwab

After a stressful day tending to my piglets and cats, I left church Monday evening being reminded by Beth Moore, “Fear is an invitation from God to have faith.” I needed those words to press through the heaviness my heart felt for the health of my animals.

This past weekend my cat Skunky began to have spell where he breathed out of his mouth gasping for air. It scared me so I took him to the vet and they confirmed he has asthma. We could treat him with a cat inhaler or give him a steroid pill to reduce the inflammation. We are giving him the pill but he doesn’t like it and is still having the attacks about once a day, I hope it decreases.

Many people may say it’s just a cat, but I feel called to tend to the animals. It gives me joy to tend to their needs and be their voice in times of distress. I want to do everything I can to give them the best life possible.

Skunky being a good boy at the vet office

Skunky and I in the barn cuddling after an asthma attack

I believe in miracles and healing, its hard for me to see an animal in distress and unable to help them. Perhaps I will forever be the pig and cat lady, but I believe they are gifts from God to humans and I must show respect for His creations. I also captured this precious creation of a newborn piglet a while ago on our farm. I decided to wish it a happy birthday as it came into the world and had its first drink of fresh milk from momma sow.

Don’t forget in miracles, while times can difficult and heaviness can weigh on our hearts and minds in uncontrollable time, remember the master of the universe in in control and shines His light onto us. I no longer run from things uncomfortable or fearful, as it reminds me to have faith. Faith doesn’t mean forgetting or unconcerning, it means having total trust in the Lord daily to take care of the worries in our hearts. By turning over our worries, we can be uplifted and our minds should remain on things above and not below on earth.

Colossians 3:1-4 tells us, “Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”