LEARNING FAITH THROUGH HEARTBREAK

This is CJ.

She is my protector. My little ScrappyDo. She loves to play fetch and to ride and is a scrappy little thing!

Last July 3rd, we were just trying to stay cool in the hot Oklahoma heat.
My son decided to go hang out at a friend's house. Our little blue heeler CJ loved to go for rides in vehicles and on ATVs, so my son took her with him.

Little did I know how much heartbreak could come from one decision.

You see, he and his friends decided to go to the river about 30 miles N (unbeknownst to us).
He came home late that night...without CJ....in tears.
She had gotten frightened by fireworks they were setting off on the bridge over the river.

He had looked for her for a long time, but she did not respond to his calling out for her.

My husband and I immediately went out and looked and looked. Still no CJ.

Of course over the course of time I was out, even staying there at night at the river bridge, calling and searching. I took flyers around to local houses and posted at the nearest convenience store around. (This is in the middle of nowhere.)

I even put flyers up on the bridge on either side so those visiting or passing over the bridge might see the flyer and look for her.

The first couple of weeks we received several calls that she was by the river, but that she would not go to anyone who called for her. After the first couple of weeks though, the calls stopped and the searing-hot temperatures rose to 100+ degrees.

With every drink I took, I felt guilty wondering if she had something to drink. With every bite of food I took I wondered if she was hungry.

It was agony. She was my furbaby after all.

Now I know some of you are thinking, "It's a dog! Get over it!". I couldn't. I couldn't let it go. I never felt a release in my spirit that she was dead.

I kept posting on Facebook and kept praying for her safety and for God to provide for her.

At one point I became so discouraged and posted to FB that I felt so guilty about eating and having water and I didn't know if she was hungry or thirsty. One person reminded me to have faith. She said, "The bible says that God provides for even the birds so He is providing for CJ." I began to cry. She was right. God is faithful to provide all of our needs, according to His riches in Glory!

So, I just continued to pray for CJ and ask the Lord to protect her and continue to provide for her. As July turned to August and August to September, I just kept praying.

In the beginning of September, I began to have very vivid dreams of CJ. I dreamed that she was back with us and that she was ok. Night after night, dreams of my sweet, protective CJ. I told my husband, Joe, that I felt that God was telling me she is coming home. He looked at me like I was out of my mind. He told me, in the nicest way he could, that I shouldn't get my hopes up and that she is almost certainly dead and that even if she was alive, she wouldn't be the same.

Me, being the stubborn gal I am, would not hear any of it! I just knew she was coming home.

The second week in September, a friend that works at that little convenience store in the middle of nowhere called me and said that a driver had noticed a dog out in the country and he was pretty certain it was CJ! He said she was a small blue heeler with her tail. This is a rare sight as most everyone around here cuts off their blue heeler's tails for some reason. I guess it makes them look meaner or something, The man did tell her that CJ, if it was CJ, was injured. She looked as if her leg was hurt.

I went to look where he said she was. I drove around, called for her but couldn't find her. I spoke with several who stopped to ask if I was having car trouble. I explained what I was doing and many of them had seen her too! I stopped at a friend's house that lived on the country road where she was seen and asked if they had seen her. SHE HAD! But for some reason she did not think it was CJ as it had been so long since she went missing.

Over the course of the next week, between the two of us we put out food and water and I put out a shirt that smelled like me weighted down with rocks.

Paw prints were seen by my shirt and it looked as if something had been laying on it. Dog hair was also found on it. Same color as hers! One day, my shirt was even moved across the road!

On the 21st of September I woke up and I felt God telling me to GO NOW! So, I threw on some clothes, pulled up my hair and off I went.

When I arrived she was nowhere to be seen. I called but she never came. So, I began filling the food container and went to grab the food out of my pickup and I caught a glimpse of something in the field out of the corner of my eye. The fence had very tall brush all around it, so I couldn't see very well, but out in the field I saw something hobbling away from me.

I called out to it, "CJ!". It stopped and turned and looked back at me and then continued to hobble away. It was about 200 yard from me but I could swear it was her! It was traveling parallel to the road so I jumped into my truck and drove up the road. I got about the area I last saw her in the field parallel to the road. I couldn't see because of the tall brush, but I felt the Lord tell me to speak gently because she was scared of loud noises.

I said in a more gently voice, "CJ. Come here baby. It's momma. You wanna go for a ride? You wanna go home? " It felt like forever, but finally I heard rustling in the brush to my right. I looked over to the fence where the sound came from and I could see her slowly making her way through the brush and under the barbed-wire fence. IT WAS CJ!!!

She came to me, crying and whimpering, tail wagging. I saw very quickly why she was limping. She had somehow gotten one leg through her collar, ( I am guessing that it got caught on a fence so she tried getting out of it). The collar had eaten deeply into her armpit. 79 days missing and there she was, standing in front of me!

(WARNING! PHOTO NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART!)

And she was very, very thin:

You could count every rib, but she was alive and she was HOME!

I took her to the vet and she gave her meds and treated her wound and told me the best place for her would be home with us.

So, I took her home. Recovery took some time:

But she was home:

And she won't go hungry or thirsty again:

And guess what?!? She is the same dog she was when she left! She still loves to play fetch. She still loves to ride in vehicles and on ATVs and she is still as scrappy as ever!

Here is the proof!

Not only did I have my sweet CJ back, but I saw the faithfulness and love for me, Tasha, that God has. And He loves you too.

I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for stopping by!

If you enjoyed this, please check out a few of my other recent posts:
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@oilyshumblehome/meet-my-granddaughter-chelsea

https://steemit.com/funny/@oilyshumblehome/need-a-good-laugh-look-no-further

https://steemit.com/homesteading/@oilyshumblehome/it-s-alive

https://steemit.com/prepping/@oilyshumblehome/making-my-first-tincture-so-easy

https://steemit.com/steemit/@oilyshumblehome/100-followers-milestone

Thank you and if you live what you see, please RESTEEM, UPVOTE AND FOLLOW!

Sincerely- Oily