Last night I was reminding the kids that today was Fast Sunday when Sammy piped up about the three times in his life that he has fasted. Once for my Grandma, his Mormor, once for a woman in our ward who the kids call "Aunt Jana", and once for George, our she-gerbil.
A little over a month ago Nancy, the other gerbil, got out of the cage. Sadly this escaping was turning into a regular event (under the fridge is the favorite hiding place). Needless to say, I wasn't very happy, especially when it was going on a week and she was still on the lam.
One morning we were all ready for our school Opening, a rare event when all the morning chores were done, the baby was napping and we had nothing scheduled for the entire morning except to read some books and play some games that I had pulled out. Just as I was getting settled in, Mason came sobbing to me holding a very cold and lethargic George.
I was certain that she was a goner. She had recently been on the lam herself (found UNDER MY BED), and I thought that perhaps she had gotten injured in the recapture. I had Mason put her under his shirt next to his skin to see if he could warm her up, but really that was more so that he would feel better giving him something to do to try to help her. I tried to prepare the kids for the inevitable demise of their beloved she-gerbil, and we all (including me) took turns holding her and trying to make her as comfortable as possible for when she would leave us. I found an old, soft sock that we put her in so that she would be easier to hold, and we passed it around every so often, telling things that we remembered about George.
After over an hour of this, I stepped out of the room to call Stephen and let him know the state of our kids, and while I was gone, every child said a prayer for George. Also, I found out later, every child decided to fast so that George would get better and not die. Soon I was called back into the room, "Mom! She's moving!" Sure enough, she had a little more life, but I was still convinced she wasn't going to last long, so tried to keep the kids from getting too excited. However, as I held her and felt her moving all around and saw her eating again, my hard heart was softened and I realized that God really does hear the pleas of his little ones.
Not every prayer they offer will have the same results, obviously, because neither my Grandma or Aunt Jana are still here, but maybe my kids needed this small miracle to look back on to realize that God does hear and answer their prayers.
We later found out from our veterinarian friend that she possibly might have been going into hibernation, and warming her up was just what she needed to snap out of it. Even if that was the case, I still choose to believe that a loving Father in heaven was showing some of his faithful little ones that he cares about what is important to them. And that is knowledge worth having!
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