God Guides, Part 3:

Just the Right Kitten

In GOD GUIDES, Parts 1 and 2, I told the story of how God cares enough to give us guidance every step of every decision we have to make. All we have to do is ask. And in the end, His timing is ALWAYS right!

But though we had finally made the decision to purchase a Ragdoll kitten from a Niagara Cattery, there was still a big decision to make: Which kitten?

This, I figured, was my husband's responsibility. After all, it was to be his kitten!

And like my boys and I with every part of this purchase, he turned to the Lord for guidance.

His first decision was: Male or female.

Oh. And he had to decide on a name - Or potential boy names and girl names!

We told him about his kitten on Thursday morning, and I returned from work on Friday to find him all excited: "I know what I want!" He told me. "I want a male!"

"Great!" I said. But I was a bit surprised. He had always had female animals. "What made you come to that conclusion?"

"God!" Was the answer. "While driving to work, I asked God to help me think of a good name, and He gave me a great boy name! But when I asked Him to give me a girl name, I didn't get anything!"

"Great!" I repeated. "So what's his name going to be?"

"Roxy!" He said.

I stared at him, thinking maybe he was joking, but the earnest look in his eyes told me he wasn't. As he is from Europe, and English is his second language, I realized it was up to me to enlighten him: "Uh," I said, "Roxy is a girl name!"

His jaw dropped open, and a look of confusion came over his face. "But … But …"

Suddenly he wasn't so sure that he should take a boy. In fact, he wasn't sure that this was God's answer to him at all!

It wasn't much later when he asked me to join him in praying about whether we should be a boy kitty or a girl kitty. As is my custom, I went to my Bible, but I received three different messages. At first glance, the first two seemed to confirm "male", but the third most definitely said "female"!

Hum. Seemed kind of conflicting, doesn't it?

My husband came downstairs about then, beaming. "It's a boy!" He said. And he proceeded to show me the verses God had given him.

But the text wasn't clear. Yes, it mentioned men, but it did so in a way that made you think negatively about them. And when I looked back at the verses I had received that mentioned men, they were negative connotations as well! But the last verse I had received was very clear: "I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea …" (Rom 16:1-2 NKJV).

Suddenly it all fell into place for me. God was clearly telling us we should get a female!

But my husband wasn't convinced, and it wasn't my decision, so I said nothing. Instead I went outside to work in the yard. When I returned to the house, he was beaming. "Here's what I did!" He said.

He had been impressed by God to go to the story of Jonah, specifically Jonah 1, and the following phrases just jumped out at him:

"So they cast lots …" (Jonah 1:8 NKJV) and "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you." (Jonah 1:12 NKJV)

Now we're not the type to typically "cast lots", and he initially looked over this part to the "pick me" and "become calm". We could see by the pictures we had been given that the female he was considering was the calmer of the two choices, but he still wanted confirmation. As he read the text over another time the "cast lots" jumped out at him again. So he took two identical "tickets" - items he uses as motivators in his classroom. One was slightly longer than the other, and he mixed them up without looking. "If it's the female, help me to pick the shorter one," he prayed, "and the longer one for the male!" Then he picked one of the tickets - and it was the shorter one.

All the beacons fell into line. God's Word said "female", God gave him a female name, and now, God was confirming this with a version of "casting lots".

But wait a minute. Is it really necessary to go to such lengths to find out God's will? Would there have been anything wrong with just deciding which kitten to take?

Join us next week for GOD GUIDES, Part 4: Why Worry About God's Will for the Little Stuff?

In His love,

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