He loves us

This is Stella.

I adopted her Wednesday night from a local animal shelter. She’s five years old and has had at least two homes before coming to live with me, and her last family gave her up because she “needed too much attention.” After that she spent three months in a cage in the shelter.

She's rather chubby -- we think one set of owners must have just kept feeding her to keep her quiet. Her first night with me, she cried all night. Last night, her second night, she slept on my bed by my feet. 

She’s very skittish as she’s slowly being exposed to different parts of the house. She heard the toilet flush, and she won’t set paw in that room again. Unfortunately, that’s where I planned to keep her cat box and food tray. I’ll put a couple of cat treats on the floor in there when I go to work and see what happens.

Often, Stella is content to roam around exploring (as long as she’s in the same room as I am),  but every now and then, she needs reassurance. She begins crying and won’t stop unless I’m touching her. At those times, I sit down on the floor next to her and just rub her with both hands, keeping up a steady stream of gentle conversation.

“I love you, Stella. I’m right here, because I love you. I’ll go away for a couple of hours, but then I’ll come back, because I love you. You’ll be fine. You can go explore, and I’ll still be here. Because I love you.”

As I rubbed her head, and kept up the steady stream of reassuring words, I realized how familiar they sounded. That’s what our Abba is whispering down to us in our total panic moments. He will always be with us – because He loves us.

Hold tightly to that promise as you explore today. 

He loves you!