In the world of dogs, I LOVE my cat!

Colorado is truly the world of dogs. Everyone out here has a dog, and a dog is the only pet to have. I think this is great. Dogs are great, and Colorado is the perfect place to take dogs for walks or outside to play. I'm a huge fan of dogs (especially black labs) but today, on my sweet girl's birthday, I want to praise God for the amazing cat He sent into my life.

If you've given me the chance to tell you, I'm sure you've heard by now how I came to own my sweet Lexie... but get ready to hear it again:

I have ALWAYS wanted a cat of my own in the years before I got married. Even as a child, I would imagine myself, a grown woman, in an apartment, with a cat. Ariel had Flounder, Belle had Chip, Jasmine had Rajah... I pictured myself with a cat. Through most of college and graduate school, the dream for my cat remained just that, a dream. It simply wasn't the right time; a door God hadn't opened.

Almost a year ago, the end of May 2008, as I drove from Colorado back to Nashville after finishing a month-long internship in Denver, I finally had a landlord who would allow a cat... but I still believed it wasn't the right time to get one. With little money extra money at the end of graduation school and plan to move somewhere (I didn't know where) six months later, my dream of a kitten still seemed impractical at present. It was on this road trip from Denver to Nashville that I explained to God this cat/practicality situation and asked Him to help me forget about the idea of a cat for now, as this was certainly not the time for me to invest in one. I told Him I would not look for a cat, so please help me forget about the idea for six months until I had finished graduate school and moved.

God is good, and loves to bless His children, especially when they least expect it.

Not a week later, I was in Lexington, Virginia to attend Washington and Lee University's undergrad graduation. Washington and Lee (W&L) is my undergrad Alma mater, and I enjoyed attending the ceremony and celebrating the graduation of friends. My last night in Lexington, I stayed at my old sorority house, and heard the sound of an animal crying inside one of the sorority dorm rooms. After opening the door to find a tiny kitten crying inside, I asked questions of my sisters to learn that this cat had been found crying outside around the sorority house. The versions of the story vary from there - some sisters say they "rescued" the kitten, others say "caught" the kitten, others say "cornered" the kitten... but, nevertheless, they had somehow acquired this terrified, tiny kitten.


My sisters explained to me that they were all leaving for the summer and the local SPCA animal shelter was overrun with cats as it was. Even before they started listing cat euthanasia statics to me, I was thinking, "Lord, I just prayed about a cat, but I didn't really ask for one. Is this cat for me? Is this kitten from you, for me?" It didn't take long for me to recognize the "coincidence" of timing as an unexpected blessing from my heavenly Father - certainly not a coincidence.

I named the kitten Lexington (after the town where she was born; the same town where I did much growing in my faith) and called her "Lexie" for short. Only later did I learn that "Lexie" means "defender of mankind" and I believe she has more than lived up to the meaning of her name.

While she is not a "guard cat" like an angry dog defends his master, but God gave her to me during a year when He knew I would need a companion. Lexie's presence and companionship these past 11 months has defended me from lonely and hopeless thoughts when life has seemed lonely and hopeless.

Lexie loves me to bits, and the feeling is mutual. She's seriously a one-of-a-kind cat. If I've heard "I really don't like cats, but I like Lexie!" once, I've heard it twenty times. This beautiful creature sleeps with me every night with her head resting on her paws and her paws resting on my legs. When I come through the door from outside she runs to greet me. Might have been gone 10 hours, or 10 seconds to take the trash out, but she always runs to greet me. Even just now, she had been off doing her own thing, but as I've been typing this post, she hoped up on the bed and lay down next to me, watching intently has I typed. Maybe she knew I was writing about her...

Today, on Lexie's birthday, or rather, as close to her birthday as I can estimate, I praise God for knowing me better than I knew myself. He knew the perfect timing for a cat in my life, and He chose the perfect kitten for me. My defender and only earthly companion at present.

Ever since Lexie found me, I've prayed over her, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord" and I choose to believe that she does. She was created by the same Father by Whom I was created, and I believe she was created just for me. She praises the Lord every day she fulfills her purpose in being herself - a content cat who loves her owner. She is a good reminder that I, like she does, can praise the Lord every day that I fulfill my purpose, however big or small it may seem. While Lexie is simply a cat, through the blessing and purpose of our mutual Creator, she adds more to my life than I ever imagined possible.