My Four-Legged Warrior Is a Better Teacher Than I Am

Here are three lessons that can help you in times of turmoil

Image created by the author using Microsoft Co-Pilot.

“Sadie has broken off her toenail.” My wife tells me from another room. She probably lost it, scampering off our deck to get to the back fence, where she barks her arse off at the dogs in the next yard. She may have broken it off, clawing between the slats in the privacy fence.

One day, we noticed that Sadie couldn’t stop licking her toe. Upon further investigation, the end of her toe was the size of a strawberry! After examining her, the veterinarian came to talk to me at the doctor’s office.

He draws me a picture and says that not only is her toenail missing, but the first bone in her toe is completely gone as well. WHAT? 

It could be a nasty infection, or it could be cancer. — Sadie’s veterinarian

The doctor x-rays her toe and chest. He sees a tumor in her toe but does not see anything out of the ordinary with the x-ray of her chest. “It could be a nasty infection, or it could be cancer.” The best-case scenario is there is cancer in the front part of the toe. 

He suggests removing her whole toe and sending it off for a biopsy. The second-best case is the cancer is in her foot, and they can remove it. He said, “The worst case, it’s in her blood…” 

I stopped him after that, not wanting to hear about doggie chemo or those kinds of treatments. I didn’t want to consider that bridge before it was necessary, and honestly, I couldn’t afford it, even if it was our last hope.

She went through the surgery like a trooper and came home with it wrapped up tight and wearing a cone to keep her mouth away from the wound.

Sadie is recovering well. The month of her healing and four-digit price tag was a small price to pay for seeing her get back to her usual self.

When Sadie first came home and couldn’t hold down any food due to her antibiotic upsetting her stomach, I was heartbroken and angry. I was upset that this precious, adorable dog was in pain and going through something she didn’t understand.

I was angry at God because He seemingly said “No” to my prayers to Him to heal Sadie. You may not believe in God nor pray to Him, but my faith in Him is essential to my life. I knew I needed peace of mind from God that I couldn’t give myself. One question kept running through my mind:

Is Sadie’s cancer gone, or is it running through her little body?

I have a daily practice of meditation, and on my darkest day during Sadie’s recovery, I wanted to read a passage in Psalms where King David struggled because that’s what I was doing. Yet, David struggled because his life was in danger!

Most of the time, my struggle happens between my ears, which may be true for all of us. I opened the Bible and found Psalm 36.

Sin whispers to the wicked, deep within their hearts. They have no fear of God at all. In their blind conceit, they cannot see how wicked they really are. Everything they say is crooked and deceitful. They refuse to act wisely or do good. They lie awake at night, hatching sinful plots. Their actions are never good. They make no attempt to turn from evil. Ps. 36:1–4 NLT

Lesson #1 — I am broken.

Sadie has flaws, but so do I. I am part of humanity, and all of humanity is messed up! We are wicked, crooked, and deceitful. I have many problems that I’ve brought on myself due to my poor choices. You can say I deserve the consequences of those choices.

It wasn’t Sadie’s fault she had cancer, yet she was paying the price for it. She had no idea why her toe was bothering her. She just felt the pain.

Some things have happened to me that I had no control over. I didn’t ask to be sexually abused by two different people in two completely different situations as a child. I didn’t ask to be bullied in elementary and middle school. 

Sometimes life just SUCKS due to the choices of others.

Lesson #2 — I need to be patient with others.

Once the doctor took Sadie off her antibiotic, she started healing faster. The medicine meant to keep her foot from getting infected after the surgery was doing more harm to her than good. She couldn’t keep food down, so her body was not getting the nutrition she needed to heal.

Realizing that Sadie never asked for any of this and that her body was reacting to things beyond her control forced me to be more patient with her. Each time she started heaving, I didn’t get mad (while trying to get her away from the carpet or, better yet, outside). I was patient with her.

I know I am messed up, and I know other humans are messed up, too. I should accept that and be patient with myself and with others. I should be patient when I’m experiencing the consequences of my actions.

I can choose to be patient with others experiencing the same thing. Sure, they made their bed, and now they have to lie in it, but I can support their recovery just like I did with Sadie.

Lesson #3 — God loves us in our brokenness.

Sadie will heal in God’s time, or she will not heal in His time. Yet, during this process, her body is trying to heal. I can take comfort in knowing that God loves both of us. 

“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the ocean depths. You care for people and animals alike, O LORD. How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings. You feed them from the abundance of your own house, letting them drink from your rivers of delight. For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.” Ps. 36:5–9 NLT

God’s love exceeds what we can even comprehend. It’s as vast as the sky, and His faithfulness is so big it extends into space! His righteousness is as big and mighty as Mount Everest, standing at 5.4984 miles high (8,848 meters).

In a world of injustice, His justice is as deep as the sea. The Mariana Trench is around 11 kilometers (7 miles) deep. That’s a lot of justice! Reading this passage allowed me time to take my mind off of myself and what I was experiencing with Sadie.

When I began to focus on God and His attributes, my problems shrunk down to smaller than the size of Sadie’s tumor. And I’m so glad God included this in the passage above, “You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.” Reading that made me happy!

God’s love will never fail me, nor will it fail our animals. When life happens to you or those around you, remember that we are all messed up, yet we must be patient with ourselves and others. We can find comfort in knowing that God loves us and our animals!