Claimed, gathered and sent

Abby, Ray's retired Seeing Eye Dog, has been ageing rapidly the past few months. Several times her back end has given out on her. She is very Stoic and doesn't let on how much pain she is in. We took her to the vet today and as she was being examined, her pain level was obvious, even though she did not bark or yelp. She is spending the day at the vet for x-rays. We wonder if she will be able to make it till internship in August. We are conflicted. We don't want her to be in pain and we don't want to have her put down simply because it would be convenient. She is 13 1/2 years old. Some days she doesn't even wag her tail--which is something that was in perpetual motion. Please pray for us that we will do the right thing for her when the time comes. In the meantime, the issue is to get/keep her comfortable.

I came home a week ago Sat. from rehab after knee replacement. It hasn't been easy--physical therapy exercises, pain, little sleep, pain, reading, pain, praying, pain...you get the idea. What sleep I have been getting has been interrupted with pain. Henri Nouwen in The Inner Voice of Love, wrote: There is a deep hole in your being, like an abyss. You will never succeed in filling that hole, because your needs are inexhaustible. You have to work around it so that gradually the abyss closes... There are two extremes to avoid: being completely absorbed in your pain and being distracted by so many things that you stay far away from the wound you want to heal.1. Pain can be all consuming, whereas it is God that should be all consuming. Yet again, I am confronted with that which I am unable to do in my own strength, reminded of who I need to look to . Our faith walk is not always easy, but in the tough times we learn upon whom we can and must lean. That's the lesson for me, what abo...