Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. —Luke 18:1 (NASB)
"Time to give up praying,” I told myself sadly. My prayers were for someone I loved very much. But after ten years, they were still unanswered.
Later that afternoon, a letter to the editor in the local paper caught my eye. “Time to take down the ‘Annie Lost Dog’ posters. Annie is back home!” Overjoyed, I could hardly believe the amazing news. I’d prayed for Annie for nearly a year because her stubborn owner refused to take his ad out of the paper.
The ad explained that Annie was very shy and lost in unfamiliar surroundings. The owner seemed quite desperate. He’d been visiting his daughter in Athens, Georgia, when Annie ran away.
A few days later a full-length story ran in the Athens Banner-Herald with a picture of the black Labrador-retriever mix and her happy owner, who said he simply refused to believe his dog wouldn’t be found. He’d returned to Athens on weekends, walking the streets calling “Annie” late into the night and sitting outside his daughter’s home in thirteen-degree weather hoping to get a glimpse of his pet. When the daughter begged her father to relinquish his hope of finding the dog and begin the grieving process, he intensified his prayers.
Ten full months after her disappearance, Annie was discovered, still wearing her identification tags, twenty-five miles from Athens. “I especially want to encourage others who have lost pets not to give up hope,” Annie’s ecstatic owner said.
The last five words seemed to leap off the newspaper and land right in my heart. Laying the paper aside, I resumed my ten-year prayer.
Father, I praise You for caring about fallen sparrows, lost dogs, and sons who’ve gone astray.
