{"id":20468,"date":"2026-03-11T09:26:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T09:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T00:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:02:56","slug":"willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/","title":{"rendered":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beth, our dietary manager, peeked in my office door. \u201cI want you to meet our newest resident,\u201d she said. I smiled and turned in my chair.<\/p>\n

Welcoming people and helping them adjust to their new surroundings is one of my responsibilities as chaplain at Madrid Home Communities, a nursing home with 110 residents in central Iowa. I was always happy to greet a new resident. But Beth was holding a tiny calico kitten.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the nurses found her at the front door,\u201d she said. \u201cShe had her paws against the glass like she wanted to come in. We\u2019re going to call her Willow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not really keeping her, are we?\u201d I protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so cold outside and there\u2019s no sign of her mother,\u201d she said, stroking the kitten\u2019s head. \u201cThe director of nursing said she could stay, for a while. She said a cat might even be good for the residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally?\u201d I threw up my hands in mock surrender. No way is this going to work, <\/em>I thought when Beth left. This is farm country. People don\u2019t keep cats indoors. What about allergies? Germs?<\/em><\/p>\n

I love my work, but it\u2019s challenging. Moving to a nursing home is a major life change. There\u2019s the loss of independence. Sometimes it\u2019s not the person\u2019s choice to move here. There\u2019s anger to work through. And grief.<\/p>\n

It takes time for people to open up and feel they can trust me. I have to work at it. It\u2019s more than just being warm and fuzzy.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the residents\u2019 time with us can be all too short. I sit with the family as the end draws near and often hold memorial services at the nursing home. Definitely no place for a cat.<\/p>\n

Yet no one seemed to have told Willow. She settled in right away, roaming the halls as though she belonged here. Afternoons, I\u2019d find her sprawled across a sofa, snoozing away.<\/p>\n

One day I spied her sitting on the lap of a man who had recently lost his wife. He wouldn\u2019t talk to me about it. I watched as Willow stood on her hind legs, her front paws on the grieving man\u2019s shoulders. She nuzzled his cheek, her purr so loud I could hear it across the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost like she was hugging him,\u201d I told Beth later. \u201cLike she knew he was hurting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe she did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Willow took to visiting residents\u2019 rooms. She had a kind of route she followed, like a doctor making rounds. I\u2019d overhear people talking to her, or reading to her. One afternoon I sat down with a woman who had recently received some bad news from her doctor. Her face and shoulders sagged with worry.<\/p>\n

I heard a rustling and turned to see Willow padding into the room. A smile crossed the woman\u2019s face and her shoulders lifted, as though a weight had been taken from her. I knew the comfort hadn\u2019t come from me.<\/p>\n

Even the chapel wasn\u2019t off-limits. I hold worship services twice a week and was speaking from the pulpit one day. In came Willow. She sat in front, gazed up at me, yawned, scratched herself. Then, when I went on too long\u2014too long for her\u2014she turned and sauntered out.<\/p>\n

Everybody\u2019s a critic, <\/em>I thought. The next time I saw her in the chapel she was sitting at the altar, paws folded in front of her as if in prayer. I know, cats can\u2019t pray. But it was quite a sight.<\/p>\n

Late one evening I sat with two sisters keeping a vigil over their dying mother. The room grew stuffy and one of the women opened the door. There was Willow. She walked in and jumped into the lap of the sister who was still sitting.<\/p>\n

The woman absently began to stroke Willow, while holding her mother\u2019s hand. Willow didn\u2019t make a sound. After a while she hopped down and climbed into the lap of the other sister. For hours she went from one to the other, never intruding, just being present, a gentle, healing touch.<\/p>\n

Early the next morning the mother breathed her last. Willow padded over to a hide-a-bed in the corner, curled up and went to sleep, her job done.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod be with us,\u201d I prayed with the sisters. \u201cHelp us to feel your love and the power of your spirit even now in our time of sorrow.\u201d I opened my eyes and looked over at Willow, knowing my prayer had already been answered. I wasn\u2019t the only one ministering to the residents.<\/p>\n

I told Beth the next day what had happened. \u201cAren\u2019t you glad we let her stay?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said. \u201cCall me a convert, but I think Willow\u2019s going to work out fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today Willow is one of six comfort cats at the nursing home. I can\u2019t imagine doing my job without them. Willow sits in the chair next to my desk every morning and I talk to her about the day ahead. She\u2019s a great listener, a colleague I believe was heaven-sent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beth, our dietary manager, peeked in my office door. \u201cI want you to meet our newest resident,\u201d she said. I smiled and turned in my chair. Welcoming people and helping them adjust to their new surroundings is one of my responsibilities as chaplain at Madrid Home Communities, a nursing home with 110 residents in central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[206],"tags":[47,62,156,171],"ppma_author":[1267],"class_list":["post-20468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cats","tag-aging","tag-blessings","tag-death","tag-earth-angel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWillow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Beth, our dietary manager, peeked in my office door. \u201cI want you to meet our newest resident,\u201d she said. I smiled and turned in my chair. Welcoming people and helping them adjust to their new surroundings is one of my responsibilities as chaplain at Madrid Home Communities, a nursing home with 110 residents in central […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guideposts Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"521\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carla Werre\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Neeraj Rai\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be\"},\"headline\":\"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":875,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aging\",\"Blessings\",\"Death\",\"Earth Angel\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cats\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat - Guideposts Articles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":521},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Positive Living\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Friends and Family\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Pets\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Cats\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/friends-and-family\\\/pets\\\/cats\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\",\"name\":\"Guideposts Articles\",\"description\":\"Strengthening Faith. Providing Hope.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Guideposts Articles\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/gp-logo-white.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/gp-logo-white.svg\",\"caption\":\"Guideposts Articles\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be\",\"name\":\"Neeraj Rai\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g0c0183ebd910e29ad96a4a5994cce5d4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Neeraj Rai\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/guideposts.org\\\/articles\\\/author\\\/neeraj\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat - Guideposts Articles","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat","og_description":"Beth, our dietary manager, peeked in my office door. \u201cI want you to meet our newest resident,\u201d she said. I smiled and turned in my chair. Welcoming people and helping them adjust to their new surroundings is one of my responsibilities as chaplain at Madrid Home Communities, a nursing home with 110 residents in central […]","og_url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/","og_site_name":"Guideposts Articles","article_published_time":"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":521,"url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carla Werre","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/"},"author":{"name":"Neeraj Rai","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be"},"headline":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat","datePublished":"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/"},"wordCount":875,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg","keywords":["Aging","Blessings","Death","Earth Angel"],"articleSection":["Cats"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/","url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/","name":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat - Guideposts Articles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-11T09:26:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-13T04:02:56+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/carlawerre_marquee-1.jpg","width":800,"height":521},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/willow-the-heaven-sent-comfort-cat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Positive Living","item":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Friends and Family","item":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Pets","item":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Cats","item":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/pets\/cats\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"Willow the Heaven-Sent Comfort Cat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/","name":"Guideposts Articles","description":"Strengthening Faith. Providing Hope.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization","name":"Guideposts Articles","url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gp-logo-white.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gp-logo-white.svg","caption":"Guideposts Articles"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be","name":"Neeraj Rai","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g0c0183ebd910e29ad96a4a5994cce5d4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18c0b5a06458f26c764f5a7451f1774cfb282943f2f36a00c9a801809489005c?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","caption":"Neeraj Rai"},"url":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/author\/neeraj\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1267,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"carla-werre","display_name":"Carla Werre","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fguideposts.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41988,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20468\/revisions\/41988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20468"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guideposts.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=20468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}