Blind Hope: An Unwanted Dog & the Woman She Rescued by Kim Meeder and Laurie Sacher Read Free Book Online

hoped she would keep thinking out loud, so I said nothing and smiled to encourage her.
    She lowered her chin and spoke to the ground. “I’ve been so dumb, I’ve been so selfish! No human voice could breakthrough my wall of pride. It took a dog to show me what I’ve been doing and what I must look like to God.”
    She plucked a single blade of grass and methodically tore it into little pieces. “I think it’s time for me to stop questioning and to start listening.”
    After more silence and many shredded blades of grass, I said, “It sounds like you’re making some progress. So what are you hearing?”
    “Well, because of Mia, I’m gaining perspective. The picture of my life has come into sharp focus. I’ve been treating God like a bank and going to him only in great anger or deep sorrow. Then I would beg or demand him to give me what I wanted: peace, love, comfort, health, finances—my list was long! I’m sad to say that when my requests were not met within my time frame, I would storm away and blame him for everything that had gone wrong in my life.
    “Now, because of my sweet yet disobedient dog, I understand that God has been calling out to me for years. He has been answering my prayers all along. He just didn’t answer them in a way that I recognized.”
    Laurie paused. “Because the reality is, I never recognized him.”
    “Wow.” I looked directly into Laurie’s eyes. “I’m so glad God brought you and Mia together. Who would have thoughtthat a mirror could have four paws? What a sweet change of attitude we can assume when we understand that God is with us, whether we are running away from him or to him.”
    God is with us, whether we are running away from him or to him
.
    Laurie looked steadily back. “My dog has taught me that if I don’t like where my life has ended up, I can only blame myself. Because, just like my dog, I’m the only one who can choose which direction I run.”

T he long, hot days of summer slowly relinquished their rule, vanquished by the glory of fall. One chilly autumn evening, Laurie joined me in front of a crackling fire for a bowl of beef stew. Our workday was finished, and we were looking forward to catching up before she went home to Mia.
    Laurie cupped a brimming bowl in both hands and held it close to her body. “Mmm, this is nearly as good as eating it. My hands were getting so cold before we came up to the house.”
    Stew bowls in hand, we moved to our small family room and settled on two leather couches I had purchased at a secondhand store. Laurie let out a contented sigh. “This has been a remarkable time for Mia and me. Almost every day brings adifferent challenge. What I have enjoyed most about this time is the softening I see in Mia.”
    “Softening? How so?” I blew the steam off my spoonful of stew.
    “Well, apparently she has moved beyond the season of viewing me as a stranger who calls her by a weird name to being someone she actually trusts. Mia is accepting me, faults and all.”
    “What do you mean, ‘faults and all’?”
    If only I could love me like my dog loves me
.
    Laurie rolled her eyes and let out her “Uh-huh” laugh, letting me know she was aware of my desire to get to the core of what she needed to talk about. “Well, this once skinny, unattractive dog no one else wanted has been changing my life one day at a time. She’s managed to do what no friend, church, therapist, boyfriend, or self-help group has been able to do—ever.” Her gaze drifted; she was lost in thought.
    I took another bite of my stew and raised my eyebrows in a comical fashion.
    Laurie glanced up and caught my silly expression. She laughed and then said, “If only I could love me like my dog loves me. She ignores my false veneer and jumps right into the real me. I can tell Mia has grown to really love me. She is myscruffy, damaged dog, who is choosing to love this scruffy, damaged girl.”
    I smiled. “Lou, we all have our scruffy, damaged places. It’s