A little, fluffy, white cat

I really missed a great teaching moment.  Maddie's cat is an indoor cat...well, mostly.  She has her food, bed, and cat box in the garage - so she sleeps out there and gets to come inside when Maddie is home with her.  On Saturday night I had to run to the store for some extra things before Sunday.  We had been having problems with the garage door not responding to our opener in the car - well, it was 10 at night and I was tired, so I didn't think too much of the garage door not being shut.  I thought that I wasn't going to be gone long and Trent was home....I didn't even think of the cat.  Well, she got out.  She'd done that before, but went right to the front door and wanted back in.  This time - she was gone for 3 days.  Maddie was devastated.  At first I just didn't have the heart to tell her that her cat was gone, so I just told her that her cat was playing with her other cat friends and would hopefully come home soon.  (I know - horrid to lie to her, but I thought to myself that I had plenty of cats as a kid and they always came back....but then again, my cats were all outdoor cats.)  By Tuesday afternoon Maddie was going to the garage door and checking every 5 minutes or so to see if her cat had come back.  She would walk away from the door with tears in her eyes telling me how much she missed her cat.  She would even run to the door when the doorbell rang yelling out that it was her cat.  I was honestly loosing some patience with her - and told her that there was no way of knowing if  her cat would come back or when.  She then came in and told me that she had gone into her room and asked her Father in Heaven to please send her cat home to her.  I stared at her in disbelief....she thought of that on her own...the thought of praying to find the cat had never entered my mind.  I told her that I hoped it would help - then said a quick prayer of my own asking Him to please hear her prayer and send that darn cat home!  I thought - what if that cat doesn't come back?  What will that do to her faith?  To be honest I really didn't think that she would be back.  It had been 3 days...I had driven around the neighborhood looking for her, I had asked the neighbors to tell me if they saw her.  I thought for sure she was gone.  Well, last night at about 10, all of us were settling down and chatting in my room - except Pierce - who is usually the 1st one in there at bed time.  He was taking his time getting in there.  He was walking up the stairs when he heard a meow at the door.  He went to the front door just in time to see the cat run in front of the garage.  He ran to my room, burst through the door, and yelled out that her cat was by the garage.  Maddie went running outside and called her - and the cat came running to her.
What a lesson this had taught me.  He listened to her prayer - He answered her prayer WITHIN HOURS.  She taught me about faith, He taught me about trust, - the cat taught me to keep that garage door shut!  I am SO grateful for a Father who loves one little blond girl SO much that he would send her runaway cat back - the same day. 
We are all like Maddie sometimes - our Father is just waiting to bless us, but can't do it until we finally get down on our knees and ask Him.  I saw a sign the other day that said:  "It's hard to stumble when you are already on your knees in prayer."  So true.  I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is SO patient with me - willing to share his tender mercies with me through something as small as a little fluffy white cat.