On Second Thought: Out of the blue

Published 12:00 am Thursday, July 24, 2025

By Marie Harrison

It was just your average Monday. Nothing out of the ordinary. The entire day had proceeded as it always did, until it came time for bed. As I climbed into bed while my husband finished brushing his teeth, our dog positioned himself on the floor, equal distance from both of us. But as our dog went to lay down, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I’m not really sure what made me turn and look, but when I did, I saw our dog begin to lean awkwardly against the wall, and then his whole body began to shake. Not entirely sure what was happening, but fairly certain he was having a seizure, I called into the bathroom for my husband, who quickly dropped his toothbrush and ran out. While I began Googling what to do, my husband carefully pulled our dog out away from the wall so he wouldn’t hurt himself, and we both began trying to speak calming words to let Ranger know we were there, while also praying for God to stop this seizure.

The entire episode lasted less than a minute. A scary minute, but still just 60 seconds. As our dog stopped shaking and got up, he began pacing, stopping to lie down for a second, only to get up and begin pacing again. Still unsure of what to do, should we make him lie down? Do we let him walk this off? Do we give him water? We did the only thing we could think to do — we prayed. And as we continued to pray, we reached out to the after-hours vet clinic for guidance, and that’s where we found our answer to prayer. The young woman who answered the phone that night wasn’t just any employee, she was also the owner of a dog who had frequent seizures. Given her familiarity with this condition, she was calmly able to talk us through what we needed to do, what we needed to look for, give us guidance on the next steps, and peace that everything would be OK. This may have been a one-time thing, this may have been caused by medication, or anxiety from missing a family member, even a loud noise startling him — for whatever the reason, it would be OK, and we would get through it. Praise God for the right person at just the right time!

As I replayed this whole scary incident in my head over and over again, I kept coming back to the ways God comforted and guided us and answered our prayers through it all. While we most certainly prayed for the Lord to heal our beloved dog, God’s answers to prayers don’t always come in the way we expect. What a blessing to have someone answer the phones who had firsthand knowledge and could share guidance with true empathy! What a gift to meet a new veterinarian in our practice the next day who showed an abundance of care and concern and did all she could to put our minds at rest and give us hope that we could treat this! What a gift to be in the middle of a scary situation and know that we can stop and pray to the God of the universe, the creator of all that is seen and unseen, and be assured that He not only hears us, He cares about us, and wants to provide comfort!

While none of us ever wants to go through a scary situation, there is comfort in knowing that even in the darkest of times, we are not alone. We have a mighty God who is on our side and always working to turn all things for our good. And what a gift that no matter the time of day or night, God is right there — ready and waiting to answer our call, all we have to do is pray.