Lessons from a Stray Cat: A Devotional

By Sandi Snyder

She was trying to make it on her own.

She was just a half-grown, gray cat, apparently dumped at the side of the road. No one wanted her, and no one wanted the responsibility of finding her a home. The person who left her there probably carelessly assumed that she was old enough to take care of herself.

She wasnt doing a very good job of it...

The Snyder family already had a cat. His name was Jabez, and he had been adopted from a local animal shelter two years previous to the strays arrival. A second cat wasnt part of the Snyders plans.

God had different ideas.

When the small, stray cat entered their lives, the Snyders found themselves the recipients of the unexpected blessings of laughter, love, and lessons they would never forget.

Using a warm, conversational style, Sandi offers the reader a months worth of charming anecdotes about the two cats, each coupled with a Bible lesson that warms the heart. Young and old alike will delight in this devotional study.

As a special feature, journal pages are included in the back of the book, enabling each reader to record his/her own spiritual insights, thoughts, and prayers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 12, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512736816

Sandi Snyder

A former English teacher, Sandi Snyder began her writing career early, selling short stories and nonfiction articles to Christian publications. Although marriage, homeschooling their two children, and church-based ministries became Sandi’s priorities for years, she never lost her passion for writing. A teacher of Bible studies and seminars, she has combined her desire to help others grow spiritually with her love of storytelling in this devotional book.

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Copyright © 2016 Sandi Snyder.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: New King James Version. Copyright c. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled NIV are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright c. 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3680-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3682-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3681-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016905321

WestBow Press rev. date: 4/5/2016

Contents

Acknowledgments

A Word from the Author

Lesson 1 On My Own

Lesson 2 Undesirable

Lesson 3 I’m Desperate for You

Lesson 4 Learning to Trust

Lesson 5 Gratitude

Lesson 6 Trip to the Vet

Lesson 7 A Kissy/Hissy Relationship

Lesson 8 What’s in a Name?

Lesson 9 Back to Egypt

Lesson 10 Something Beautiful

Lesson 11 Earned or Given?

Lesson 12 You Left Your First Love

Lesson 13 Just Scratching the Sides

Lesson 14 Tuna Time

Lesson 15 Of Kitty-Beds and Paper Sacks

Lesson 16 Catatonic

Lesson 17 Not My Couch!

Lesson 18 High Places

Lesson 19 Two Are Better than One

Lesson 20 My Dish Is (Almost) Empty

Lesson 21 When Life Is in the Pits

Lesson 22 Our Foolish Fears

Lesson 23 Please Don’t Eat the Plastic!

Lesson 24 Claiming My Territory

Lesson 25 Secret Places

Lesson 26 Getting Ahead of God

Lesson 27 Shedding

Lesson 28 Morning Routines

Lesson 29 Cutting Corners

Lesson 30 Look before You Leap

Lesson 31 Come Boldly

With love to the One who is my

Reason for living, and

                  the Giver of every blessing.

Acknowledgments

My gratitude to Craig— my husband, partner in ministry, and friend. You have never failed to support and encourage me. I am so blessed to be yours.

Thank you, too, to all the residents of the Taylor Health Care Center and of the Absolut Care of Three Rivers health care facility who attend our Bible studies and Sunday afternoon church services. You fell in love with our cats and demanded more and more lessons and sermons based on their antics. Eventually, you requested this book. Here it is at last!

Thank you, Jenny and Jonathan, for the encouragement and technological help you gave this reluctant, tech-challenged mom through the years. Without you, I still wouldn’t know how to turn on a computer, let alone be able to send in a manuscript. (Okay, slight exaggeration there, but not much!)

A Word from the Author

Dear Reader,

When I first began teaching the precious residents of a local nursing home a series of Bible lessons based on the arrival of a stray cat at our house, I intended the series to last only a few weeks. However, our cats kept furnishing material, and the residents kept demanding more cat stories. My husband, Craig, began preaching through the same series, using my lesson notes, at another nursing home. The cats were irresistible. Those residents also kept asking for more.

Craig used some of the cat lessons as a basis for his children’s sermons on Sundays. They were featured occasionally in regular Sunday sermons as well. Whenever they were mentioned, the cats somehow opened hearts and minds to the truths of God’s Word.

It wasn’t long before people began requesting a devotional book of lessons learned from the cats. They wanted to review old lessons or catch up on lessons they had missed. Thus, thanks to their persistence, this book was born.

At the back of this book are several pages that have been reserved for you to record your own thoughts, prayers, lessons learned, and commitments made. I am a fervent believer in journaling. I invite you to do more than just read this book. Please make it your own. Use the blank pages to jot down the things God impresses on your heart during our journey together.

Blessings!

Sandi Snyder

[e-mail]

Lesson 1

On My Own

Cat Story

She was trying to make it on her own.

She was just a half-grown, gray cat, apparently dumped at the side of the road. No one wanted her, and no one wanted the responsibility of finding her a home. The person who left her there probably carelessly assumed that she was old enough to take care of herself.

She wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

For two or three weeks, we caught glimpses of her in the field that stretches beside and behind our house. Shy and easily frightened, she would scurry away as soon as one of us stepped outdoors. It was impossible to get a good look at her, but what little we did see wasn’t reassuring. Unlike other occasional feral cats, she wasn’t thriving on the plentiful rodents she was trying to catch. She looked thin and ragged.

However, she wasn’t our cat. She wasn’t our responsibility. Besides, she always ran away.

At least, she did until one afternoon.

I stepped out on our side porch that day, and there was the little, gray cat up behind our house, right on the edge of our lawn. I froze, not wanting to frighten her, and expected her to run for cover as she always had before. Instead, she paused a moment, stared at me, and then began walking steadily toward me, crying loudly with every step.

I can’t speak cat, and she couldn’t speak English, but her meaning was loud and clear: Please help me! I need food! I need love! I can’t make it on my own!

She walked right up to my feet, still crying. She has never left us since.

Bible Lesson

Oh, how we try to make it on our own! From the two-year-old who proudly proclaims, Me do it meself! to the eighty-seven-year-old whose only concession to fading eyesight and slowed reflexes is to tool down the highway at forty-five miles per hour, we cherish our independence.

Unfortunately for us, we were not designed to flourish alone.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, we are advised in Proverbs 3:5–6. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

We were created to be dependent on our Creator.

How that galls our independent spirits! How we love to do our own thing, to choose our own way, and to stand on our own two feet!

What does our dependence on God look like? It begins with something as simple as a prayer of thanksgiving.

Thank You, God, for the strength to face another day.

Thank You, Father, for food to eat.

"Thank You, Lord,