What Abby the feral tabby taught me about God

This is the story of how I got "Abby and feral tabby" and what she has taught me about God.

About 10 years ago I wanted to get a kitten. I wanted a female orange tabby. This was before I knew that female orange tabbies are NOT common. Most females with the gene for orange fur are calicos.

Anyway, so I that spring I eventually settle on a little female gray tabby (Xena) and adopt her, my dreams of a female orange tabby forgotten.

Except God didn't forget and He has a sense of humor. I lived in a house at the time (rented a room). One day Brad and I went into the backyard to look for something. He opened the back door and surprised a feral momcat with a litter of kittens. They all disappeared lightening fast.

To makes a long story short, it's October, the kittens are only maybe 6 weeks old, and it was getting cold out. I felt bad for them and had the resources to help. I had Xena's old playpen (basically a large cage). I rented a humane trap and trapped momcat and all six of her kittens and put them in the cage. I provided food, water, and a litterbox in the cage.

Momcat would glare at me, distrustful of my plans for her. Here she was, in a strange place, no place to roam, just room for her and her kittens, and enough room for her to lay down and let them nurse.

I didn't know what I was getting into when I became a Christian. I had no idea where it would lead. I know God wanted me and was pursuing me and frankly, I was tired of running. I became a Christian as much by default as anything else - I couldn't run away from Him anymore.

In many ways, I am still there, still unsure of who He is or what His plans for me are. Oh Lord, change my heart!

Eventually I found homes of all the kittens and got momcat fixed. I had planned to just put her back outside after fixing her, but the whole process took so long that she had bonded to me. And over time, I have bonded to her. This is the cat that has come to be called Abby, or as I like to call her because it rhymes, Abby the feral tabby.

And would you believe that she is a female orange tabby? ;) God has a sense of humor.

God has also used her to teach me about myself. I am Abby. I am wild and distrust His plans. How often I have wanted to explain to Abby that everything I do is for her own good! I am not trying to hurt or kill her, but her kitty brain can't comprehend my plans. And my human brain can't comprehend God's plans.

Abby loves me more than Xena ever could. Xena has never known anything but a warm bed, two meals a day, and human love. Abby never had any of that. She knows what she has been rescued from. When we realize what we have been rescued from our love for God grows deeper. Abby knows, and God wants me to remember my past and be grateful. He could have left me to live and die as a Wiccan.

Now that Abby knows how wonderful human love can be she walks around mewing to be scritched or stroked or petted. She wants to be loved on, to experience my love for her, just as I want to experience God's love for me.

Abby has done nothing to deserve my love (other than look cute!). I know I have done nothing to deserve God's love. I don't know why He chose me. The Bible says He chooses the weak things to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27), and I am weak, but I will never understand why He chooses the weak.

Anyway, so there's the story of Abby, God's sense of humor, and how He has used her to teach me about both myself and Him. I want to have the trust of Xena and the love of Abby. I want to remember my past and be grateful for His grace. I want that to increase my love for Him. I want to be reminded of how wonderful His adoption of me is. :)