Fear Strikes the Queen!

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.”
Isaiah 40:11 NIV

Like most pets, Pepper hates going to the veterinarian. Her annual checkup was last week, and this time I managed to keep the appointment a secret. Pepper sleeps soundly, so in the middle of the night, veiled in darkness, I slipped the cat carrier out of the bedroom closet and hid it in the utility room by the back door. Pepper snored through the whole thing. She’d been up late watching through the window as furry, nocturnal things wandered through the back yard. I don’t want to sound conceited, but I was so proud of myself. If Pepper had seen that carrier, she would have escaped to her hiding place, a secret location that I've never found.

Pepper knows when I’m planning to go out. Earrings give me away. When I put on earrings, she eagerly leads me to the door. “You’re in charge,” I tell her. “The house belongs to The Queen of Everything.” She eats that up. Pepper is well aware that she’s the queen, and I can only imagine what the queen does in her castle when her maidservant is gone for the day.

I was ready for her when she herded me to the castle’s portal. I picked her up and shoved her into the carrier. “Your carriage awaits,” I said, shutting the door, locking her inside. Oh, the wailing that came from the queen, the obscenities that spilled from her royal mouth! On the short drive to the vet’s office, she pawed and clawed at the carrier’s door, trapped in the dungeon, no way out. Arriving in the parking lot, she let out a shrill cry that terrified a two-pound Chihuahua in the car next to us. Its owner shot me a dirty look.

“You be good!” I told The Queen of Everything. She screamed even louder. Queens don’t take orders from maidservants.

The vet moved us right in to the examining room. “Is Pepper a little upset this morning?” she asked. Whatever gave her that idea. I struggled to hang on to the carrier as it wildly swung from side to side.Then, something amazing happened. The Queen of Everything fell silent. She curled into a tight ball like a hedgehog. Pepper stayed that way, frozen in fear, while I pulled her out of the carrier and plopped her onto the baby scale.

“She looks like a taxidermied cat,” the vet laughed.

She did look like that.

We put Pepper on the examining table. She unrolled and slithered toward me on her belly. Then she pressed her little body against me and tucked her head into the crook of my arm. I felt her relax as I held her close. The vet poked and prodded her, listened to her racing heart, and gave her a rabies shot. Through it all, The Queen of Everything rested in my arms.

Everyone is afraid sometimes, even kings and queens. Fear is only overcome through trust. Pepper trusts me to protect her much the same as I trust my Heavenly Father to take care of me.

Are you frightened of something today? Are you rolled up in a tight, little ball, worried about what might happen? Then trust God. Deuteronomy 33:27 says, "The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." Rest in God's arms today, and He will take care of you.

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For more about Mark Lowry, visit his website.