The Gift of a Dog

Dear Jesus,

As You already know, we would very much like to have another dog, but only if this is in accord with Your will.  Should You desire to bless us with a new friend, we would like it to meet the following criteria:

Free
Female
Less than 5 years old
Spaniel
House broken
Crate trained
Good with people and other animals
Black & white
Good Shoppe dog

So these are our desires.  We turn this over to You as You know what is best for us.
 For the last 38 years my husband David and I have raised dogs and cohabitated with them. We’ve owned and loved seven dogs in all. Our last friends, Chance, a Belgian Shepherd, and Minnie Pearl, a Springer Spaniel, went over the Rainbow Bridge in July of 2009. It was the first time we had been without a furry friend in years. Since we never had children, our dogs have always meant a lot to us. Needless to say, we were very sad so we began searching for a new friend to rescue a month after Chance and Minnie Pearl left us.
After searching for four months with no success, we decided early in December of 2009 to write that letter to Jesus, giving Him our desires.
Three weeks later we heard from our vet’s office (they knew we were looking) that a woman in a neighboring town who had serious health issues needed to locate homes for a couple of her dogs. She had a four-year-old and a four-month-old and both were female.
We called Melissa immediately as we had learned from the previous four months of searching that female dogs get placed very quickly. By the time Melissa returned our call, she had decided to keep one of the dogs. Initially we thought we wanted the older dog but then just before she called back we decided it would be refreshing for us to train a puppy. As it turned out it was the puppy she still wanted to place. 
When the day came for us to meet the puppy for the first time, we were very excited but also a little apprehensive as we had suffered some disappointments during our several months of searching. When we arrived at Melissa’s home she greeted us warmly. We discovered that she was a breeder, so we were able to meet the puppy’s parents, a sibling and her grandmother before meeting her. Her family was both beautiful and talented; Melissa trains her dogs for agility trials. 
Then Melissa called, “Pup, Pup, Pup,” and in raced this tiny black streak. I bent down, commenting on how small she was; as I did, she leapt into my arms and began to nuzzle my neck. My husband said he believed we’d found the dog we wanted. We asked Melissa what the next step would be and she said, “If you want her she’s yours.” We happily accepted her offer.
That was over a year and three obedience courses ago. We named the puppy Hadassah (Hebrew for Joy) Selah (Hebrew for Praise God), and we have been praising God for the incredible joy He bestowed on us ever since that day. Not only did He answer our request but He fulfilled each of the criteria we had asked—even down to the color. Dassah (as we call her) is a black Cocker Spaniel; when we mentioned to Melissa we had been searching for a black and white dog she showed us that Dassah had white on her chin, throat and chest.
We own a Christian book and gift store in our town and Dassah comes to the store with us every day.  Many of our customers come by just to visit her. She entertains everyone with her tricks and general sweet nature. In 2011 we plan to begin agility training with Dassah as well as visiting nursing and assisted living facilities as a way for Dassah and us to witness God’s goodness to many people. Just maybe God will reach someone who is lost through Dassah.
This answer to prayer reminds us every day that our God cares about everything in our lives and He indeed gives us the desires of our hearts if we but ask. All the glory for our precious little friend goes to Jesus.