An Answered Prayer

If you have ever been injured by a medical procedure, drug or vaccine, perhaps you can relate to the creeping sense of unease that occurs before a medical appointment. I get this before every single dentist, doctor, or vet appointment, no matter how minor or routine, whether it’s for me or for another member of the family. It never goes away, and why would it, when everything that has happened over the last three years has only cemented my mistrust, my certainty that a lot of medicine is not designed to heal, but to harm and profit.’

I reluctantly decided to get my puppy microchipped, as it is mandatory in Italy, and I had the feeling it would be better to do it now, so that we could get pet insurance or travel in the future. Not ideal or perfect, but becoming a believer in God has mellowed me, made me able to let go of so much, because this existence here is not about trying to make heaven on earth, but instead trying to ensure that as many of us that can make it to heaven.

Before giving Iris the microchip the vet was asking for my puppy’s date of birth. I opened up the booklet we’d be given when we got her to show when she was born. On the page it also indicated that she was due a second set of vaccines. The vet spotted it, and told me that she could give these vaccines two days later when I came back to sign paperwork for the microchip.

I had this sense of inevitability about it all. She’d already had vaccines before she came to us. She’d probably need vaccines for the pet insurance anyway. But, on the morning of the appointment the same old familiar dread came up, this worry and fear about vaccinations.

I prayed to God, I couldn’t see any way out of it, and perhaps a lot of it has to do with only being able to speak very basic Italian, that it just seemed easier to go along with it. I asked God, that if there was any way out of it, could he help me? Then I asked to please protect her from any harm from the vaccine. The words ‘’I will’’ popped into my head.

I’ve prayed before and during every medical appointment ever since I became a believer, I’ve prayed for help with anxiety and fear, and this was the first time that God promised me his protection in words. I finished my prayer time knowing that God is bigger than any vaccine toxins, and that he would protect Iris.

Then we went to the appointment. After signing the paperwork I put Iris onto the examination table. The vet began grabbing one of her ears, and Iris was wriggling, objecting to the way she was being handled and the vet was muttering. I’d noticed at the previous appointment, she seemed to have quite a rough, impatient manner that I didn’t like. I wondered what the vet was doing, as my Italian wasn’t great, but she seemed to be saying that she needed to look. This rough handling was an examination?

The day after we’d got Iris, she’d actually had conjunctivitis. We’d taken her to a different vet in a different town, and they’d also checked her ears and her eyes. I suddenly realised that this grabbing of her ear must be some kind of routine standard examination of puppies before doing the vaccines? Except at the other vet they’d been patient and gentle, not like this.

Suddenly I found what little Italian I could, to say that we would do the vaccination another day not today. I put on my biggest polite smile, we paid the bill and left.

It was only later that I remembered my prayer. I assumed that when God said ‘’I will’’ that he was saying that he’d protect Iris from the harm of the vaccine, but then a situation arose where I’d been able to find my no.

Maybe in the end she will have more vaccines if we need them for insurance, and if it seems like the lesser of two evils, but we’ll see.

Don’t forget to share all your worries and concerns with God, to keep praying without ceasing. All too often we forget that we don’t have to be alone with our worries, big and small. God cares about the small details and the big picture. He cares about his lost sheep and the ones who have already found their way home. He cares about you, even if you’ve reject him and don’t believe he exists.

‘do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4.6