Stories from the Amazon - The Blind Dog Sees!

Crime was very prominent in our town, being the gold rush city that it was. Houses were close together. As in, close enough that you could hear your neighbor's argument, or see in their kitchen window to see what they were making for lunch and you'd better have curtains on your bedroom window. Everyone had tall brick walls (except our neighbors had a short wall) and most walls had shards of glass sticking out of the top of the wall to help prevent thieves. And everyone had a big, scary dog or two in their back yard.

My choice in dog, since I was the only dog person in the family, was a Great Dane. I got my first one for a Christmas present when I was 14 years old, shortly after I got my first horse. Her name was Mandy. I guess my family thought that with all my daily rides on the horse, I needed some extra protection. And she was a very loyal protector, defending me from anything (or anyone) she thought was a threat. Actually, she was quite aggressive and my later Danes never were quite as "bitey" as that first one was.

This story isn't quite about her though. This story was about one of the first amazing miracles that I personally prayed for and saw God answer my prayers. It was probably a turning point in my faith and in my walk with God.

I had a litter of Great Dane pups out of Mandy. She always had huge litters and I learned how to bottle feed puppies and rotate them so all could get enough to eat. It was a lot of work, but I loved it and the sale of the puppies funded my horses. It was easy to sell her pups too since everyone needed a big dog and the life expectancy of big dogs is not terribly long, and when you add all the dog diseases in the Amazon, it was even less. Mandy lived until she was 7 years old.

This litter was doing great at weaning time, eating their puppy mash. One day I fed them and I noticed that one puppy ran into the porch beam instead of going around it to find the platter of food. I found that very strange and observed him more and he couldn't find the food until I showed him. After a day or so of watching that behavior I took him to the vet who sure enough diagnosed him as being blind. He did all the examinations and confirmed that the dog couldn't see. With a heavy heart I took the puppy home and sat on the porch with him in my lap and started discussing the matter with God. I don't think I even really prayed too hard except for asking God what I was going to do with a blind Great Dane dog who was going to get huge. I reminded Him that he had cured all those blind people in the Bible and I told Him that I believed he could heal the puppy too if he wanted to.

After a week or two of taking care of the puppy and making sure he found the food bowl and didn't get hurt or anything, one day we were on the porch again and I only had one or two pups left from the litter. He was sitting down and it looked like he was looking at me. I took a step to the side, very quietly and his gaze followed me. I did that again and again he followed me with his gaze.Very excitedly, I did the blink test with him and sure enough he blinked with both eyes! He could see again! It was amazing. I told some other missionary friends about his story and they had been having lots of theft at their mission house. They fell in love with him and his amazing miracle and I sent him to live with them. He ended up loving all the kids and being the perfect dog for them.

My faith was strengthened and grew considerably to know that God even cares about little things like a blind puppy and a young teenager.. Through the following years even to today, I pray for all my animals and regularly see the love and care that God has for me and His creation. I hope this little story of a modern day blind eye seeing will encourage you in your faith too!