Goldie

     We lived in Tennessee for four years while Brad went to Lee University. During that time our kids really missed having a pet of some kind so since we were living in an apartment which did not allow four legged pets, I decided we needed a goldfish. We went to Walmart and spent .79 cents on 'Goldie' the goldfish and somewhere around $6. for a bowl for her.
     The kids were thrilled. Every day they took turns feeding her and they enjoyed watching her swim around in her bowl. No, she wasn't the dog that they had left behind in Canada and it wasn't something they could cuddle, but it was still a pet. So they were happy.
     We had Goldie for about two years when one morning we looked in the bowl and there was Goldie laying on her side with long ropes of intestines coming out of her side. How did this happen? She was alone in the bowl so no other fish attacked her and I am sure she didn't eat a hole in her own side. It was a mystery and it was devastating to the kids.
     The boys immediately said 'we need to pray and ask Jesus to heal Goldie' and they proceeded to lay their little chubby hands on the sides of the fishbowl and earnestly pray for God to heal their goldfish. Well you can imagine how earnestly I started to pray! I pleaded with God, not for Goldie but for my sons. I prayed that God would honour their prayer so that their faith would not be crushed. Afterall Goldie was only a .79 cent goldfish that had already lived at least two years. What is the life expectancy of a goldfish? I didn't know. All I knew at that moment was that my little sons had the faith to believe that God could heal their goldfish and as their mother I had to have that same kind of faith.
     That night, as I tucked the kids into bed, they said their prayers and again prayed that God would heal Goldie. Brad came home around 11:00 pm from working second shift for Campus Safety. When he saw the goldfish laying on her side with intestines coming out of her side, he said we should flush the poor thing and put it out of its misery. I told him why I couldn't and explained the whole story. So we decided to wait and see what God would do.
     You might have guessed already, but when we got up in the morning we saw that  God had indeed healed Goldie the goldfish. There on her side was a spot about the size of a dime and the same colour, where her intestines had been coming out. You might say all this was coincidence but I don't. I know God listened to two little boys when they prayed and because He cares for children and because of their faith, He healed a .79 cent goldfish.
     As they bowed their heads and thanked God for healing Goldie, I was praying and thanking Him for honouring two little boys' faith. What a lesson for all of us! It is a lesson we have never forgotten. If God can heal a little goldfish He can heal anything and anyone. But we need to have faith and we need to earnestly seek Him. James 5:16 tells us "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
     Oh, in case you are wondering, Goldie went on to live another two years and died shortly before we returned home to Canada.