In Honor of Sweetness
I’m dedicating this post to the precious memory of our beloved cat, Sweetness. We had Sweetness with us for 13 years, and one week ago today, we had to make the difficult decision to release her back to the Father. It may seem silly to some people, but the loss of that little kitty cat hit us as hard as losing a family member. She WAS a family member. She was in our daily lives and routine for 13 years, and our lifestyle was strongly influenced by her, especially in the latter years when she needed more care. So, even though the hurt is still real and fresh, rather than sit around and grieve, I am choosing to turn my pain into something that can help someone else. So, in today’s post I want to address a couple things that many pet owners, or pet parents as some of us call ourselves, wrestle with.
Is having a pet “put to sleep” okay with God or does He see it as murder? And is it contrary to faith to do so?
Do our pets go to heaven when they die?
Jim and I sought God about the decision to release Sweetness. We had been standing in faith for her healing. We confessed, prayed, decreed and even fasted for her. We did that for three years, on top of giving her best possible medical care. And I believe our stand of faith extended her life and even improved the quality of her final years with us. But, for whatever reason, we did not see a complete manifestation of healing for her. She would have brief episodes of illness, and then she would come out of it. Then, the episodes came closer and closer together, and the last time, she just didn’t return to her normal peppy self. And we knew we could not allow her to continue to suffer. It would have been selfish for us to keep her with us when she clearly was in discomfort and pain. If we were using our faith for our own healing, it would be justifiable to continue to stand through pain and other symptoms. But a pet, who cannot exercise its own faith, is at our mercy. If our faith cannot do what is needed for the animal, then God sees it as being merciful to release him/her from suffering. And God indicated to both me and Jim, in different ways, that it was time to let Sweetness go. God does not see it as murder but as us extending mercy to the creatures that we have dominion over. We are releasing them from their body of pain and sending them to be with the Lord in Heaven.
That leads to the second point. Do our pets go to heaven? The answer is yes, they do. Some people teach that animals do not have souls or spirits and therefore they do not go to heaven. However, I disagree with that, and I’ll use Scripture to support my view.
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. Genesis 7:15 (KJV)
On the surface, it appears to say that two of every breathing creature entered the ark. However, the term breath of life is ruach chayyim in Hebrew, which is better translated as spirit of life. According to this verse, animals have a spirit. After all, plants are alive too, but they do not have a spirit of life in them. So, the argument that animals cannot go to heaven because they have no spirit does not hold water. True, they are not made in the image of God like we are, but they are living beings with spirits. And there are many verses that mention animals in heaven.
On top of this, we cannot forget that God is love (I John 4:8). Because He is love, He loves His creation. He wants to have them join Him in heaven because He loves them. And because He loves us, He is caring for our pets in heaven so we can be reunited with them later. He loves them, and He loves us, so it does not align with God’s love nature for Him to keep us all separated for eternity. Heaven is a place of joy where we get to live around what we enjoy. If we enjoy our pets, then God will have them there for us to enjoy.
I hope this has helped those pet parents out there who wondered about these things. Our hearts ache and we miss our precious Sweetness dearly. However, we know that we did the best we could for her, and we have the assurance that she is not in our past but she is in our future. What a happy reunion we will have with her some day in heaven!
