Sometimes hope comes in the most unexpected places. 

As Alison Hodgson and her family were grieving the loss of their home after a disastrous fire, the last thing she wanted to do was adopt a family pet. That was, until her seven year old daughter convinced her that this would make all things better in the world. Little did Alison know that this little pug, Oliver, would so greatly impact her life.

She shares some of the challenges that she faced while bringing him into her new home.

“They’re companion animals and they’re very jovial; they have this joy and this hilarity to them, but they also can be stubborn little buggers.”

“He was in a cage outdoors for 3 years so he was not housebroken and he was a little stud, which doesn’t help anything. We brought him to our new and shining new house and he quickly did his damage. It was complicated, he was a lot of work and that’s why sometimes the things we need most require effort and commitment.”

During this difficult time of rebuilding her life, Alison was searching for God’s presence to reside. She reflects on the aftermath of the fire,

“I thought the fire was going to teach me about God’s presence and I had been thinking about it in a very practical and tangible way.”

“Going into it I thought I knew what I was going to learn, but God felt really far away when we were rebuilding and it was incredibly painful.”

Oliver turned out to be the vessel that God was using to bring hope and healing into the family. Alison expresses her gratitude,

“This not entirely housebroken dog, carried God to me and brought hope and a lot of healing and a lot of joy.”

God uses any means He can to reach us and will always provide us with hope in the midst of darkness. All we have to do is pay closer attention to the vessel in which He uses.

“It doesn’t sound very spiritual, it doesn’t sound very profound, but God uses the small things and God uses the weak things of this world and we saw that in this.”

Highlight: Meet Oliver

Beauty for ashes