My Daughter’s Prayer for a Dog Changed Me

I’ve never really been much of an animal person.

Now before half of you leave this site and never come back, hear me out.

I have pretty severe allergies, which has taught me to appreciate pets from a distance. I have fond memories of the animals my family had growing up, but as an adult I never had any desire to get one of my own. Most pets leave me covered in hives.

In fact, whenever I visit someone’s home, I do my best to avoid their dogs and cats. But somehow, animals always seem to sense that I don’t want them near me, and without fail they come rub against my legs or curl up in my lap as if they’re determined to win me over.

At that point, I usually send a desperate glance to my husband, who kindly rescues me before I end up in a sneezing, watery-eyed, Benadryl-needing mess.

But recently, our four-year-old daughter has been dreaming about getting a dog.

Every night when our family gathers to pray before bed, her sweet little voice earnestly asks God to give her one.

She even has a little journal she begged me to buy for her at the store. Page after page is filled with her scribbled “words,” and when we asked what she was writing, she explained all the adventures she plans to have with her future dog.

She’s made lists of everything we’ll need to buy and all the ways she’ll take care of it.

Not a day goes by without her asking me when God is going to bring her a dog.

And slowly, little by little, she’s changed my heart.

I’m still not really a pet person. But I love my daughter so much that I want to give her this gift she’s been dreaming about.

So we’ve quietly begun looking for a dog that would be a good fit for our family. She doesn’t know it yet, but we may actually be closer than she realizes. Right now, we’re waiting to hear back about a possible adoption. (SHH... it's a surprise)

But yesterday she looked at me and said:

“Mom, why hasn’t God answered my prayer for a dog? Prayer doesn’t seem to be working. I think we should just go to the pet store and buy one today.”

I explained to her that sometimes God says “yes” right away, sometimes He says “wait,” and sometimes He says “no.” And right now, we were in the waiting season.

As I smiled at her, it hit me:

She had no idea we were already working behind the scenes to make the desire of her heart a reality.

And suddenly I realized that God probably sees many of my prayers the same way.

So often, I only see the waiting. I don’t see the behind-the-scenes work He may already be doing on my behalf. And when answers don’t come quickly, it’s tempting to take matters into my own hands.

But God loves us even more deeply than we can imagine, and His plans for us are good.

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!”— Matthew 7:11

I also realized something else.

My daughter’s constant requests for a dog softened my heart over time. Her persistence showed me just how deeply she cared about it.

It reminded me of the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1–8 — the story Jesus told to teach His disciples to always pray and never give up.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (NIV)

If even an unjust judge eventually responded to persistent asking, how much more will a loving Father hear the cries of His children?

We don’t always understand God’s timing. We don’t always see what He’s doing behind the scenes. But we can trust that He loves us, hears us, and knows exactly what He’s doing.

Sometimes the answer is already on the way — even when all we can see is the waiting.