We all get one life

Candy Hull has always had a passion for animals. But how she got her own dog was a miraculous answer to prayer.

For as long as I can remember, I have had a heart for animals. For me, it’s part of my faith—animals don’t have a voice, and we are called to be a voice for the voiceless.

I grew up in South Africa, and my parents gave their lives to God when I was three. My dad gave up a very well-paid job to become a pastor—I remember he drove out in a Mercedes and came back with an old station wagon!

Animals were always part of our life—my brother was always bringing home rescued animals, and my grandfather absolutely loved animals.

I have been blessed to have a very loving mum and dad. It has helped me to see God as a father who wants to look after us and care for us. Jesus is my healer and God is my helper—I don’t have to do things in my own strength.

My husband Jon and I met at work, when I was working in IT in the UK. We’ve been married for 17 years now, and never planned to have children—I feel that for me, God has given me a heart towards caring for animals. My dream is that when we’re retired, we’ll have a shelter for rescued dogs.

We both got made redundant when our company moved offshore, and Jon said to me, ‘Why don’t we think about going to New Zealand?’ I thought he meant a holiday, but no, he wanted
to emigrate! We’ve been here for 11 years now and I love my job as a PA for Salvation Army Public Relations.

I got to the stage where the desire to nurture an animal was really growing in me. So, we decided the time was right to adopt a rescue dog.

But for some reason the doors kept shutting. We went to several animal welfare charities, but nothing was working out. At one stage, we were all set to adopt a dog with hip dysplasia. But two days before getting her, we got the call saying that her needs were too high and we would not be able to care for her. I cried for about three days.

I said to Jon, ‘You know, we haven’t prayed for what we really want, and I feel God wants us to do that.’ So we decided to be specific. We made a bullet-point list asking God for a poodle-cross, female, 3–4 years old, house-trained, spayed and with a lovely temperament.

About three days later, I got an email from a friend saying that they knew someone who had to re-home their dog, and he bullet-pointed: a retrodoodle, female, three years old, house-trained, spayed and a lovely temperament. I told my husband and he said, ‘That’s our girl’.

When we met the owner and this beautiful dog Finn, she said, ‘You know, I’ve been trying to find owners for Finn for a while and no one has felt right. But you’re the ones’.

So that is how we got our lovely girl Finny—she is 11 years old now. She’s such a good girl, she gives both of us her love. She was shy at first but we’ve seen her really blossom.

We all get one life, including animals, and they deserve to have dignity and quality of life. I feel so blessed God chose us to be the ones to care for Finn.

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By Candy Hull (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 29 June 2019, p11  You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.