Unless you’re allergic, it’s a funny thing about pets—they have a way of weaving hearts together.

From the time my daughter graduated from high school until well past university, she struggled big time with depression.  In fact, she was so severely depressed during her school years she began cutting herself….

As her parents we had no idea. As her mom, I thought it was a fashion statement that Lana wore cloth wrist bands.

Once we realized though, her dad and I cried, prayed, loved, and watched our beloved girl go through those horrible years, never knowing when we might lose her to suicide. She tried once while she was at university, but told me years later that she thought about ending her life all the time.

The whole issue of depression, self cutting, and healing, would take a book to do it justice. But today, I want to share something that helped us aside from professional care from mental health.

Thank the Lord we had a beautiful dog that Lana actually choose. Zeke our English Springer Spaniel with his long silky ears, his plume of a tail that swept everything off the coffee table, his silly, happy, doggie grin kept Lana many a night from doing the ultimate in self hurt.

Zeke, and our ridiculous cats too, were the tie drawing us together as a family. When Lana couldn’t talk about her inner demons of depression, it was often only our pets that we could talk about. We could even laugh a little about them.

God brought Lana out of her depression with the help of doctors and medication. Today she is happily married to a wonderful man who cherishes her scarred arms and legs.You may also recognize Lana as the gorgeous model on the front cover of Captured by Moonlight, Book 2 of my series.

Today, Lana and our family still have our pets to talk about, and the memories. Zeke is gone now, but sharing in the love of an animal was one of the things the Lord used to help us in our dark valley.

Mutually sharing the love of a pet or another person draws people together on so many levels, and draws us closer to Him.

Share the love…spread the love.

John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Christine Lindsay is Vice President of Christian Authors’ Network and author of multi-award-winning historical novels. Connect with Christine on her website