However, for now, I've put my search for a church on the back burner while I continue to pray and garner up courage. I've instead begun to seek fellowship with others in different spaces, slowly building up the courage and social skills I've lost due to pandemic lockdowns. Most notably, I've started working as a volunteer at an animal shelter, obeying a years' old calling in my heart to do just that. Working with humans (especially strangers) has always been exceptionally difficult and exhausting for me, but I've always been gifted with animals of all kinds (except humans, of course).

Thanks to Trikafta, I've now got the energy to work with animals like I've always wanted to, and I couldn't feel more at home surrounded by dogs, cats, and other pets in need of help at the shelter. Perhaps, my purpose in life at the moment is to serve the Lord by taking care of His precious creatures, and making sure people are either reunited with their beloved pets, or pets find their forever homes.  

Christ told His disciples on the Sermon on the Mount, that the greatest commandment was, and still is, to love. Love the Creator with all of your heart, and love thy neighbor as thyself. Scripture also shows us numerous instances where Christ inserted Himself as the sufferer. In Acts, Jesus appeared to Saul while he was on his way to Damascus to kill more Christians and asked "Why are you persecuting Me?" not "Why are you persecuting my followers?" Similarly, in Matthew 25, specifically in the parable about the Sheep and Goats, the King in this parable (who represents God) says, "Whatever you do for the least in My kingdom, you did for me."

Based on these verses, I believe that whenever I take a shelter dog out of the kennel and for a walk along the banks of the South Platte river, or flick around a feather on a stick for a spunky kitten, the joy those animals feel must also be experienced by God. Perhaps, the very fact that I'm able to work at the animal shelter for so many hours, and still have an abundance of energy to go take care of my own dogs and do things with my family, is an expression of my gratefulness for Trikafta and the life I've been given. Actions speak much louder than words, after all. While I do go on my little tangents about how hellish my life has been, and how I still sometimes wish God just killed me when I was still crippled by illness, my actions scream the exact opposite.