Talk about suffering. I recently suffered the loss of my dog, Cletis. It may seem silly to talk about losing a pet, but in my family pets aren't just pets. They're family, and Cletis was one to protect his family at all cost.

Cletis was about seven when he passed. He and one of my other dogs, Lucy, stayed in the backyard most of the time because they are larger dogs and hadn't really been in the house. With three dogs and two cats, it would get really expensive taking them for vet check-ups, which is why we never did. We just wished for the best and hoped our pets would be able to stay healthy, but unfortunately for Cletis that didn't happen. We noticed about a month before he passed that his back dew claw was swollen and just figured he broke his toe. But when it never got any better, we decided it was time to take him to the vet. Another reason why we were hesitant in taking Cletis to the vet is because he is protective of his family. If a stranger comes near him, you can be sure he will probably greet you with a bite.

The vet immediately knew something serious was going on with Cletis when he looked at his leg. Cletis had an x-ray done, and we found out that he most likely had bone cancer. Given this circumstance, we only had two choices. The first was to let him suffer with cancer for six months at the most and die from it, and the second choice was to get rid of the cancer by amputating his leg and prolonging his life. As much as we love Cletis, we decided he could get around fine on three legs since he had already been limping for awhile.

The surgery went well, but something unknown and unexplainable happened that night while Cletis was at the vet. He passed away in his sleep. While Cletis was at the clinic, they ran some heartworm tests on him and found that he did in fact have heartworms. Because he had them, we thought it would be best to check our other two dogs for heartworms, too, so we could do whatever was necessary to treat them. Since Lucy spent all her time in the backyard with Cletis, it wasn't surprising to find out that she also had heartworms. If this unfortunate event didn't happen to Cletis, we never would have taken our other dogs to get checked for heartworms, and we would have ended up losing them far too soon.

As much as I wish Cletis was still here with me, there is light to be found in this darkness. Even though Cletis is just a dog, to me he is my dog the hero because in his death he saved Lucy from dying of heartworms. We are now able to treat Lucy's heartworms, so she can live out her life and continue bringing joy to those who love her most.

It's always hard suffering the loss of a loved one or a pet or just a difficult situation, but we can be sure that in those dark moments of suffering, God will be there to comfort us and carry us through. He will be there to bring us hope and show us the light at the end of the tunnel. So if you're walking in sadness, keep your head held high and look for the light in the darkness because it can always be found.

Sarah Smith grew up in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with an English degree. She loves being a child of God and serving in missions. She has gone on trips to Germany and London and served a recent term of five and half months in London as a missionary intern. She recently applied to seminary and is looking forward to attending Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall to study Christian Counseling.