Wow! Really long walks with your dog. It's 9 hours later. Kind of hoped to see your story on here after reading this.
Well, the story is that he very suddenly went deaf. "Nothing we can do.", the vet said, "It just happens when they get old.."
Now, I had prayed for many people, and had seen them healed of all sorts of things. So to pray about this was nothing out of the ordinary for me. Yet, it never crossed my mind. But the more I thought about it, over a week or so, the more I felt that I was just not ready to lose communication with my little Buddy so suddenly.
One day, walking around our lake, I felt so cheated and sad about it, that I began to pray in a desperation I haven't felt in a long time. I just wasn't ready! Then, I just sort of tried to reign myself to it.
By the time we got home (about ten minutes) his hearing had returned -- almost to what it was when he was a puppy. That was well over three years ago, and although it DOES seem to be fading some (like mine) he still hears everything around him. But, I am OK with it happening this way. It's the natural progression of old age.
Maybe to someone else, this isn't such a big deal, now that I actually write it out. But, to me, that was something I almost broke out in my Happy Dance over.