I can’t let a year pass without sharing this photo of Freedom in his Santa hat. It warms my heart every time. Not only does it make me smile (because he really didn’t want that floppy red cone with a white pompom on his head), it makes me wish I could hug the thick, winter-hair around his neck and thank him.

If it weren’t for you, Freedom, I wouldn’t have found the courage to write your story. If it weren’t for you, Freedom, I wouldn’t have been given this amazing writing gig that allows me to help animals all over the world. If it weren’t for you, Freedom, I wouldn’t have found my purpose.

How could the impossible happen? Pure luck with a bit of Divine guidance mixed in? Sounds good. That must be it.

Years pass and seasons change. It happens again. Twice? Five years later. How could that be? I’ll tell you how. It’s because God knows which of His animal guardians to call on when there’s an urgent need. That animal angel on Earth would be my mother. She has helped two lost cats find their way back home.

It’s been more than two decades—28 years to be exact. I can’t believe how the sun has risen and set for 10,220 days and yet, I can look at this photo and instantly feel the same joy-filled and grateful emotions that I felt in San Luis Obispo, California on the Memorial Day weekend of 1993 when I led Freedom out of that boarding stable corral. It was a day of redemption and renewal. He had been gone for twelve years but he was finally homeward bound—back to the ranch where he was born.

I didn’t know then that the blessing of having Freedom back in my life had much more meaning. It would take years of life lessons and self-discovery to realize that Freedom would instead be the one leading me to my purpose.