Finally she got the right key and we opened the side that was a storage closet for the pool cleaning chemicals... nope.. she wasn't in there.  Must be the small room on the other side.   Selena opened that door and it's the boiler room.. and oh so hot... even with the doors having been partially open at the bottom due to being warped.   The heat was still very uncomfortable.  Up above, a hole in the ceiling exposed the attic area...and a faint meow could more easily be heard.   I had no idea what cat it belonged to... but I called out my MamaCat's name anyway.   It took a couple of minutes for the cat to get to the opening, and it took a couple of trips out the opened door to get some fresh air when Selena said... There!  There she is.  I looked up and lo and behold there was my MamaCat... looking so sad and meowing in a most pitiful way.   The metal vent piping was too hot for her to use to come down ....  so off I go to get our 6 ft. ladder off our patio for her to use.

 

She was quite hesitant, and meowing the whole time, and I was calling, soothing, encouraging and trying to comfort her the whole time.   Our apartment manager came out... and she, in her heels, climbed up ON the big metal box thingy/heater???.... to try to get my cat to come to her as I held the ladder nearby.  No luck.  My cat's a bit persnickity and likes to do things on her own.    I told them she was used to climbing on the ladder and would come down in a bit...  and sure enough... after stepping first this way and then that way... gaging the security and trustworthiness of the escape route... down she came...and all is well.  

 

I have no idea how long she had been locked in there.   Possibly all day.  The pool-porter does cleaning in the early mornings and the doors are open at that time.  Fortunately, with access to the attic over the whole apartment building ...(and how she got up there I'm not sure )... she had plenty of crawl space to walk around in and was not limited to just that more hot area...thank goodness!   There were plenty of air vents throughout the attic for her to get cooler, fresher air.   But that did not make being trapped in there any more comfortable...especially possibly without food... and I don't want to think about what she may have found to eat up there...lol.

 

This is not the first time she has had to be rescued.   And the feeling of panic, fear, and relief...is just as great each time.   It's so hard to know our loved ones are in need of help... and that they have suffered in some way. 

 

As I lay in bed resting a few minutes from the ordeal I kept hearing her cries in my head.. meow...meow.   What if I had not gone to check the mail...?   So many questions one could ask and ponder.  The main thing is I did... and I heard her cries, and was able to answer her call for help.   As I lay there contemplating things, praying, and resting.... I suddenly heard God whisper... "I hear your cries for help." 

 

He hears us. 

 

He hears you.

 

No matter how far away you think you may be... no matter how small and weary your voice may sound to you.... He hears you.  And he cares.

 

Keep calling....just like MamaCat did.  

 

Don't give up asking to be helped and rescued.  The ladder of escape you need is on it's way... in whatever form is needed for it to take.   And when it gets there.... trust it.  Trust it's strength and ability to carry you down and out of your trapped space from which you have felt alone and helpless. 

 

You may feel alone and abandoned and forgotten.... but you are not. 

 

Someone is calling for you.  Someone misses you and wants you to come to Him.   That someone is God...your Father who loves you with everything He's got and who will move mountains to get to you.   He wants to get you down and out of the painful, scary place you may be in ...but you have to first want to be rescued and helped.   He's  waiting to hear your cry asking Him to come to you.   Call out to him....and keep calling.  He'll be there at lightening speed to talk to you and comfort you until the form of help you need gets there too.