I believe God isn’t going to give me more than I can handle. My faith in that premise is steadfast, though many times I have thought he may have overestimated my abilities.

That not-more-than-you-can-handle thing is why I think I don’t have children. Most who know me would agree.

Instead, God gave me cats. Until late in the afternoon on Jan. 19, I was mother to three feline children: Louie, 16; Emma, also 16; and Josephine, age unknown.

On that day, I had to cling to blind faith and rely on the incredible strength of a wonderful woman — a new friend — who accompanied me to the vet’s office to have Louie euthanized.

This woman barely knows me. But she saw my pain and out of sheer goodness offered to help. She made one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life more bearable. I will never be able to thank her for what she did for me — and Louie.

Louie was diagnosed just two days before our move from Michigan to Alabama with a cancerous tumor that was inoperable and terminal. He made it a month here, and I’m thankful for every second of it. I only hope he didn’t suffer too much at the end.

It is difficult for me to believe a mother could love a child more than I loved Louie. In my heart, he was my little boy. I know he thought I was mama.

Louie and I had a special connection from the first moment he became mine. He was the sweetest, most loving cat I’ve ever known. I often had the feeling, particularly when he was snuggled up beside me, that God was in his heaven and all was right with the world.

One thing I know for certain is God sent me an angel last Monday in the form of the kindest woman in Shelby County.

Louie brought a joy to my life like nothing has before. Maybe that seems silly to you. To me, it makes perfect sense. Just like it makes sense that the God I know and love will make sure I and his two feline sisters are with him again one day.