Do We Ever Really Lose the Animals We Love?
Held in Heaven, an oil painting by Debbie Moylan depicting the spiritual connection between humans and animals through golden light and the belief behind God's Rope.
Every person who has loved an animal eventually asks the same question.
Where do they go?
It is a question that has no proof and no certainty. None of us can truly know what lies beyond this life. What I am about to share is not something I can prove. It is simply what I have come to believe through a lifetime of loving, rescuing and saying goodbye to animals.
It is the belief that became the foundation of my painting series, God's Rope.
The Golden Threads ➡️
I believe that every meaningful relationship we have with an animal creates an invisible golden thread between us.
It begins the moment trust is formed.
Every shared walk.
Every quiet cuddle.
Every rescue.
Every goodbye.
Every act of love adds another strand to that thread.
When an animal dies, I do not believe that thread is cut.
I believe it remains.
In fact, I believe it becomes stronger.
The physical presence may be gone, but the love, the memories and everything that animal gave to our lives still exists. As long as those things remain, I cannot believe that the essence of them has disappeared.
Love has changed its form, but it has not ended.
God's Rope ➡️
Over a lifetime, those golden threads are woven together.
Each animal I have ever loved becomes part of something greater.
The rope grows thicker with every dog, every cat, every horse, every fox, every bird and every soul that has walked beside me.
To me, God's Rope is made from every act of love shared between animals and the people who truly cared for them.
One day, when my own life comes to an end, I imagine those countless golden threads becoming the path that leads me home to them all.
It is not simply a rope.
It is every relationship that has ever mattered.
I Like to Imagine...
Until that day comes, I find comfort in imagining each of them exactly as they were at their happiest.
I imagine Cassie running through endless open fields, joyfully chasing squirrels without tiredness or pain. Even now, I like to think that the dog who spent her life protecting me still watches over me in her own way.
I imagine Casper racing across soft green grass, doing endless zoomies, completely free from the cancer that eventually took him from us.
I imagine Chance waiting behind a tree in the garden, perfectly still until I walk past before bursting out, wagging his tail and howling with delight because he caught me by surprise once again.
I imagine Tammy bouncing in a field of long grass, and barking at the birds as they fly upwards.
I imagine Tingaling hiding ready to pounce and catch someone’s ankles with his claws.
I imagine Candy faithfully waiting for me, as she always did in life.
I imagine Zabra happily staying in the light of heaven, because he was afraid of the dark.
Those pictures bring me peace.
Whether they exist exactly as I imagine them or not, they remind me that love encourages hope rather than despair.
Learning to Live With Love and Loss
People often say that time heals grief.
I don't think that is quite true.
Time teaches us how to carry it.
The sadness never completely disappears because love never completely disappears.
We simply learn to carry both together.
The ache softens.
The memories become brighter.
The tears become less frequent.
But the love remains exactly where it has always been.
Why I Paint God's Rope ➡️
Every painting I create is rooted in this belief.
The golden light that appears throughout my work is not simply decoration.
It represents connection.
The animals in my paintings are not symbols of loss.
They are reminders that relationships continue to shape us long after physical presence has gone.
When I paint an animal looking towards the light, or standing quietly beside a person, I am painting something that cannot be seen but can often be felt.
The invisible threads that bind us together.
Until We Meet Again
If I could have one wish, it would be that every animal I have ever loved could stay beside me until the day I leave this world.
But life does not work that way.
Instead, I choose to believe that the golden threads between us are never broken.
They remain woven into God's Rope, growing stronger with every life that touches ours.
One day, when my own journey is complete, I hope those same golden threads will lead me home to every animal who has ever shared my life.
Until then, I will continue to love those who are still beside me.
And I will continue to remember those who have gone ahead.
Because love does not end when life ends.
It simply changes the way it stays with us.
