Sometimes you just need a hug.

Someone to care.

No judgment.

Sometimes you need more...you need healing in your soul.

A loving golden retriever named Miriam and her team from Kingfisher Emmanuel Lutheran Church want to offer that comfort.

Over two years ago, members of the congregation were looking for an outreach ministry they could get excited about. They found it through Lutheran Church Charities comfort dog ministry (LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs), top dog handler Keith Leimbach said.

More than 130 dogs in 27 states, LCC provides all the training for the comfort dogs and their handlers. Miriam is the second dog to be placed into ministry in Oklahoma, with Rufus being the first at St. Mark Lutheran Church in Edmond.

As the gentle, loving nature of the golden retrievers naturally draws people to them, the dogs serve as a bridge for their ministry partners to share compassion and the love of Jesus, Leimbach said.

“We don’t judge,” Leimbach said. “We do a lot of listening.”

At eight weeks old, Miriam began her training in Northbrook, Ill., and over 2000 hours of training and two years later, she met her team from Emmanuel Lutheran Church in September.

Although the six-member dog handler team, soon to be eight, had been training with Rufus in Oklahoma while Miriam was training in Illinois, the more intensive training came for the team when they traveled to Northbrook to meet Miriam and thereafter.

After they met Miriam in Illinois, they spent three days training and taking her on field trips to get a feel for the interactions they will encounter. One of those encounters came quickly as several members of the team were traveling back to Kingfisher.

Leimbach, Pastor Tim McCarty, Denise Jech and Miriam were about to enter a restaurant when the door swung open and a woman with her young daughter exited. The woman dropped to her knees, Leimbach said, and while loving and petting Miriam, she began to tell them about all of her troubles and loss she was experiencing at that moment.

After explaining that she was a comfort dog, Jech said the woman stated, “I need so much comfort.”

“If the three of us had been walking through that door alo ne .... would she have stopped?” Leimbach

It changed the whole spectrum of what occurred, Jech added.

Once they returned to Kingfisher with Miriam, the team members continued to train for another four to five weeks before they received their official certification and commissioning.

Leimbach said there are currently 18 members involved with the ministry: Six dog handlers (with two more in training) and 10 ministry partners. As they go out to minister, two dog handlers will be responsible for Miriam and two ministry partners are then available to listen and interact with people. Two couples have also been trained as Miriam’s caregivers.

“When we decided as a congregation this was a ministry the church could support, it all just fell together,” Leimbach said. “The congregation has been very supportive.”

A final aspect of training to receive their handler badges was to take Miriam on an outing to the Canadian County Health Department in Yukon where employees perform COVID-19 tests.

It’s a stressful time for people, Leimbach said, and added the visit went well with a health department representative asking the team to come back on a monthly basis.

While they were in Yukon, the team also took Miriam to a few businesses to spread some cheer.

“2020 has not been a good year and everyone could use a smile,” Leimbach said.

Since completion of training, the team has been to some local businesses and had its first scheduled outreach earlier this month when members took the comfort dog to the Compassion Health Clinic at Kingfisher First Baptist Church.

While they were at the clinic, Jech said a nurse brought a patient to spend a few minutes with Miriam and when she returned to measure the patient’s blood pressure, it had decreased quite a bit.

“It was a neat experience to see how Miriam helped calm the patient after only spending a short time with her,” Jech commented.

The ministry is just getting started, Leimbach said, but they are excited about future opportunities and foresee it growing and building more every month.

Although things are a little different with COVID-19, Leimbach hopes to set up window visits at nursing homes sometime in the future.

“When there is a need, people can contact us and we will work to set something up,” Leimbach said.

Miriam has a Facebook page, email and business cards and a “meet and greet” for the community is planned from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 at Emmanuel Lutheran.

Each dog has a biblical name and a designated Bible verse for its individual ministry, team member Susan Post said.

The verse given to Miriam’s ministry is Exodus 4:8, “Then the Lord said, `If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second?”

Post recalled an experience at a store with a soonto-be bride. Planning a wedding can be a stressful time, particularly during a pandemic and when the woman saw Miriam, she began loving and petting the dog and said, “I so need to pet a dog,” Post said.

“What is really cool is that we are beginning to see the training come into action and experience some of the reward,” Post said.

Miriam is trained to interact with people in many situations such as schools, nursing homes, hospitals and others, as well as being deployed in national crises. Leimbach said LCC comfort dogs are sent in to help during wildfires, hurricanes and other disasters.

Miriam wears her blue LCC K-9 comfort dog vest on most occasions, but also wears a camouflage Kare 9 military vest while working with military service members, veterans or their families and her handler must have served in the military. At the present time, Leimbach is the only military veteran on the team.

Although Miriam and the Emmanuel Lutheran Church team are just beginning their journey, they are already seeing encouraging and positive results.

“We want people to see God in us and through Miriam and know that we are here for them,” Leimbach said.