When we are young, it can be difficult to understand that just because we desire something doesn’t mean it’s available or necessarily in our best interest. The holidays are often a moment for kids to write what they want to Santa Claus. But at other times of the year, where might a child reach for solutions?
One young girl decided to take matters into her own hands when her parents refused to give her a second dog. To solve her problem, she looked towards the heavens and sent a letter to God. Six months later, her parents were shocked when a response came through the mail—from a “Friend of God.”
In a Reddit thread on r/askUK, a post titled “Who replied to my daughter’s letter to god?” was shared.
A Redditor under the name Normal-Ad2857 posted a picture of a letter responding to their daughter’s letter to God. They write,
“My 8 year old daughter is dog obsessed. We already have a family dog but she has been asking and asking to re-home another dog from a rescue centre. We said no (various reasons) and she got very upset, stormed off to her bedroom and came out an hour later with an envelope. She stormed off up the road to post it. This was 6 months ago or more!
She’s just received a reply to this letter today. from a rescue centre. Typed on low quality paper, name and address was handwritten. Envelope was pre-paid royal mail. No return address or postage location markings etc.
Had us totally confused and freaked out for about an hour until she realised and revealed that the letter she had written was to God, asking if he could make her dog adoption deams come true.
She said she just put on the envelope ‘To God, Cloud 9, Heaven’… So who in gods name has replied to this letter….in god’s name??”
The answer was found in the comments section of the Reddit thread.
Redditors respond to the question, “Who responded for God?”
One claim was offered by Redditor MazerTanksYou, “Likely Royal Mails Specialist Hand writing team (based in Belfast yeo) who deal with letters like these. They pass them to the internal postal review panel who treat them with the respect and decorum they deserve.”
Sharing their own experience working for a delivery office, danny202089 said, “We did this at my delivery office. A young girl handed me a letter addressed to her cat that had just recently died. Her mum pulled me to the side and told me what it was. She’d drawn a picture of the family and both cats (she had 2 cats) and a small letter saying that she hoped he was ok in cat heaven etc.” They continued the story saying, “Took it back to the office and we sent a letter back to her the next day letting her know everything was fine and to look after her remaining cat lots of attention and cuddles. Mum said she loved it.“
Infamous_Telephone55 felt they had the answer, saying, “Undeliverable mail gets sent to the National Returns Centre in Belfast, where staff look inside for a return address. It’s not Royal Mail policy to reply to such letters (although letters to Santa do get a Christmas card back from Santa) so I’m guessing that a kind person at the NRC decided to send a response.”
What the response letter said
The response letter said, “Sorry it has taken so long to write back to you, God says he hopes you don’t mind someone else writing back to you who knows him… he has given you a wonderful Mum and Dad to take care of you and they will be able to guide you and help you when the time is right.” It continues, “God has asked me to tell you he hears every prayer, and answers them just at the right time… especially the ones about dogs.”
The letter contained more encouraging words about the young girl’s love for dogs. It also suggested learning as much as possible about dogs so she can know exactly what to do in the future.
In a 2025 article for Newsweek, reporter Melissa Fleur Afshar quoted the mother of the girl saying, “My daughter was delighted. She doesn’t quite understand who wrote the letter, but loved the mystery behind it, and it’s always nice to have a letter answered.”
The mother who wished to remain anonymous continued, “I think it’s nice in this day and age where everyone is so socially distant that there are still people out there putting the effort in.”
