God's looking after me!

Psalm 5:11

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Like most riders, I have fallen off my horse many times. Some times I break bones other times I just bruise my ego, but the other day I had the fall of all falls. It was so huge I don't even remember it. My day went something like this...

I pull into the farm on a last minute decision to go trail riding on my mare Liz. I'm surprised to see my dad still there feeding the heifers. I tell him my plans and ask if anyones deer hunting where I'm going to be riding. He tells me no and to have fun and that he'll probably be leaving in an hour or so.

I move out to the barn where the horses are eagerly waiting to be let in so that they can get their feed. After they are all settled in I grab my grooming tote and my tack and head for Liz. I got her black coat really slick and shiny so she would look great in our new Christmas present which was a gorgeous blue striped quarter sheet with her name embroidered on it. After I have her all tacked up and groomed we are ready to roll!

It's a little cold and windy today. This is making Liz a little frisky so I was trotting and cantering more to settle her down. We were having a great time just the two of us and the last thing I remember was turning down a trail that I don't travel very often.

The next thing I remember is being woken up from my dream state by my dad. He helps me in the truck and ask me stupid questions like when is my birthday and what my name is. I feel nauseous and accidentally make a mess in the truck cab. The next few hours are a blurr. I'm so tired I'm drifting in and out of sleep, but I know my night involved a lot of poking and prodding and MRI's.

The next few days I'm still a little fuzzy but finally understanding what happened to me. According to the tracks in the trail, I came upon a muddy spot and Liz skidded and lost her balance and we both came down! This gave me a concussion and scared Liz that she ran back to the barn by herself. My first question to dad was, "You didn't hurt her or sell her did you?"

I'm happy to say that now we are both doing fine! And I'll be able to ride again in a few more days! (Even though I've had to miss a few fox hunts in between.) The situation could have gone a lot differently. My dad could have not been at the farm when Liz came back by herself. I could have fallen off differently and broken something. A numerous other things could have gone wrong. I'm just so thankful that God was protecting Liz and me that cold, muddy afternoon. I'm joyful and will rejoice over His protection over me!

Feeling Sick

It is a beautiful winter day. Not to cold and not to hot with blue skies all around me. I'm getting everything ready for the fox hunt tomorrow: cleaning out the trailer, filling hay bags, cleaning tack, etc... I decide to start with the my least favorite which is trailer cleaning. I'm really getting into it and have all the poop cleaned out and only have to put the new bedding down when the fatigue hits me. I've been feeling a cold coming on for a few days so it's not really a huge shock. But for the rest of the time trying to get ready I feel like I have a huge rain cloud hanging over me making every chore I have to do twice as hard.

Liz looks over at me from across the fence and starts walking up to me like "Do you have a treat for me? Is it time to ride?" I give her head a little scratch and say, "Not today girl. I don't feel so well." She shook her head and trotted back over to be with her pasture buddy.

As I started walking back to the barn to wrap things up I started thinking about this cold I had and how it was making my body so weak even during my everyday chores. What if I translate this to the spiritual level? Is there any part of my live that is affected by a spiritual virus I have? I know I have plenty of areas in my spiritual life that are infected with sickness. Such as complaining I had no help with the horse chores, not being consistent with my prayer life, and gossiping at the hunt... just to name a few... I stopped right there in the barn and asked God to help me heal myself from the inside out.

Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.

Psalm 103:3

Lord, you know my physical diseases and most importantly my spiritual ones. You are the best doctor in the world because you are not limited by physical conditions but can heal my soul as well. Thank you for giving me a cold and opening my eyes to see my spiritual sickness!

The Lost Hound

Yesterday night I drove down to the farm to feed the horses but I noticed when I pulled in the driveway there was a black and tan hound sitting in our yard. I got out of my car and walked up slowly to the shy hound saying soft soothing words to get it to come closer to me. I eventually won him over and got to take a look at the number on his collar to call his owner. He belonged to a hunt club near our farm that runs deer. This got me thinking about how different this hunt club was from the one where my family fox hunts. Our huntsmen never leave a hound behind even if they are hunting on their own farm; they stay out on horseback and track them until every single one of them is accounted for. The other hunt club just assumed their hounds would show up back home or someone like me would call and they could pick it up.

Further thinking... if I were a hound which club would I want to be in? This reminded me of the parable of the lost sheep and how the good shepherd always went out and looked for the lost one while the other ninety-nine were in safety.

Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

I am so thankful that I am part of God's heard and that he looks for me when I stray away from Him. I can't imagine how lost and alone I would be waiting for someone to find me or trying to stumble across my own way home the way I would if I was in another "hunt club."

Thanks Lord for always looking for me when I'm lost.