Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for your prayers as the Lord leads you!!!!!!!!!  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!  I am very thankful for the ongoing work of the Lord in my life and in the lives of those He has me minister to!!!!!!!!!  Philippians 1:6 "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  He definitely is faithful!!! : )  My excitement about this is fairly high right now because the Lord is using my study of natural horsemanship to show me some things about myself once again!! : )

 

Not every horse has the same temperament or "horsenality" as Parelli puts it.  Through my study and practice by trial and lots of errors I am finally beginning to see the unique temperament of my horses.  This is helping me understand why they respond the way they do.  Now I know Parelli's chart is for horses, but the Lord showed me where I fit on that chart and why I respond the way I do to others, to Him and to myself!!!  Now just pretend you are a horse for a little bit here and no, this will not be complete or perfect.  The Lord is the perfect natural horseman, only most of us horses don't know that because we have our own perceptions of Him based on our past experiences with significant other trainers in our lives, our temperaments, our environment and our learned behavior.  He wants a respectful, trusting, willing and enthusiastic partnership with us where we flow in harmony with Him as our leader.  That's easy to say but getting there is another story that He is very patient to work out.  I don't want to make this super long so I will not go into all the types of "horsenalities" there are.  Picture peace as being left brained, calm, soft and responsive, wanting to please.  Picture anxiety as right brained, panicky, bracey, wanting to run far away to "safety."  These are two extreme opposites and there's a bunch of combinations in between that include dominance and who's going to make me?  One approach definitely does not fit all!!!  God does know how to approach each of us in our uniqueness in His patient, and at times, firm, yet loving way. : )  You may be wondering what I learned about myself, some of you believe you already know!!!! : )  I'll leave you to wonder. : )  With the Lord's help my own heart can calm down more allowing Him to bring about slow changes.  : )  Thank You Lord!!!!!!

 

I have been blessed with the opportunity to share with "Clar" from God's Word many times in the past couple weeks.  She has been in a major spiritual battle for the past six to seven years.  She is an unwed mother of one with another on the way.  Her boyfriend is not a believer and really has no interest in turning to the Lord.  He has been abusive on a number of occasions.  The Lord has been speaking to her throughout this whole time to get out of the relationship and stay out, but she hasn't been strong in the Lord to stand up to the temptations to go back.  She is now in period of time where she believes she needs to stay away from the boyfriend and get on with her life with the Lord.  She has been coming to the Women's Bible study which I teach now and has been coming over at other times too.  Both "Clar" and her sister "Alv" have had some dreams in the past month that really bothered them.  After discussing them and seeing them in light of God's Word, both gals are working through them.  "Alv" is still coming over for horsemanship lessons. : )

 

Sarah appreciates everyone's prayers!!!  We have seen some rocky times of late.  The holidays will present a challenge again.  Thank you for praying for her!!!!!!  The Jehovah Witnesses father and son, who board their horses on my friend's land,  have come for four lessons in natural horsemanship so far. : )  I am trusting the Lord to guide me in my time with them not only in working with the horses but also for any opportunity to speak of Him. : )  I haven't been able to speak with the wife for some time now but am trusting the Lord for that as well. : )

 

"Reb" has had a heart to follow the Lord through the years.  She ran in to many obstacles through school but did get away from any drug or alcohol use on her part.  She joined the army this past summer.  It was very tough on her, not so much physically as emotionally due to the attitudes and bad language of the others around her.  She started turning more and more to the Lord.  She is now in a new stage which I still don't quite understand but may be many of you will.  She does want prayer and gave me permission to share that request with you all.  She wants to be strong in the Lord and not give in to the ways of the world.  Thank you for praying for her!!!

 

This is my first attempt at sending out an update with the new server.  Please bear with me as I work through whatever changes need to be made for those who want the body of the message to appear in certain ways.  This may also be a slow process!!  I'm really enjoying being on the internet so quickly and not getting booted off frequently!!!!! : )  Thank you for your patience with me in this learning process!!!  Thank you again for your support in prayer and in finances as the Lord leads!!!  May Thanksgiving be a time to reflect on the Lord's grace in all of our lives. : )