I firmly believe that God gives us what we need even if at times we can't see it. When you sit in those quiet moments and think about the way things in your life have been shaped I think we often find that the moments when we asked for something we really wanted we often received what we really needed, if we just pay attention. I often think about this in ways that pertain to horses; for instance I really wanted a horse when I was younger, little did I know that I really needed Lou pony. Lou and I's paths literally collided when I was 15, I didn't go out horse shopping to find him and while I was secretly wishing for a horse I certainly wasn't looking for one. Lou had perfect timing in my life though and I don't think that was a coincidence. He has taught me to love the imperfections in others, to be patient when you have reached your last strand of patience, to know the limitations of others and work within them and most importantly how to trust and let go. Lou has been the rock in my life as I went through those lovely high school years and boyfriends, moved off to college and then moved all around chasing my dreams in the equine industry. Now he is happily retired and right there when I need a big horsey neck to throw my arms around.
As I continue my adventure of pursuing my equine dreams God continues to give me what I need and not always what I want. God gave me Mike who has always stood beside me pushing me to follow my dreams and giving endless amounts of love and support (truth be told I both wanted and needed Mike in my life.) Then there are the moments at work where I just need a moment/day to boost my confidence or re-energize myself. For instance, we just had our arena redone at Wesleyan and well it took a tad bit longer than planned. So instead of prepping my team for their first show of the semester in our new arena, I was forced to teach in our hilly, slightly rocky pastures on horses that were just coming off of winter break. But right when I thought I would break between the lack of arena and the icky rainy weather, we got a gorgeous perfect MLK day and a thawed out arena for team practice. That day was just what I needed to boost my confidence in the team. This past weekend the western team and I headed up to Greenwood,SC to Lander University for four horse shows during an exceptionally windy and cold weekend. While I, of course, wanted amazing rides from all of them I had to patiently coach them through some tough rides. God, however, gave me what I needed when my new walk/jog/lope rider went in and came out with third place (her personal best all show season!). She drew a pony that she rode amazingly but when another rider in the class had issues with her horse the judge decided to swap the two girls, low and behold my rider got on the new horse and rode like she was actually listening to everything I said this year! That was what I needed, I needed to see that each day and each ride they are improving and that they are listening when I feel like I'm talking to a wall. I needed for everyone to have safe, productive rides that they could learn from and that is exactly what we got.
God also knew I needed a man who would help around the barn...he gave me Mike and our new barn kitten Wesley.
This week I'm prepping the hunt seat team for Georgia Southern on Sunday. While I would love to have everyone out at the barn riding every single horse available, that just won't happen. However, I was able to cram lessons in yesterday before the snow and have both of my novice riders jump; they laid out lovely courses and it was exactly what I needed to see and what they needed to feel. Today I had a forced day off of work due to the snow, I guess I kinda needed this day off as well and Mike needed to see snow for a taste of home. I'm lucky enough to report that Betsy the Blue Explorer got Mike and I safely to the Wesleyan barn to check on all of the ponies and do the noon hay and water shift. Macon looks a bit like a ghost town with everyone hiding inside and off the roads, this made for a very nice drive with no worries! Now we are cozied up with the dogs waiting on our crock pot chicken and dumplings for this evening. I hope y'all are staying warm and safe!
"God is always doing 10,000 things in your life and you may be aware of three of them." -John Piper
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