Even horses can be optimists!

We Choose Joy

We will rest in you Lord. We will rejoice. When the outermost situations grind us like rough sand paper to our skin. We look, and we find You, doing just the opposite from the inside out. Refining us. And we choose joy, we choose to rest in you. Oh, our souls stir for a family, yearn and burn for a family, sometimes to the point of tears. But, although we cry tears like Hannah did... we KNOW a Samuel is coming for us too. We will not let this longing be a source of bitterness, but we view it as a beginning of a miracle. You stir a parent's heart with deep longing and love for their children long before they ever hold them, and while that longing is so passionate it sometimes seems painful in the wait, it is ultimately a beautiful thing. You are teaching us to cherish each other and cling to each other during this time and how great a love we have in our marriage because of this trial. Nothing else has ever caused us to look so deeply into each other's eyes and share our emotions. So we consider it a pure JOY to go through this Lord. We know you are the Almighty Developer of perseverance and character. We know our situation has been laid before you. We need not manipulate you to get our way. We want YOUR way Lord.

It touches our hearts to know You longed like this too as You waited for us to come into the world, as You waited for US to love You. Only, Your longing was even deeper, because it comes from a perfect love. How humbled we are.

We choose Joy.

Are you still praising?

Wow... how we miss Caleb and Isabel! It seems lately, not to make sense. It has gotten very very very hard. It has almost been a year now since we first met them. I have to admit, coming to that milestone has not been easy, facing mother's day... seems like one of the hardest days ever. Did we not hear God right? Are we still supposed to wait? Is our faith being that fiercely tested?

We know God spoke to us about these kids. We know there is a purpose in all this. Why don't we just move on by now? Well, we will NEVER "move on". We committed to these kids. Kid are worth the wait. Kids are people too and if you promise them something, you need to put yourself and your own timelines aside and be faithful to your promise.

So I look at my little girl here... and think of the storm she's going through. Mom and dad left her at an orphanage, need I say more. But look at her stance! She is still praising. It brought me to think...I need to shake off the sniffles. Yep... it's hard... it stinks we are guessing, wondering, second guessing, believing, embracing, holding fast, tripping, dusting off... but are we seeing the big picture.... the simple but strong picture that our daughter sees. God is still God. God knows, God sees it all. Alleluia. We still praise Him... even in the storms.

Ears Forward

"My Eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge..." Psalm 141:8a

I borrow this story from a wonderful horse lady I met in church this Sunday. As we stood there chatting and getting to know each other we hashed over how amazing it is that God can use horses to speak so many rich analogies to us. Then this wonderful lady gave me an example of one lesson that God has taught her and her husband with their horses... and that's Ears Forward.

As many of you may know, when working with a horse, you want his attention to be on you, not meaninglessly wandering around looking at everything BUT you! You can tell where a horses TRUE attention is by the direction their ears are pointing. Of course wanting a horses complete attention is for your safety as well as the horses , but it is also a respect issue. If your horse does not respect you or even know you as it's trainer, you can try and try again and you're not going to get through very well. And still yet it goes beyond respect and it goes into being a relationship issue. You want your horse to pay attention to you and respect you, but you also want him to WANT to be around you, you want him to willingly look constantly to you for direction.

That is such a parallel to what God wants from us. In a sense God is our trainer! Really He is. And if we take our focus off Him we will get very little out of any type of relationship from Him and we will miss out on what His leadership has to offer. And yet, we can be "good" Christians and give Him our attention on Sundays or even now and then read our Bibles because we "should" but then we still don't look to Him WILLINGLY, wanting to be with Him and wanting to serve Him out of love.

What an awe inspiring thing it is however when you look at a horse that wants to be with its trainer out of pure love and adoration and a desire to serve and listen. It's rewarding to get to that point with a horse, it is an awesome trusting relationship. How great GOD must feel when we completely surrender to Him, not because we should, but because we want to.

Ears forward.


Stay tuned for my next entry..."Who is really bigger the turkey or the horse???" The Saga is unfolding in the pasture as we speak...I'll let you know who wins! Oh, I hope it's not the turkey! Make me proud Blaze!