~Hallelujah! Christ Arose!

We sang this in church today. Such a fitting song! Hope you are having a blessed Easter day remembering the true reason why we celebrate it. The ultimate reason He came was to show the Father's love, which was to create a way to be with Him for eternity. What a Savior!  

Christ Arose

Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my savior

Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose! With a mighty triumph or'e His foes!

He arose the victor from the dark domain, and He live forever with His saints to reign;

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!  

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my savior

Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose! With a mighty triumph or'e His foes!

He arose the victor from the dark domain, and He live forever with His saints to reign;

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!  

Death can not keep his prey, Jesus my savior

He tore the bars away! Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose! With a mighty triumph or'e His foes!

He arose the victor from the dark domain, and He live forever with His saints to reign;

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!  

~Why are you here?

Well I'll answer that right away with what I believe. You are here for a purpose!
1. For God's pleasure ~Revelation. 4:11
2. To bring glory and honor to Him ~Psalm 29:1
3. To bring others to the knowledge and truth of Him ~John 8:32
4. To help set souls free! ~John 8:36

Sooo, how can YOU do that?
I'd say all those points can be summed up in living a life totally dedicated to Him. Your complete life and total surrender to His will is the greatest gift you could give God. Even if you personally never "win a soul for the Lord," by living totally for Him you will have sown more seeds than you could ever imagine!

What can you do NOW?
-Dedicate your life to God
-Identify lies in your life
-Become free of those lies
-Share what God has shown you, to others
-Start mentoring someone (younger sibling? struggling friend?)

As you can see mentoring others was the last on my list. You can not be an effective witness for God until you have dedicated your life to Him and dealt with the sin and lies in your life.

What should be evident in my life after this?
-Peace that God is in control and knows what's best.
-Love for others, a deep care for their soul.
-Joy, God is so good you just can't help but be joyful!
-Patience through trials and with difficult people.

There are more but are you getting this? The fruit of the spirit is the evidence! Oh but there is one I have to add that isn't 'technically' a fruit of the spirit.

-Hope because God is on the throne and has already conquered!

Just remembering that one thing can keep you from despair and depression.
God is always faithful!
Will you be?

~Desires

I came upon this verse and it reminded me so much that our hearts as single girls should be set on God not seeking after relationships with guys. It just seemed to fit my post so well!

Lord I've a desire, it's mainly this,

To have a husband, to love, to kiss.

To serve you together in faithfulness,

To raise a family that you can bless.

Yet Lord I realize you want my whole,

My emotions, my mind, my will, my soul.

And Lord my desire can not take your place.

I must completely seek your face.

So in a box, my desires will go,

And open only, when you say so.

On the day you provide the leader for me,

And we'll promise to serve you faithfully.

But, for now a different desire I'll chase.

One that's nobler, of a higher place.

To love and to seek your will and not mine,

And then I'll know, my desires are thine! 

  As girls we all know what it's like to have desires. To find that perfect man, (for us!) get married, and raise a family. These are all good desires, but they have to be given to God so He can save them for His perfect time.
  You may be wondering...

Why can't I think about them now?

Well because right now they are only distractions. Are you ready to be married now? Probably not. So if you seek after them now you will be getting ahead of God's timing.

What should my desires be right now?

We girls need to be focusing our lives on having an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, serving our families, and learning to be housekeepers. It all boils down to learning to be a godly woman. This time of our life is for preparing.
Also the relationship and respect you have right now with your father will either be a hindrance or a help, depending on how close it is. If you do not respect your father (the authority in your life) how will you respect the man you marry? He will then be your authority. If there are things you hide or don't tell your father, you will also  not be able to be completely honest with your husband. Our relationships with our fathers are to prepare us for the relationships with our future husbands. There are many things to be working on now! Before you're married.

How will I know if it's the right time?

Definitely lots of prayer and seeking God's will. I know this doesn't work for everyone because of having unbelieving parents, but your mom and dad, especially your dad should be the ones to help direct you in this. Always work with your parents even if they aren't Christians. There are many blessings in the Bible for honoring and obeying your parents. As long as it doesn't make you go against God or His word. As young women our hearts and emotions are vulnerable. If you have a Christian father I hope he is doing his best to protect your heart and that you are allowing him to. Back to the question though. You will have to be trusting God and asking him to show you His time, with your parents and also by yourself. It is doubtful God will bring the right man along until you have given up your desires and are serving Him right where you are.

How do I give them to God?

To start off, it has to be from your heart. If you just tell God you want Him to have your desires, and don't mean it, well you get the point.
So just give them to Him. Tell Him that you are now committed to wait on His timing. The thing is, in giving up that, it will leave an empty spot. You know, all the times you spent dreaming, thinking, and planning has to be replaced by something, but what? That is going to be up to you, God and your parents. (I don't care if you are 18 or older God gave you parents for a reason) Ask God what He wants you to be doing right now, and ask your parents what they think you could be working on.

What if I don't give them to God?

If you don't you are telling God that you don't want His best and that you plan to do it your own way. I would feel deeply sorry for you. It might not come right away but there will be consequences. There always is with sin. And yes not giving your desires to God is sin. You're holding out for your own and God will not take second place to anything.

What am I supposed to get from this?

God has a plan for you. Greater than you could ever imagine. But you will only see it if you wait on His timing and do it in His way. 

Oh and if any of you are wondering what brought this on... well you may have guessed it by now but my family and I are going through Sarah Mally's book "Before you meet Prince Charming."  ;)

~Heart issues

                       I can't wait for good weather because I am running very low on pictures to use!

I decided to continue what I was thinking about in Romans 6. My last post I went over verses 14 and 15 so I'll start at 16 and continue through 18.
  "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey," So in other words, what you serve is your master, and what you spend the most time doing  and thinking about the most is your god.
  "Whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." (the penalty of sin is death and the reward for obedience is righteousness) This next part is another one I really like "But God be thanked, that ye were (used to, have been but are no longer) the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which was delivered you." Can that be said of you? That you were the servant of sin, but now you have obeyed from the heart? Obeying from the heart-that got me to thinking. How many ways are there to obey? Offhand I could only think of two. From the heart and from the mind. What's the difference? Well I would say obeying from the heart is submission. It is giving up your will to someone in authority. Obeying from the mind is just compliance. Doing it just because you have to or maybe because it'll look bad if you don't. It is saying 'I reserve the right to fulfill my own will.' That is not submission. Its is not godly, so it is sin.      "Being then made free from sin, ye become the servants of righteousness."
Are you free? Just recently we began watching a series of sessions by John Regier about the 12 locked hearts. If you have never heard of him I would encourage you to look him up. Anyway because of watching those sessions that part about being free really stuck out to me.
  Back to are you free. Is your heart filled with joy and peace that God has saved you and allows only good things to happen in your life? Do you accept yourself physically how God has made you and praise Him for it. Do you continually look for and rebuke the lies that Satan and Self bring to you? If so, are you striving to help others to the same freedom Christ has given you?

 I know, I ask a lot of questions, but as Christians we should. We need to be continually evaluating where we are spiritually and striving to move on to a higher understanding of Him.

~God is stronger

  I was reading through some of Romans yesterday and I came upon something that really jumped out at me in chapter 6. (Verses 14-19 I think?)
   "For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 
   What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
   Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous?
   But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
   Being then made free from sin, ye have become the servants of righteousness." 

 The first part of verse 14 is what really caught my attention. "For sin shall NOT have dominion over you." Sometimes it feels like you just can't get it right. You do something wrong, get convicted, repent,...but then it happens all over again. What went wrong? It says right there sin shall not have dominion over you. 
 One aspect of the problem right there is, who are you relying on to not sin? If you, yourself are doing it, you will continually fail. We do not have the strength to overcome sin and Satan. Satan is much more powerful than us, but he is no match for God! When we determine to rely on Jesus and His power, we can and will conquer sin. God is all-powerful and all-knowing, and He wants us to conquer. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 
 Another thing is, did you genuinely repent? If you can repent and go on doing the same thing over again, then I would question whether you do.
  Repentance is being convicted of sin you have committed and being grieved because you hurt God in doing so. But it doesn't stop there. Repentance is an action, so there needs to be an outward showing of it-confessing it, asking for forgiveness, and then turning away from it. Others will be able to see if you have truly done it because it will show in your life. You will also despise that sin because you know that it hurts God and separates you from Him. (Because God can not look on sin.)

 I actually meant to go over more of that, but I think I'll stop here. I hope this has challenged you to look closely into your life and ask God what He thinks needs changed in you.  

  

~You have the reins

Take my reins Lord, Your will my command

My body your temple, my life's in your hands.

Please use the spur Lord if ever I fight

And try to do the wrong and not right.

Lord I may balk from things I don't know

But if you're with me, forward I'll go.

One step at a time, I'll walk right beside

Because I'm safe, with you as my guide.

In so many ways, the more I learn about horses, the more it reminds me of my relationship with God. He's the rider and I'm the horse. God isn't a dictator, demanding that we obey or else. He's a loving God who has guidelines and boundaries set up to protect us. We have our horses in a pasture. If we didn't they might get hit on the road. This may sound pretty academic but I think it's so neat!
  Most horses are born with a natural distrust for humans. They will hide behind their moms, just out of your reach. Lets say you work with this baby. You show it that when you pull on the halter it is to move towards you. Most times they will pull against you in the beginning; trying to get away from the pressure. If you do it right they will learn to yield to pressure and follow or come to you.
  In that same way God asks us to draw closer to Him. He puts pressure on certain areas of our lives, asking us to make the right decision and turn to Him. (Are you getting this? Or am I just confusing you!)
  When that baby does decide to trust you and follow, he needs rewarded right away. (So he knows he did the right thing.) How? By releasing the pressure.
  God also takes the pressure away that He was applying when we give our wills up to Him and decide to trust Him completely.

 Have you ever round penned a horse? No I don't mean just sending it around to get out some of that energy, I mean Natural Horsemanship- body language. You normally do this when you don't have a very good relationship and you either want your horse to respect or trust you more.
 First you send them away, and make them keep going. In the beginning his focus isn't on you. Its on the other horses, other distractions, or the gate. He doesn't realize yet why he's doing this He slows down, so you quickly apply (Here it is again!) pressure and make him go faster. Such as swinging a rope, or using a whip with a bag on the end, or for the Parelli people a carrot stick. :) There he found out he needs to keep moving and there is someone in the middle of his circle directing him. So he starts eyeing that person, wondering what's going on. (Ok back to you) As he's circling you start backing up and over and make it evident you want him to turn and go the other way. In essence you are now blocking him. He has two choices: (Well he could actually just run over you!) to turn towards you and the middle, and turn around, or turn towards the fence and turn around. (This is so much harder to explain than I thought. Why don't you just come over and I'll sow you what I mean!) Lets say he turns towards the fence. He either doesn't trust or respect you enough because in doing so he has turned his hindquarters towards you and his face away. So that was wrong. Therefore you apply more pressure, making him work harder. Hopefully then he realizes "That didn't work. I turned away and life got harder." Ok horses don't really rationalize like that but do you see where I'm going? God wants to be the center of your world; your total focus. When you turn away he applies pressure to bring you back to Him.
  The last part of round penning is when you have his attention and focus: he's watching you, has one ear turned towards you, and he also starts chewing or licking his lips. They are are signs of a willing spirit. So you step out and ask him to stop. He does, so you turn around and step away. This is the moment. Does he trust you enough to follow or come in to you?
  God does this too. (No not turn his back on you.) He works with you and when He sees the walls come down and the beginning of a broken and contrite heart He tests you to see if you will step out in faith and follow Him.

So, will you? God never fails, He never goes back on His word. 
Can you trust Him?
Will you trust Him? 

Photos by: Tashia

How I talked about it up there is how I have learned to do it. I actually combined my methods of doing this from Clinton Anderson, Monty Roberts, and the Parellis. 

 I got Dunny out just to take pictures for this post. He was like "I know what this is about." Right off he started licking and chewing and trying to come in! I was like "Just hang on fella I need some pictures. Act like we're doing this for real!"

In the end he decided to show off a bit for the camera!

Oh and if you're wondering about those logs in the middle. Well we had a trail course set up and they just didn't get moved yet. I normally don't use logs for round penning!

Oh and by the way, its one of the BEST feelings in the world when your horse walks towards you for the first time. Even if its only a few steps, or one step. He has decided to trust you! Maybe I'm just an emotional person. You don't feel like that? :)

~Sunshine Award

Recently I was nominated for the Sunshine Award by the Calico Sisters (very nice of them to think of me!) And make sure to check out their blog. :) So here are their questions and my answers. I'm not going to pass it on, though. Sorry! But here is a little bit about me!  

Q. What is your favorite thing to do when spring comes around?

A. RIDE! I wait all winter for spring to come so I can do more serious riding. Not just plugging around on the trails. Except then their is so much slop! Oh well dry weather will come sometime.

Q. What kinds of animals do you own?

A. 5 horses; Hank-mustang gelding, Ecco-paint mare, Kat-quarter horse mare, Dunny-quarter horse gelding, Dandy (not sure what he is!) gelding, and 3 cats that spontaneously multiply. 

Q. What experience in your life drew you close to God? / Or / In what way has God really revealed himself to you? 

A. Oh dear. Tough to pin-point just one thing. Well hunting with my Dad probably. I started when I was 12 and have done it every year since. We have had so many great talks about God, life, and what we believe, just by sitting in a shooting house waiting for deer to come. (I know I'm spoiled for hunting like that!)

Q. What is a favorite color of yours?

A. That's easy! Lime green!

Q. Do you like to knit, crochet, or sew the most?

A. I knit a little but definitely sewing. I enjoy especially sewing dresses and jumpers for myself. Also I found a super easy pocketbook pattern at Walmart and I like making them to sell.

Q. Which one is your favorite letters from the Apostle Paul (Corinthians 1 or 2, Galatians, Philippians, etc.)?

A. Probably Philippians. It has so many of favorite or familiar verses in it. One of my favorites is "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me." Very encouraging for when you're not feeling quite up to something. God is always there waiting to show Himself strong on our behalf.  

Q. What are some of your favorite old time shows? (Waltons, Little House, Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best, Christy) 

A. I really don't watch that many anymore but I guess I would say Little House on the Prairie. 

Q. What is your favorite thing to bake?

A. I really like EATING Lemon Bars so they are probably my favorite to bake! Actually I don't bake that much! Sewing is more of my avenue...and HORSES. Oh yeah and horses. 

Q. Skirts or dresses?

A. Either way! When I ride I usually wear skirts, like wide layered ones. Very nice and practical. Although I wear pants or leggings underneath because skirts tend to blow around when you are moving so much.    

Q. What household chore do you enjoy the most?

A. The dishwasher. Loading or unloading. I very much appreciate it because I hate washing dishes. :)

Q. City or country life?

A. Country. I enjoy being by myself. We do have neighbors that live within an acre of us but we have plenty of room behind us. I like all the fields around as well. Not city noise and traffic lights.