From our family to yours, hope your Father's Day today is wonderful.....in one way or another!  :)



Update coming soon..........

I've often wondered what a near death experience would be like, and songs like "Live Like You Were Dyin'" have been rolling through my spirit since Saturday morning.............that's when Pete and I together had what I can honestly say is the closest I've ever come to being in a situation where I could have so easily been killed, and at the very least badly injured.

However, miraculously, neither occurred.  And I have no qualms whatsoever giving all the credit and glory to a Sovereign God Who, in hindsight, orchestrated every little detail in such a way that Pete and I are both still here!  Glad to be alive.......and deeply amazed at what an impact such an experience has on one's heart.  I think Pete feels the same way.

Pete?  He's a horse. 





One of our best horses really. Ever since the Lord spoke to my heart 10 minutes after I met Pete (over 6 years ago) and said basically "You need to get off this horse and let Jordan ride him.  It's his horse.".......Pete has been  one of us.  Yeah, our critters are like family members.  All of them!  No matter how ornery they get!

But back to my story........Pete has been the one horse we've had that I could always put just about anyone on.......he and my horse Daniel were raised together ever since they were both acquired at the age of two.  I call them "the apostle and the prophet"..........they're sort of 'foundational' if you will, to our little herd.  (you'll have to look that one up to get it......check out Ephesians 4:11)!

So, Pete incurred an injury to his front right foot last week sometime.  Tore the inside bulb of his foot off right above the hoof.  A very nasty injury......I've been making daily trips to the barn to clean and redress his wound, clean out his stall (& Prince's, whose been in the barn keeping Pete company), etc.  Part of our routine for the first few days involved me giving him penicillin injections.  He and Daniel both have had them before, and neither horse ever reacted or showed any signs of being allergic to penicillin.

The first two days went fine, then on Saturday, when I gave him the second injection (making sure I had not hit a vein), within 30 seconds he began to shake and quiver violently, and then to rear back and pull on his lead rope.  I realized quickly that he was reacting to the shot.....I have heard of horses dying from shock or allergic reaction to penicillin, and I thought that he was going to just collapse right there and have a heart attack and die!  I began to pray.  VERY loudly.  And very intently..........I don't think I can ever remember praying SO loud, calling on the name of Jesus and asking God to H-E-L-P !!!!!!  

Pete continued to completely wig out..........I quickly released him from being tied (thank God for the quick release knot!  For just such an emergency! ) and proceeded to hold on to the end of the lead rope for dear life, knowing that if I let go, he would be a 1200 pound out of control equine pinball in a very dangerous situation.......for we were inside the barn, where the tractor with hay spears was only 15-20 feet away, and nowhere to go really!  But Pete could not control himself, and he began to RUN.  The only thing I could do was hold on, and here is where I really sense the grace and sovereignty of God. (I do not believe in luck.  Period.) 

There was just behind us a 6'x6' barn support beam.



Now in all honesty, I did NOT have time to think or even analyze the situation, coming up with a 'game plan' for handling this explosive crisis in the most efficient way.  Nope.  I felt as though I was being carried along in a violent tempest, just trying to keep afloat on my little life raft as I was being thrashed around in a sea of very intense, violent and conflicting currents!  Whatever came to my mind, that's what I did, instantly reacting / responding as the thoughts came.  I'm reminded of one of my favorite verses.....Proverbs 16:3.  It talks about the Lord being able to cause our thoughts to become agreeable to His will when we've committed our way to Him.   And believe me, I was comitting this whole thing to Him with all the faith and energy I had!!!

So, here's what came to mind.........I wrapped my end of the lead rope just around that 6" x 6" beam, and held on for dear life as Pete ran circles around the pole and I for about 20 minutes.........I'm talking a one horse high speed merry - go - round !!!!!  I kept holding on and rotating around the pole as he continued to be driven by the massive amount of energy coarsing through him.......at one point, the rope almost got stuck between an electrical outlet & a protruding piece of wood on the pole, but I was able to wedge it loose before Pete wound himself along with me, into the support beam!

At this point, I did something I shouldn't have done.......thinking that I might lose him, and knowing that if he was going to collapse, I needed help from a vet who could administer epinephrine if Pete needed it to revive him in the event of heart attack.........I pulled out my cell phone with one hand, while holding on to the rope with the other.  Yes.  Pete was still rotating madly around me.  I tried calling my son, then the vet (all the while STILL praying at the top of my lungs).......and then it happened.

The rope slipped out of my hand, and away Pete went!  My worst fear was that he would break loose while in this condition, and really end up harming himself.  I thought "Oh NO.......PLEASE GOD!!!"

Pete ran right between the tractor, which was parked in the main aisle way of the barn, and wedged himself between the tractor and a stall. 




I quickly ran around to the other end, and stood in front of Pete, while making sure that if he bolted and came over the top of me, I could duck between the tractor tire & bushhog directly behind it. 

Pete just stood there, shivering for all he was worth.  I carefully held my hand in front of his face, waved it gently and asked him to back up..........and I asked the Holy Spirit to please "BACK THIS HORSE UP".....just back him up Lord.  Pet didn't budge.  I continued to pray and speak softly to Pete.....he seemed to be coming down from the effects of the penicillin (I'm sure 50 + times circling around the barn's main support beam at high speed had helped expend much of the energy rush he was forced to endure).  I slowly climbed over the stall rail next to his head, and as I began to gently tug on the rope, he began to back up, very slowly and steadily.  I was so thankful!!!! 

It took me a few more moments to get him over to his stall and safely inside, where he proceeded to do what Pete does best.  EAT!  He dove into his hay, and I?  I fell down to my knees and thanked God for seeing us both through what was to me the scariest experience I can ever recall having! 

In looking back on it, over the next 24-48 hours as I went back over the entire situation in my mind, I realize how quickly ANY situation can turn, and we find ourselves in circumstances that we have aboslutely NO CONTROL over.  NONE. 

And yet, I am ever more aware that there is One Who is never far away, and Who is always IN CONTROL!  And I am so thankful that what came out of my heart and mouth were not curses or obsenities, but from the deepest part of my being I called upon and held onto the One Who I knew was in control and would take care of us both.

And you know what?  I knew deep down that if Pete died, the Lord was still in control, and would have His way.  Pete is not my horse anyway.  Nothing I have belongs to me ultimately.  It all belongs to Him.  And He can do with me, or with the people and things, animals and gifts in my life, what He will.

That is very freeing.  And I sense that this experience served to forge that reality even more deeply in my heart!  However, I am so grateful that Pete came through it unscathed (except for a slight gash where he went over the top of the tractor frontloader!)......seems the Lord still has purpose for us both!

Pete was so funny the next day, when I went out to the barn for our daily routine (which did NOT include another SHOT!!!!).  I took him over to the area where I tied him up to clean his wound and re-bandage, and he just looked at me and buried his head in my chest.......very unlike him!  He's not really cuddly.  He's usually rooting around looking for something to eat!  Which reminds me.........after the big adventure was over, and I got up off my knees.........I gave him something that he really doesn't need, but I felt he deserved it and maybe it was my way of saying "I'm sooooooorrrrrrrrrrrry!!!!!!"  I gave him some grain, which he NEVER gets cuz he gets fat so easily!

Far as I can tell, he's doesn't hold anything against me!  I think we're both just bonded in a new way to each other, and both happy to be alive!

I wish I could see the whole thing on video.........!  


I should go measure my arms........I think they're both about 2 inches longer than they were before all this happened! 

Seriously.  I don't know why this happened.  It doesn't matter really.  I'm just glad that in all things, God is at work.  The rest of the weekend was wonderful, and I truly felt like I'd been given a gift....life just felt, and still feels a little different.  Or maybe I'm a little different........

Singing in church on Sunday I could feel the grace and presence of God as I sang about going through tough times, broken wings learning to fly again, and the seasons God takes us through.    If we are patient, and keep our hearts and eyes turned towards Him,  He will bring us through anything & everything, stronger than before.  But it will be His strength in us, not our own!

The test or trial might be a long one, or a short intense one.  But He is faithful.  And the outcome is in His hands.


If Pete had died Saturday, I would have had to choose to give that to God and trust His will in that.  And I would have. It's a choice I've already made in my heart concerning life in general. We had to do that with Jordan's mare Storm, and her foal "Perfect Storm".  We lost them both within a 24 hour period of time 2 years ago.  The hardest and saddest  thing I can remember going through with one of our animals, and with Jordan's heart in all that.  But I knew the Lord had His reasons.......for not intervening.  For allowing them both to die.  Who can know the ways of God?  He's always working and doing something in our hearts.  I want to be tuned in and not off on some temporary shallow tangent, caught up in frivolous shallow things, and missing the eternal joys and blessings that are right in front of me every day.

Simple things.  Like planting a strawberry patch.....(Jeff, Michaela & Jordan just last evening)





playing with my bull calf......or napping with him!

 


smelling the flowers in our garden this spring.....



fishing in the rain, huggin' my husband after a long hard day at the office.........

Enjoying my girls as they play beautiful music...........(Michaela & Moriah Sunday evening at their Piano recital @ UlfL School of Music)






and  even cleaning my chicken / turkey coop!
 

 

All these things and more!  Simple gifts given to us by an amazing and awesome God, Who is my Loving Heavenly Father!


It is well with my soul.  Thank you Lord!  For the gift of life..............:)  And relationships.  And animals.  Especially horses!