NEIGH-BORHOOD News

7/7/2024 0 Comments

New Beginnings

Wow... 2 years ago, today, I witnessed a miracle... My miracle. And, her name is
Kendleigha'Z Dawn
***
But, before I get too sentimental, let me take you back to the beginning.

10 years ago, I was a teenage girl who just discovered my passion for horses and my perfect partner, named Scarlett. And, one day, I said to myself... "Gee, It would be so cool if Scarlett had a baby, and I could keep her line going for generation after generation." A pipe dream, as they call it. A pipe dream that never went away.

5 years ago, I was a young adult in college, thriving and determined, until... In a single day, everything I knew about myself, my life, my family, and my future was dashed to pieces... But, I still had horses, and a dream that was collecting dust.

It was 2 years of dark days and difficult nights as I walked through this valley of shadow, trying to make sense of a life that I did not understand anymore. And then... I picked up that pipe dream, and decided it was time.
Months of prayers and research later, I found the perfect sire for my future horse. His name was TempeZst, and he was far grander than anything I had imagined for my little dream horse.

Then, it was another year of waiting, while the miracle of life began to unfold. I secretly hoped it was a filly, because I found the perfect name long before the baby was due... Kendleigha'Z Dawn

Kendleigha meant Out of the Valley of the Storm & Dawn symbolized a new day.
So, her name would mean
A New Beginning, Out of the Valley of the Storm
and I could not wait to turn over a new page in my life with a new beginning (fingers crossed).

That symbolism alone, was a cornerstone for my life as I walked through that season in the valley. And then, God did something only He could do. There were three things I could not know for sure.
1. if it would be a filly or a colt,
2. what day it would be born,
3. when it would be born.
It's July 7th, 2022, 3 am, and three things happened...
1. I assisted my lifelong horse partner in delivering a beautiful, bay filly,
2. she was born right after an intense storm,
3. It was at the break of dawn.
And just a bonus, her birthday is 7/7 and seven is the number of perfection.
***
It's been two years since that new beginning. And, the number of new beginnings that have happened because of her coming are too many to count.
She might be a lively 2-year-old, Arab, filly, but she is gentle with the children, kind and affectionate to strangers, and puts more smiles on faces than I ever would have imagined. I am certain that there are more beginnings to come as her life unfolds.

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5/21/2024 0 Comments

Write Down the Vision....

Habakkuk 2:2
"And the Lord answered me, 'Write down the vision...'"

The year 2021, fields of buttercups, worn-out fences, tangles of vines, & bushes of thorns...
Gosh! It can be so hard to see when things are overgrown, or only shadows and remnants of their former glory. How do we hone our focus so that we are not overwhelmed by all the details, not overloaded with all the outcomes. & not overworked by all the labor? Yet, at the same time, not get so wrapped up in our plans that we go off blazing our own trail, instead of following God's pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night?

So many days, it takes so much effort and time to simple deal with the days needs, that we cross our eyes at the thought of trying to turn 19 acres of potential into a useful, efficient, well-stewarded, God-honoring sanctuary. But, in a moment such as this, when we pray rest for our weary bodies and souls, we can pray for vision in the very same breath. If we truly believe that God is in the details, he is working in our waiting, he has prepared good works beforehand, and has plans for our future, all we need to ask is that he gives us eyes to see. We pray for eyes that see his work right here, right now, and we pray for eyes that look ahead and see that he goes before us.
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Fast Forward to 2024. That is 1,095 days of doing the work, walking the walk, waiting in the lulls, and praying for vision... Seeds were sown, fences were mended, ancient paths that were choked and tangled in vines and thorns have been pulled away to make the way for the vision. God was faithful every single one of those 1,095 days. And, somehow, I still seem surprised?

As we use our time and talents to steward the land, manage the safe-haven, and shepherd our students, we reflect on the spiritual parallels between our physical work and our spiritual battle. We get tired, we get sweaty, we get dirty, and we get hurt sometimes. But, if time has shown us anything, no matter how many times we fall, how many days we are ready to hang up our hat, or how many people question the vision, God is faithful. We walk by FAITH and not by SIGHT. Ironic, right? Well, the overload of sights, sounds, smells, situations, and such that we find ourselves in do not and should not be our guide. We are suppose to look for the vision, to pray for the vision, to seek out the vision. However, we must come to understand that FAITH IS OUR SIGHT! We ought to yearn for and learn how to see with eyes of faith, eyes that see the war is won, eyes that see we are not alone, eyes that see a God who is bigger, greater, and stronger than our mistakes, our mishaps, or our misgivings.
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2020 - God gave us a vision for what this land could be, he offered it to us, even though it seemed beyond our physical means.
2021 - He provided the people, the support, and the resources, to turn that distant vision into rolling hills that we could call our own.
2022 - Seeds that were planted in young hearts, right here, grew strong upward and faithfully rooted downward. Young believers poured back into the very place that God used to build them up.
2023 - The Vision came to a halt after a devastating tornado that completely altered the landscape, but with those changes, a new vision was taking shape.
2024 - Well, we'll see where we end up. But, we will take each day, praying for eyes of faith to see where God is leading.
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To top it all off, the promise from Habakkuk that came right after the command to write down the vision.

"For still the vision awaits its appointed time..."
Habakkuk 2:3

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