“Eva, where are you going?” I asked as Charlotte raced around the kitchen, squealing with delight. Eva piped up, “I’m going hunting with daddy.” “Why are you packing a bag,” I questioned. “Well, he said I must be quiet, so I am packing barbies and babies to take with me.” “Oh, ok,” I replied with a sly smile. “He will love that.”
One sunny afternoon, Eva and Charlotte were playing outside while we walked across our property, trying not to get tackled by the gang of dogs frolicking through the grass around them. Suddenly, Eva looks up at me and says, “Mommy, when are we getting our horses?” I replied, “Oh, one day.” No more than the words came out of my mouth did I hear the Lord speak to my heart and say, “One day is never going to come.”
A little over two years ago, my aunt was visiting my mother. They were outside cleaning out flowerbeds when she asked my mother, “When are you going to build the new addition to your house?” Mom answered, “One day.” Heading inside to grab something to drink, she felt that familiar voice speak gently to her heart, “Now faith is!” She immediately walked outside, looked at her sister, and said, “Now. We are going to build it now!” Six months later, we celebrated Christmas in the new addition to their lovely country home.
Driving by horse ranches captivates my senses like only those who love the smell of a barn and the breath from a horse’s nose can understand. The creaks of a well-worn saddle as you mount for an evening ride or the hoof beats as he follows your lead. It has a way of leaving its mark on a heart that these tamable beasts have ever touched.
With wrangler jeans hanging in my closet, cowboy boots collecting dust, and a saddle that hadn’t been rode in years, I looked down at Eva and said, “Now. Now we are getting horses.” It was time to dig.-time to drive a stake in the ground.
I headed out to the shop in the rain and found a few T-posts. I went inside the house, grabbed the girls, and told Chuck to get his post driver and the T- posts I had laid next to the shop. Confused but knowing me better than anyone, he followed. Asking why on earth I wanted to drive these posts in the ground for a fence I didn’t have and a horse I didn’t own. I could see his wheels turning – remembering a place in the country we saw from the city block (click here to read “A Place to Call Home“) and boxes we cleared out for a baby crib (click here to read “Create a Place“). To which he replied with a sigh, “Where do you want the posts?”
Nothing will move the heart of God like faith. He will ride the heavens to come to your aid when you believe him for it. What are you believing God for BIG? I suggest you get your dreams out of the dusty box you tucked them away in and start digging because “one day” will never come.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves
When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little
When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore
Disturb us, Oh Lord, when with an abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life
Having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery; Where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.
Sir Frances Drake
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