Daily Devotional | Joni and Friends Entitled "Horsey Obedience"

Being the "country girl" I am I couldn't resist sharing this devotional I got from Joni Erickson Tada who was paralyzed in her teens from the neck down.  Her story is remarkable...I read one of her books several years ago and her story of learning to trust Christ through tremendous physical trials spoke to my heart.  This devotional reminds me so much of me and my horse, Buddy.  I got him when I was 13 and he was 3...I am now 28 and he is 18 and I call him, "my Old Man".  Our bond is incredible and I am SO incredibly thankful to my parents for not only buying him for me when I was 13 but paying for his keep all these years...that's a lot of money over the years and not easily repayable.  There is something far greater that cannot even be explained to people that have never known the bond that can exist between a girl and her horse.  That bond has only grown over the years...there are many stories I could tell you about me and Buddy but I will leave you with this one:  I couldn't have had him for long, but my Great Grandma was diagnosed with colon cancer.  I can still see Aunt Netta walking with her head down through the window of our house coming to tell us how the surgery went.  They opened her and closed her right back up and gave her two weeks to live.  We lost her 7 grueling months later.  This was the first time my life would be touched by cancer.  I remember sobbing and running out to Buddy's pen...I threw my arms around his chest and he stood there and simply wrapped his head around me, "hugging" me.  It is a moment I will never forget!  God is so kind to have given us such majestic animals who have such a desire to please their masters...their friends.
Enjoy this devotional (Daily Devotional: Joni and Friends) and here are a couple of pictures!  :)

Me and Buddy when I was 13 and he was 3

Me and Buddy when I was 17 and he was 7

Me and Buddy when I was 17 and he was 7...

I was in a photography class in high school

and love black and white photos :)

Me and Buddy running through the desert in

May of 2010. :) I was 26 and he was 16...our

good friend, Brad Gill took this photo.  Buddy
hadn't been out in awhile and was trying to buck
but Brad captured the majestic power God has

given horses...(read Job chapters 38-42 for more on
God's magnificent creation!) and the bond between horse
and rider...this is my all time favorite picture of us!!! :)

"Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" 1 Corinthians 10:31...Lord, thank you for the majestic power you have given horses...and that you have given us the ability to caputre that power and get them to obey us and work WITH us.  There is nothing more exhilarting than running through the desert at full speed, feeling one with the horse and feeling like you could fly.  Lord, you are an awesome and mighty and wondrous, gracious, loving Father.  Thank You for your good gifts and thank You most of all for the gift of Your Son Jesus...for apart from Him I can do nothing.  He numbers our days and You know the number of breaths I will take.  May I pursue the passions You have given me and run the race You have called me to, giving glory to You in ALL that I do, until my very last breath.  Lord, some days are hard and I long to finish well...help me by Your grace to keep my eyes fixed on You...and run with the wind towards the "prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" as Paul calls us to in Philippians 3.   Lord, I know I cannot do it in my own strength...enable me by your grace and strength to do all that YOU have prepared for me to do!

In Jesus Precious Name,

Amen