Great Horse Stories (19 page)

Kristi could barely contain herself as she watched the amniotic sac poke out. She yelled, “Dwight, it's happening.”

Dwight jumped out of bed and flipped on the lights. The other horses in the barn groaned as they woke up.

Kristi and Dwight huddled by the stall door and watched in
fascination. Kristi brimmed with excitement. “Is everything happening exactly like it's supposed to?”

Dwight held his finger to his lips. “Yes. Be quiet.”

“Are you sure?”

Over the next few minutes Lacey lay in the wood shavings. The muscles in her belly contracted, and she groaned. The foal's front legs and nose, draped in the gray amniotic sac, protruded. Suddenly the horse rolled on her belly and jerked to her feet. The filly sucked back inside the mare.

Kristi's eye's widened.
Don't stand up! You need to be lying down!
she thought.

The mare circled in the stall, as if she were repositioning herself. Then she lay down. With a couple more pushes, the wet filly was born. Steam rose from her body. The amniotic sac hung around her neck like a robe. She lay on her tummy surveying her new world.

Kristi grabbed two towels and immediately took inventory as she wiped down the baby. Like her mother, the filly was a chestnut-and-white paint. She had a white streak that looked like a lightning bolt that started at her front shoulder and extended down her leg. Perhaps it was an outward expression of the speed bundled up inside of “Painted Dreams Come True”—“Dreamy” for short.

The emcee's voice brought Kristi back to the present. He announced, “Next up, Kristi on Painted Dreams Come True.”

•
Dreamy and Kristi
•

The mare shook with excitement as Kristi reined her into the arena. Slowly Kristi guided the horse in a circle to get her attention. Then she leaned forward and kicked her. The mare knew what to do. She shot forward like a rocket. Kristi gave the mare her head. Sand sprayed from the horse's hooves. Running flat out, the mare carved around the first barrel and raced for the second. She shaved around the second
and third barrels, and then beat a straight path to the finish line. It was a good, clean run!

Kristi screamed with excitement when the announcer's voice read off her score and placement. She had qualified to compete in The World!

Only God could take a permanently damaged mare and pair her with a gal who wouldn't give up to make miracles happen. I marvel when I think of the years Kristi sacrificed to take care of Lacey, a physically damaged mare. When life looked tough and it was obvious it wasn't going the way Kristi had planned, she didn't take the easy way out and dump the mare. She saved Lacey from a man who abused her.

Kristi never gave up hope. Instead, she tackled life day by day and steadily did what God led her to do through His Word and through her spirit. Her response reminds me of an insightful Scripture: “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the L
ORD
rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10
NLT
). To me it seems like God witnessed her diligence and years of sweat equity, so He paved the way for her to reap an unexpected reward—her dream horse—so she'd be able to compete at the National Barrel Horse Association World Championship Race.

Lord, when things aren't going the way I planned, please show me how to be diligent and handle situations Your way. Amen.

•
Thoughts to Ponder
•

What do you do when one of your plans goes awry? Do you toss it out the window? Do you think God might use that situation to bless you like He used Kristi's situation to bless her? Have you prayed and asked Him to show you what to do?

30

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Hope and Love

I
t was deathly still in the kitchen. Andrea set down her fork and helplessly glanced at her three daughters who sat at the table. Her heart ached as she noted the dark circles under 11-year-old Bethany's eyes.
What happened to the giggling little girl that I love?
Andrea wondered. Bethany's eyes seemed sunken, and they looked dull from lack of nutrition. Her facial features appeared drawn and sharp. Only a few months ago she'd looked exactly like her healthy and happy 65-pound twin sister. Now she was down to 45 pounds. Bethany had morphed from a loving child into a zombie who had lost more than 30 percent of her body weight.

Bethany sat at the table in a fog.

Under her breath Andrea prayed.
Lord, what can I do for Bethany?
She was grasping for a thin thread of hope. After a minute of contemplation, Andrea became exasperated. She leaned forward and commanded, “Bethany, you are going to eat this food. You're not moving away from this table until your lunch is eaten!”

Bethany's shoulders shook as she sobbed. Her blond hair hung in her face as she stared at her plate.

Out of sheer frustration, Bethany's twin sister, who was sitting next to her, scooped up a fistful of food and tried to cram it into her sister's mouth.

Bethany gagged and spit out the food. Although she sat at the table until the meal was over, she never ate a bite.

Even though she reprimanded Bethany's sister, Andrea wanted to scream in agony. She'd constantly prayed for help and guidance, but
she couldn't figure out what to do. Her daughter was dying in front of her eyes.

This bad situation had started in the fall after the twins turned 11 years old. Andrea was struggling with a mysterious illness thought to be cancer and homeschooling the girls. Andrea and her husband, Richard, noticed that Bethany seemed detached from the family.

Before the doctors figured out what was happening, Bethany's weight had plummeted to 45 pounds. Only a shell remained of the once-bubbly child. The unspeakable had struck their family. Anorexia seemed to have a death grip on Bethany.

Frantically Andrea tried to grasp the reality.
Bethany is only 11 years old! God, we've done everything we can to raise her in a godly manner. How can this happen to our family?
In desperation she prayed,
What can we do? Please guide us to help for Bethany.

They enrolled her in an anorexia clinic. Andrea was thrilled that the staff understood the disease and had a plan to help. They sent Andrea home with meal plans and suggested that she find an activity Bethany could get involved in—something where she could excel and find hope. At that point, Andrea expected that in a short amount of time Bethany would gain weight and life would return to normal. But that's not what happened.

Bethany would have nothing to do with the plan. She'd become so depressed and withdrawn that she didn't care if she lived or died. Every time Andrea suggested an activity, Bethany merely shrugged. She grew weaker every day. Her heart beat was fading away. At the last visit to the clinic, the staff had told Andrea that Bethany would need to start eating or they would have to hospitalize her and insert a feeding tube to keep her alive. Those words haunted Andrea. She lived in constant prayer.

One January day while Andrea was in her bedroom folding clothes, Bethany came in to get a book. They chatted a few minutes, and then Andrea asked what she could do to help.

Bethany replied, “I hate feeling like this. I used to be happy. I want to feel like that again.”

Andrea reminded her that faith in God had always been the most
important thing in her life. She asked if Bethany would like to pray with her.

Reaching for each other's hands, they bowed their heads and prayed for three miracles: that God would take away Bethany's hurts; that He would restore her joy for living; and that He would give her a desire to eat.

A few weeks later Andrea made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner at her parents' home, which was next door. The family sat on bar stools around the large island in the kitchen. Everyone but Bethany was eating.

Andrea's mom's brown eyes twinkled. “I saw a flyer at the post office. They opened a horse ranch down the road, and they're offering horse lessons. I thought you girls might like it.”

Andrea watched a thin line of a smile wiggle across Bethany's face. Hope sparked inside Andrea. She was scared to death of horses so the twins had never ridden, but if it would help Bethany, she'd make it happen. She figured the girls would take a few lessons and move on to something else. But God had a bigger, totally unexpected plan for their family.

Andrea, her sister, and the twins drove over to the ranch on a damp and cold Missouri afternoon in March. When Andrea watched her fragile daughter step next to a sorrel horse with four white socks, she whispered a prayer.
Oh, Lord, make this work.

Bethany learned how to clean the horse's hooves and how to groom the animal. Then the instructor had her climb on bareback.

Breathlessly Andrea watched as the trainer lunged the horse at a trot. Her heart sank as she watched Bethany bob up and down on the sorrel's back barely able to stay on.
That looks miserable
, she thought. But when Bethany slid to the ground, Andrea noticed she wore a smile on her face from ear to ear.

The morning of the next lesson, Bethany awoke excited. The shadow of a girl began connecting with the world again.

Weeks later one of the doctors at the clinic noticed Bethany had improved a little bit. He asked what was different.

Andrea replied, “The only thing I know that's making a difference is that she's riding horses twice a week.”

The doctor nodded. “Let's focus on that. Let's see if it will help make her better.”

Andrea's heart soared. She left the clinic with strict instructions for Bethany's program. She would not be allowed to ride horses unless she followed the meal plan.

Although Bethany started eating bites of food, her recovery was painfully slow. She remained in critical condition from starving herself so long. Her body had to readjust to digesting simple foods.

By the first of April, the twins had ridden a horse at the barn that was for sale. Andrea had watched the color of life blush her daughter's sickly white cheeks. She believed this horse thing might be their last hope to pull Bethany through. The previous months of anorexia treatment had drained Andrea and Richard's financial resources, so Andrea prayed about buying the horse. They scraped together enough money to buy it, thinking the twins would share.

Within the first few days it became evident that the horse and Brittany were a team. Bethany was left on the sidelines.

Weeks later the horse trainer at the stables casually mentioned, “My mom's got this horse for sale. It's a nice one. You might want to go look at it.”

Andrea thought,
Richard's not going to like this. How can we afford another horse? We already have one horse we never planned on owning.

On the drive home, Bethany looked at her mom with sad eyes. “Mom, can we please go look at her?”

A week later, Andrea pulled the gold Ford Explorer into the driveway of a stately ranch house surrounded by pastures lined with white rail fences. A red-dun quarter horse stood tied under a tree by the barn, slick and shiny. Andrea glanced in the rearview mirror at Bethany. The girl almost glowed when she saw the mare.

Before they headed home that day, the horse had affectionately rested its head on Bethany's shoulder. At that moment a miracle had taken place. A bond of love had been forged between Bethany and the mare.

Andrea knew this was the horse God had planned for her daughter Bethany, but the price was three times more than what she'd expected.

On the ride home, Bethany asked, “Mom, do you think we can buy her?”

“We really don't have that much money to spend on a horse.” Andrea gripped the steering wheel. “Your dad and I are going to have to talk about it. We'll have to see what we can do.”

After much discussion Andrea and Richard came up with a plan. Their immediate resources were tapped dry, but they decided to sell their investments. They did, and two weeks later they bought the mare. And they've never regretted it.

Honey gave Bethany something to hope for and to love. Bethany gained weight, and the spark of life glowed in her eyes again. Through the power of God and the love of family and a special horse, Bethany recovered. God's hope and love broke the chains that anorexia had on her life and set her free. Psalm 33:18 breathed life into this family: “The eyes of the L
ORD
are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.”

When Andrea prayed to God, being willing to do whatever He wanted, God revealed to her an unusual answer—horses. Andrea never would have dreamed up this solution on her own, but she was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As she followed Him, a seed of hope was birthed in her heart. That same hope wiggled its way into Bethany's heart. It blossomed and bore the fruit of love when Andrea and Richard followed God's leading and were willing to risk selling their investments to help their daughter.