Trusting Horses

Amberly and I got to go on a long trail ride out in Carefree yesterday. We enjoyed our funky May weather and only had a few drops of rain! It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous site. The cacti are all in bloom and the desert was beautiful! The skies were also amazing as we would see storms pass by and the dark streaks of rain beyond the mountains. We did a lot of mountain riding, so were
climbing uphill and around bends. We had a few fun spots where we trotted and felt like real trail-blazing cowgirls! It was a special girl-day with moms and daughters. Amberly and I enjoyed talking about how we could relate horseback riding to our walk with God. When you have not ridden for a little while, sometimes it is hard to just get on top of a big horse! It takes time to feel comfortable, relaxed and settled when you are on top of a big creature. We had a set-up where Amberly could sit behind me in an attached kid-saddle, so she had her own place to hang on and stirrups for her feet. She badly wanted me to find her some old horse that she could safely ride alone, but that hasn't happened yet! She had to be content riding behind mommy. Often I heard, "I can't see, mom." She had to lean to see around me. On our daytrip, she had to trust me to keep her safe on that horse, and she had to trust that big horse to stay on the trail and not take off too fast that she'd lose her stirrups!
Sometimes it is scary to trust God but you miss out on excitement in life and what He wants to show you if you don't trust Him. We also talked about the path we were on. It was rocky and sometimes narrow next to a cliff. We decided it was worth it to go over bumpy places to get to the heights of the mountains because then we could see the world from a different perspective! At one point, I told her to just close her eyes and trust the horse, he would get us across the pass and we didn't even need to help him! Isn't funny how we pidly human beings try to help God negotiate our lives sometimes? He sees them from his eternal transcendent perspective, and we can only see the trail/day in front of us. We can learn a lot from trusting horses, I think!