Pursuing Jesus

  Hello Friends! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by! It seems like only yesterday I got here to Crystal Peaks and started this amazing journey! Unbelievably I only have two more weeks here at this incredible place. This is definitely bittersweet, I know that the Lord has something awesome in store, but it will be incredibly hard to leave all the sweet people and wonderful friendships that have grown here. Even though I only have a couple weeks left, I am determined to make the most of each day, and stay open to whatever He has to teach me! This past weekend most of the staff and interns went on a coast trip to spend time together and refresh. While being there we were able to go beach walking, rock hunting, and crabbing in addition to playing games and having wonderful conversations! One of the favorite things to do was to go rock hunting, specifically for Carnelian. Carnelian is a type of Agate that is only found in a couple places worldwide, Oregon being one of ...

Hello friends! Sorry it has been so long since my last post! Things have been pretty busy here at the ranch! School is out so we have more session kiddos, the ranch had its summer play day for the community, and lots more! I've had some really awesome sessions with some really awesome kiddos! In my blog today I want to tell you just a couple of stories from some pretty neat sessions I've had :) Kid stories: Mason is a little boy I had worked with several times. Every time I worked with him he would hardly speak, most of the time he would just nod or shake his head to reply to any questions I asked him. After a couple of sessions with him and still seeing no more expression from him than the first time I had worked him, you could say I was a little discouraged. His family came out again and I was paired with Mason. Our session started out like our others, with minimal acknowledgement, but as we got the arena with our horse I started to see a little crack in the wall. The...

Wow! These past two weeks have been crazy busy, but so good! Sessions have been going well and I'm loving getting to know all the kiddos I've been working with! I even got the chance to go to a play one of my kids was in! Last weekend I needed to take some time to myself... my introverted brain was pretty much fried! But after taking the time I needed I was ready to get back to work! The week went really well! Then this past weekend Alyssa and I helped a friend redo their roof Wednesday and Thursday after work, then Friday and Saturday. We also had a wedding Saturday! Thus where the crazy, but the so good comes from! :) Through all the crazy, God has still been teaching me through my time here, and it won't surprise you that He's shown Himself to me through... you guessed it, horses! During our horse time we were riding and I saw one of the other interns horse's checking in with her. When a horse does this they are asking questions, they want to know if you are a...

Isn't our God awesome?! When we look around and see everything that He has made, and ask Him to teach us through His creation.... He will! All the earth shouts His praise and we can learn if we only listen. "But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky and they will tell you, or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every living creature, and the breath of mankind." Job 12:7-12 This past week God has been using a sweet horse named Remnant to speak to me. (Remnant is the closest horse in the picture above.) For those of you who don't know Remnant's story, he is a survivor of Hurricane Katrina. This sweet horse was stuck in chest high water, entangled in downed trees and limbs, for three weeks before he was rescued. He was so trapped in the trees that the rescuers had to use chainsaws to cut him fre...

All gave some, some gave all. This is a common saying we hear, especially in times of remembering our fallen hero's and the ones serving still today. I am proud to have many family members who have served our country, from both of my great grandfathers who served in World War 2, a great uncle who served in Vietnam, and an uncle who was in the National Guard. I am so thankful for the men and women who serve our country to give us the freedom we have today. As I think of the saying "All gave some, some gave all", I can't help but compare that to our lives as Christians. As followers pf Christ, we are called to share the Gospel and show those around us Jesus through how we live. Not because we need to live perfectly, none of us can do that, but because of the grace of Jesus. Because of His love for us we can have a relationship with Him. When we accept Him and allow Him to work in our life His love will come into us and pour out into others. This call on our lives to...

This past week was the Information Clinic at Crystal Peaks and all I can say is wow! Around sixty people came from all over the country to learn about starting a ministry that shows the love of Christ to people in their area. It was so amazing to see their hearts, where God is leading them, to see them filled with excitement, full of hope for what God is doing, and for some, their faith flamed back to life.  One thing that I have really been praying about is being filled with the Spirit and really letting Him lead in every area of my life. That when I feel that nudge, I would act and not just push is away. This week I was able to put this into practice, and I was so blessed by it! During one of the classes I was on Foreman Assist (helping with chores) and we had finished all the chores for the moment and I was sitting at one of the tables outside. I was just sitting there and prayed "Lord, if there's someone you want me to talk to, show me!" I looked around and someone...

Wow! I know I haven't posted in a couple weeks, life has just been crazy! The other interns and I have been working on going through our phases to be able to do our own sessions! Right now we are in between co-leading sessions with a staff and the staff shadowing us. I have been learning so much about working with the kids and it has just been awesome! Last week I was sick with a cold and ended up staying home from work for two days, then I just rested during the weekend to try and get better in time for the similar ministry conference. This past Tuesday I got off work at three and was able to go hang out with Katie and Margaret! It was so nice to spend some time with them! We went to Smith Rock and went and put our feet in the river and just talked for a while! It was awesome to connect with them and see how everything back home is going! On Wednesday we got to the ranch early to scoop the paddocks before people started getting there. Then from 11:40-1 us interns were on parki...

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting on the couch, looking out the window and thinking over all that has happened these past two weeks. My host family is relaxing around the house. Alyssa and I are working on how to tell everyone at home what we have been up to, what we've learned, and how we've seen God work. Overview: These past two weeks we've been shadowing sessions in the afternoons. That means that we are assigned to a leader (one of the staff) and child, and we watch their session. We rotate through the different leaders so we can get a feel for how they each lead their session. The goal isn't for us to learn how to lead like a specific staff member, but to learn from all of them to better how we will lead sessions in our own unique way. I have led sessions before at my home ranch Glory Reins, but it has been so awesome to see how multiple people lead and get ideas that I wouldn't have thought of. That may look like something we do (being crea...

Hello everyone! Well here I am in beautiful Oregon, and it has been amazing! I am staying with the sweet Rampton family who have opened their home to interns because the have the room! They have room for two interns, so it is me and Alyssa (above photo) staying with them. The Trip: Dad and I left home at 12:45 am Thursday morning and made it all the way to Seward Nebraska the first night. We spent the night with our cousins and it was a lot of fun getting to see them! Our plan for the second day was to drive through Wyoming and spend the night there. But due to high winds along a pass we had to detour through Denver, Colorado and ended up staying the night in West Jordan, Utah. We headed out the next morning and made it to Bend Oregon around 4 in the afternoon. The drive was crazy long, but traveling across the country and seeing God's beauty throughout was amazing! Sunday: We went to The Fellowship at Bend Church in the morning and in the afternoon I had set up a tour of t...