In my last update I asked for prayer as I explored volunteer opportunities with Promise 23 Ranch Ministries.  This has been such an area of joy in my life!!  Back in March, I went to a work party to help clean up an arena.  I wasn’t feeling well that day, and almost didn’t go.  I am SO GLAD I didn’t bail that day!!  I got to see a dream of my heart from more than 10 years ago realized.

So, a little bit about Promise 23:  It is a faith based equine program that serves Engedi Refuge Ministries, working with women who have come out of human trafficking and who are now rebuilding their lives.  Horses (and other animals) seem to have a way of connecting with those who are hurting in a way that people can’t, and Promise 23 gets to facilitate that opportunity for these precious ladies.  For more information, check out the Promise 23 website, which I got to build!!

The backstory…a promise whispered

So back in the fall of 2004, as I was driving to Bellingham to look for an apartment (I was moving here to attend Western Washington University), I listened to a radio interview with Kim Meeder, founder of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Bend, OR.  She was sharing her story and journey into a ministry that rescued broken and hurting horses and allowed hurting and broken people (mostly youth and children) to come and help care for the horses.  “In their efforts to help the horses recover, something miraculous took place in the heart of each child.  As they cared for the horses in need, healing began.  Lives were being transformed by love…Founded on hope, the ranch is a place where broken children, horses and families can find wholeness, belonging and trust.  This richness is expressed through the healing embrace of God’s unconditional love” (CPYR History).  As I listened to the CYPR story, two things happened.  First, I heard the Lord whisper a promise to me that he had horses for me in Bellingham, which came true within 6 months of my moving here (I started working at a horse boarding/breeding/training facility, where I worked for the next three years).  Second, the dream to someday be part of a ministry that used horses to help facilitate healing and restoration for ones who desperately need to know God’s love was dropped in my heart.  Knowing, however, that my place was in Bellingham even then and that I wasn’t supposed to go to Bend, I waited.

The promise, realized!

After 10 years of waiting, this dream was so far back in a dusty corner of my brain that it was almost forgotten.  As I encouraged a friend to pursue her own dream of going to Crystal Peaks for a visit, she turned around and invited me to a work party, where the Lord pulled out my dream, dusted it off, and plopped it down in the middle of my lap.  I had been praying for like minded horsey friends.  I had been praying for a ministry volunteer opportunity that would help me get outside the four walls of the prayer center to serve.  Promise 23 is the answer to both of these wrapped together in a perfect, God-designed package.

To make this even more special, since 2011, I have been committed helping lead a weekly prayer time at Light of the World Prayer Center where a group of us pray for “justice issues”, such as the ending of human trafficking.  One thing that I’ve learned over the last few years is that when we commit to pray for something/someone, our hearts will be changed as the Lord shares his heart with us!  As we and many others prayed for God intervene in a huge area of injustice, he established Engedi Refuge Ministries in Whatcom County, opening early in 2013.  We were then able to more specifically pray for the staff and participants at Engedi, before I had yet to meet a single one of the ladies.

The right connection at the right time

It absolutely amazes me how the Lord would take so many very specific but seemingly separate threads and weave them all together!  This brings us to this spring, at a work party, where the Lord brought my path to merge with Promise 23 Ranch Ministries.  As we worked together, sweeping, shoveling, dusting, etc, it became clear that we were going to be friends.  Promise 23 had a couple of immediate needs that I had the time and skill to help with.  They needed a prayer team coordinator and a website.  I was happy to do both!   Over the next couple of months, I got to pray, serve behind the scenes, and get to know the leaders of Promise 23.  When there was the need for another session leader in the ministry sessions with the horses and the ladies, I was ready to step in to that as well (with many prior years of teaching riding/horsemanship).  After praying for these ladies weekly for years, the Lord opened a door to interact with them and horses together!  Isn’t it so like the Lord to put it all together?

It’s an honor to serve with the Promise 23 team!  We are more aware with every session how much we need the Lord’s love, compassion, grace, strength, etc., to do what he’s asked us to do!  Facing the enormous scale of the issue of human trafficking, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  The Lord has been quick to remind me, though, that he sees each one of these ladies, that he knows them by name, that he holds them in the palm of his hand, and each one is valued beyond measure.  So we come, session after session, with the hope that we are vessels through which God’s love can flow to his beloved daughters.

Prayer Requests

This week Promise 23 is hosting a retreat/horse camp for the Engedi residents! We have been planning this retreat for months and are very excited! We have a guest speaker who is a trafficking/addiction survivor who will share her story, and many hopefully fun and meaningful activities planned. Here are some specific requests for the next few days, and brief rundown of the plan so you can pray specifically while things are going on! 🙂 Promise 23 session leaders are going to our retreat location Wednesday (today) with the horses, and the Engedi crew will arrive Thursday afternoon. We will perform a special presentation with the horses before dinner. Friday and Saturday will be the main days where we have a full day schedule with trail rides and our guest speaker sharing in the morning, lake outing or town outing in the afternoon, and Saturday afternoon a session with a horse-painting project, and some crafts/other activities in the evening. Sunday we’ll have a short worship service, one last session with the horses, and then will check out, get lunch, then head home, arriving home late afternoon/early evening. Here are some specific prayer requests:

• Pray for safety and protection for people and horses while traveling and the whole time there
• Pray for safety and protection as we take the ladies on trails and all interactions with the horses – they are all still very beginner riders and this will be by far the most riding they’ve done! We have two ladies who are new to the program in the past two weeks!
• We’ve heard there are a lot of bees in the area where we will be – pray we don’t find any!! A bee sting can cause even the calmest horse to react, and we have a few people who are allergic.
• Pray that the Lord would prepare our hearts as leaders, and open the ladies’ hearts, eyes, and ears to know, see, and hear his love.
• Pray for LOTS OF FUN!!
• Pray for our speaker as she courageously shares her journey!
• Pray that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading
• Pray for protection over communication at every level – between P23 leaders, Engedi leaders, and all communication with the ladies
• Pray for anything else you can think of… This list is getting long. 🙂

I’ll sign off with these verses from Psalm 91 – these we are claiming as a promise from the Lord!!

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.

P.S. We went and came back from the retreat! Check out my after-retreat update here.