Tonight I was outside putting some feed tubs out for the mares. I have had the people in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado who are dealing with these fires on my mind almost constantly these last few days. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories have more than once brought tears to my eyes and it has also brought back memories of 2013. October 2013. Memories of a storm. Tonight as I ended up driving right through the field where we found 40 of our horses spread out dead for over a mile, I was thinking of all these people and what they are dealing with and what they will be dealing with over the next weeks. I prayed for them. Many of them lost their homes and barns and livestock and some lost family and friends. How my heart hurt. But just as I was driving by a big mound of dirt where some of our horses are buried and trying to understand why these things happen...guess what song came on the radio. Yep. The very song that helped to get me through a trying time in my life. One that I listened to as we were burying horses.
Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we've come
Knowing that for every step
You were with us
Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You've done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us
Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
(-Matt Redman)
This life is full of scars and struggles. But we can use those scars to tell a story. A story of a faithful God Who loves us in the middle of a struggling, sinful world. Through every Storm and Drought. Every Fire and Flood. Every Heartbreak and Heartache. This battleground has seen it all... But we will get to that mountaintop and look back and realize…that we were never alone!
To our neighbors in TX, OK, KS and CO. Keep Walking. Keep Riding. Keep Standing Tall. Keep Pressing On. Your neighbors in South Dakota are with you.