Jesus, Flag Me While Moving

So it's been FOREVER but I really miss blogging my horse experiences!! So here I go again!!!!!

I am blessed to have the acquaintance of a wonderful trainer who, along with her lovely granddaughter, have committed to help out some fellow horses. I feel like I learned SO much from her today that if I digested it all here, you would be reading far into next month, so I'll speak about one area that God touched me the most. Flagging.

I've seen this done before... I've done it to Blaze before, but there is a dangerous aspect of it that I'm glad I did not figure out on my own or by experiment.

Flagging a horse while moving.

Flagging a horse can be done a few different ways but basically involves a plastic bag tied to the end of a stick and this gets rubbed all around a horses body to desensitize them to things that frighten them. Often times the horse will react by stepping in the opposite direction but it's important to apply pressure while doing this so the horse does not think that backing away is the right thing to do. You see... if you stop just because they backed away, they will think that is the way out of the problem... to back away each time. Instead, they need to learn to deal with the problem, and realize staying calm will get the best results. That's why God sometimes keeps the pressure on us... He shows He's not wishy washy.

So today the trainer says that the real test is if the horse can be asked to move and be flagged while moving... I might also add... she made a point to say that this is not something an amature should just try to do. And I soon saw why. Please don't try this at home! =)

This somewhat trustworthy horse struck out and kicked at the trainer in fear. Thankfully the trainer knew exactly where to position herself (as does God) as not to get injured. I have never seen a stable horse act so afraid and be so aggressive due to fear or frustration until today.

So I asked God

Lord, I know you flag us out... you apply pressure to us at times to help us see that we are ok... that we are stronger than we think, and that we can trust You if we are just still in Your presence and wait it out. But what does it mean to flag US while WE are moving... what does that look like in a human?

OH DID THE ANSWER COME!!!!!!

So when we move forward as the horse does... it's usually when we are more confident in our Christian walk... God directs... and we go. We feel a connection to Him... more confident in our calling.... secure... maybe people are even benefiting from our ministry. Now, we may have taken a step out of our comfort zone to be in ministry... but we are creating a new one around us, whether we know it or not. SO... along comes the flag again... and OH HOW WE KICK. No one wants to be flagged when they're moving. We've found our new place with God... following His direction...maybe even becoming a little too confident in our ministry and along comes the flag and we need to humble ourselves and yield again. It's so hard to yield when you thought you knew where you were going... but God often likes to remind us that it is with Him that we get to those places and it's only through Him we will succeed. SO the flagging comes in to keep us in check. Those who yield, have a better ministry for it... those who don't, weather they know it or not, become hay burners. He who has ears to hear....