Happy New Year! I am so grateful for all of you that shared 2008 with us at Unbridled Faith Farm! Your supply was integral to the plans and dreams that became a reality! I'll never be able to thank you enough for your generous gifts of time, talents, prayers and donations. Without YOU we wouldn't have seen so many lives transformed by the Love of God! The Dream Center, our fully equipped meeting facility complete with two kitchens, small group meeting room, large screen, surround sound t.v., power point, high end audio video(CD recording capabilities) is now a reality as is the bunkhouse/apartment! WOW! We've also increased the Unbridled Boutique with some very special products for Women and Hosrses! The Unbridled Café serves drinks and gourmet snacks to warm the heart and stomach! The power of making the right Connections is nothing less than miraculous!
As we begin our third season my heart is drawn back to the amazing, miracle that I experienced along side my father. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1999, he decided to buy the next Breeders Cup winner! He decided to live his Dream in spite of impossible odds. I learned MANY life lessons during the two and a half years that lead up to Unbridled Elaine's qualifying for, and actually WINNING the 2001 Breeders Cup Dystaff . Unbridled Elaine ignored and overcame scores of circumstances that might have disqualified other mares. Yet on that historic October day she broke free from the starting gates with the fastest mares in the world. The horses took their places on the track. One of the favorites headed for the front. Elaine was allocated to the back. She dropped further backward, to the right, and then back to the left. Her head was up and her ears moved back and forth; she looked like she was out for a leisurely breeze down the track. I remember saying to my daughter, "Well, at least we got to have the experience of being at The Race." Unbridled Elaine didn't appear to notice she was in a race, let alone The Race of a lifetime. When the mares rounded the final corner they began to make their bid for the finish line. The favorite was still near the front. Other mares attempted to close the gap for the lead. At the last quarter pole, Pat Day (who became the leading money earning jockey that day) asked Unbridled Elaine to run. At the very moment she dropped down to run, she bumped into the back of the horse in front of her and was knocked off her feet. She reached sideways, ran three lengths toward the grand stands before stretching out and running past the rest of the field. Her final bid looked effortless! She crossed the finish line and made a place for herself in TB racing history! My fathers Dream came true! They created a platform to release His message!
What I didn't see at the time of the race that she knew who she was (the daughter and granddaughter of Breeders Cup Winners, a royal lineage, bred, bought and trained to win), she was fully Balanced (her mind was on the finish line, her spirit was unstoppable and she was soft in the hands of her jockey) and she knew she would be Unbridled when her moment came! So, what does a Champion TB Race Horse do? They race; to win! There is nothing else inside of them but winning. No thought of second place. No other option. No doubt of the outcome.
Just like Unbridled Elaine, we are in a race. And as the Word says, all run in the race but not all win. What I want to focus on is her complete Trust in the one who was Guiding her. For us, in our race , it's the Holy Spirit. Because she had submitted fully to her training and was fully convinced that she would always be put in a position to win, she wasted no time or energy fighting the Guide. Matthew 5:5 says, "You're blessed when you know who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourself proud owners of everything that can't be bought." When a powerful horse will allow herself to be easily guided and flexible she is the perfect example of power under control! She trusted him; she gave complete control over to him. She didn't fight him or try to figure out how to get to the front. Spain, the mare who was the favorite of the day, broke out in front and attempted to stay there. Her jockey later said that he couldn't rate her (control her speed). It was a cold and very windy day. The horses in front had to take the full force of the wind. Unbridled Elaine was kept in the back so she could draft behind the others and save her energy until her appointed time. She needed to let others pass her bye in order to be in the right position to win (that's a whole message in itself!). Her patience worked endurance! Her endurance allowed her to do what she was born to do, Win! We need to have that kind of trust in our Guide! We need to be soft in His hands, flexible; pliable. We must give up trying to figure out how to get ahead on our own and quiet ourselves and listen to His leading. We can't do that if we are in control. We don't want to be like Spain who couldn't be rated back; who in the end didn't have the strength to finish. She may have been the fastest horse, but she couldn't bring it home because she was too strong willed, and hard headed. As long as we are trying to get to our Dreams on our own we will be limited and frustrated. Frustration will zap our strength, slow us down, cause us to loose focus, and ultimately cause us to settle for second place or quit. Instead, we need to trust our Guide. Hebrews says, "Let us run with patience the race that has been set before us, looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith". Only by putting our complete confidence in our Jockey, the Holy Spirit, will we be in position to win our race and live our Dream!