A Miracle in the Manure

Sea BreezesYesterday, started out as a pretty normal Saturday around here. Harold got up and fixed breakfast and let the dogs out. He opened our bedroom door and in flew the English Cockers to lick and wag and love and rouse me from my place of rest, hungry for breakfast. I feed the porch cat who was asleep in the flower pot on the front porch, that is material for another blog. I started the laundry, poured a cup of coffee and relaxed by the fire, lap full of spaniels.

Later on in the morning, my friend Cheryl called and asked me to come ride horses at her farm. We agreed to an early afternoon ride. Since I am not good at positioning pictures on my blog, I will post some pictures of her farm and the horses that I snapped before the "accident" and the point of this blog.

She had worked her Thoroughbred, and then I rode him. To compare her riding ability to mine is to compare the skill of a professional ballet dancer to the skill of a turtle trying to sit on a saddle. She is at one with her horse. I am getting back into riding, with her help and encouragement, and am working on getting my "legs" back as she says. She is so encouraging. But on with the story. We had untacked the Thoroughbred and she was riding, working her lovely quarter horse, on a very well-fitting western saddle. I had the mare on a halter to walk and just watch Cheryl work her horse. She decided to "pony" the mare, who she is fostering (another blog story). Pony means she just took the lead line of the mare and walked her behind the horse she was riding to give the mare practice following another horse. A simple task for a few moments. Suddenly the horse she was slowly riding broke into a nervous trot. She immediately dropped the mare's lead line and off went her mount in a frenzied run while I watched in horror as she tried desperately to stay with him. In seconds, it seemed, she was thrown and lying motionless on the ground. I was several yards away on foot. Her husband was on a tractor and started coming her way. By the time I reached her, Cheryl was sitting up holding her right arm. "My arm is broken," she said immediately. Her face was white, her arm hung limp. The arm was definitely broken. She had fallen into manure, I was sitting beside her in manure. Horse pastures and manure go together. After we both determined her main injury was the arm, we prayed together, the two of us, her dazed and injured, both of us sitting in the pasture, in the manure. I prayed for healing, claimed the promise that when two or more or gathered, our Lord promises to be there. We both, I am sure, felt the presence of God's Holy Spirit and healing power. I could see it in her eyes. Her husband got to us shortly. He got her in the car, I brought the horses back to the barn and hubbie took Cheryl to the hospital.

The arm was x-rayed at the hospital. The badly broken arm showed no breaks. God had healed the breaks. She did have injury, some nerve damage to the arm, which we still pray will be minimal. She hit her head on the ground so hard, it cracked her safety helmet. Cat scan showed no brain injury. A miracle in the manure. She was at church this morning and the story was shared. Thanksgiving and prayers over her healing and safety were shared. Hugs and tears were shared.

If you are reading this, you might say, the arm wasn't broken in the first place or we are just nuts. Well, we believers are a bit nuts because we believe what we cannot see. Yesterday, to Cheryl, I and her hubbie, God showed himself to our eyes.

She said you should have seen the hospital gurney after she left it, full of manure from her riding clothes and boots, This miracle in the manure made me think of the Nativity of our Lord, He was born right there near manure. He was born in a barn and look what He accomplished. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He can answer our prayers and heal us of our sins and injuries whether we are rich or poor, sitting in a bank, or sitting in manure. He meets us where we are. Yesterday he met my friend Cheryl's needs in a horse pasture in a pile of manure.

Our Christ is with us wherever we are. I had forgotten that. The miricle in the manure reminded me of His love and how He cares for us. Will we ride again? Oh yes, we will ride again. When we do, I know we will be more thankful, more careful, and more aware of God's protection in our lives.