I grew up on a cattle and horse ranch in Northeast Wyoming, that is where my roots and my walk with Jesus started. My father was killed when I was just a few months old and when I was 5 my mother married a local rancher. He was a 41 year old bachelor and married a woman with 3 girls, ages 12. 8. and 5. Soon after they had 2 more girls 16 months apart. To say this was a challenge was an understatement. This man after 41 years of being on his own on the ranch was now a father to 5 girls. The lessons he taught us about life still hold so true today. Even though the testimony of his life with us can go on and on and I want to focus on how he loved and cared for us and his animals.
Not everyone can relate to the whole story here but I promise that you will relate to some of the lessons here.
I was brought up in the cowgirl ranch girl environment. The lessons taught there are steadfast. It is not an easy or a glamorous life, it is hard and it is heartbreaking at times and it is of so fulfilling all at the same time.
The winters were very brutal, snow that covered the prairie and months of freezing temps. Cattle and horses had to be fed. There were no options. They were completely dependent on what we chose to do about that. We did not come in from the work until it was done, this was learned at an early age and we worked right alongside of him to complete the tasks. He had no boys or men to help , it was just us young girls. We learned the things we needed to survive the elements and the every day chores of the ranch. Driving tractors and all the equipment, changing tires, maintenance etc. But the best lessons learned was to drive and feed the animals with the team of Belgium horses and wagon and sometimes a sled because the snow was so deep the wagon couldn't get through so the sled would slide over the snow with several tons of corn and hay to feed. At times we were out there in the blinding snow storms not able to see where we were at or where we were going. Now I am talking about a man with girls under the age of 16.
These were trying times but our lives depended on 'getting through the storm' and the animals lives depended on us getting them fed. In that time we trusted in God to lead us through the storm, back to the barn, and sometimes we had to just trust the team of horses to know where that barn was because we couldn't see it, but God gives them the ability to know the things we do not.
The traumatic things were the animals that didn't make it through the storm because they chose to lay down and not fight through it, possible they were sick and couldn't survive it or they just gave up. This is where I learned about "survival of the fittest." Many times we were checking the livestock and would come across a calf or cow that had just given up and couldn't go any farther. At this point the babies were put into the vehicle or on the wagon, or sometimes the horse we were riding covered and warmed up in anyway we could get it done, taken to the barn and hopefully nurtured back to life. The big animals we did what we could to warm them and fill their bellies to help them survive.
As I look back on the life of this rancher, he was tending his flock the same way Jesus tends to us. The storms are going to come, some are not going to survive, but the shepherd is going to do everything and use every bit of care to help them.
Jesus comes along side of us to help us prepare for the storm. The lessons here were that we need to sometimes come alongside God's people and creatures to help them through the storm. But God tells us in Philippians 4:19 "My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." I realized at a young age that my earthly father was being the example of what our heavenly Father was asking us to do. To tend his flocks.
The storms are going to come. We are not God. Let the storm happen and look to the one who will guide you through it. Don't give up. Warm yourself with God's promises, take some time to nourish yourself before the storm gets here, and above all else watch and listen for his instruction through the storm. Keep your eyes on him.
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