Arnold Thiebaud " Know you are loved"
Our young men’s group had planned an outing to go to a ranch and ride horses on a day trail ride. I was excited to go and fortunate my father was able to accompany me on my adventure with our ward. As they saddled up the horses and gave me mine, I wasn’t as thrilled as I noticed my horse was extremely spirited and stubborn. We went on a ride for several hours, where I constantly had to work to keep the horse with the group. We took a break and then started down the trail again. Not too long after, a nearby horse, that wasn’t part of the ride and was feeding in the pasture, took off in a gallop and ran in front of my horse. Immediately, my horse bolted and ran after that horse. With my limited experience and everyone behind me yelling commands, I tried pulling several times on the reigns to stop the horse, but to no avail. We were headed for thick brush I probably wouldn’t clear. At that time, I did what most people recommend you don’t: I closed my eyes. But then I proceeded to pray, saying, “Heavenly Father, help me.” I kept my eyes closed and felt the impression to put my hands together as if I was going to dive into a swimming pool. Later, I would learn from my dad that this helped me do a rolling somersault off the horse. A few seconds later, I was laying on the ground face down. As I got up, I noticed several rocks and a tree trunk near me. Miraculously, I had only a few small scrapes on my face, a small bruise under my chin, and my glasses had been thrown quite a distance.
They then brought my horse back, which I wasn’t too excited to get back on but had to so we could get back to the ranch. I was still surprised by what had happened as someone handed me my glasses. I put them on and couldn’t see very well out of one eye. I kept asking the riders near me if my eye was okay and they said it was. Finally, I reached up to move my glasses and poked myself in the eye. To my relief, I realized the rim had had broken and the lens had fallen out. My eye was completely fine.
That day, I could have easily had my feet stuck in the stirrups, or any number of other outcomes, but I came to a profound knowledge that my Heavenly Father heard and answered my prayer and He loved me.
Additional counsel:
No comments:
Post a Comment