Conversations w/ My Oldest Girl

My oldest girlie. She's got a heart for the Lord & has since she was 4 yrs old.  She's very outgoing, helpful & kind to everyone.  She's also a born leader.  She's the go-to girl, not just for me, but for groups that she's involved in.  She often fills leadership roles & even when she's not the leader, people consult with her about the issues going on.  Although, sometimes people expect more from her than they should. She naturally exhibits her Christian values & shares her beliefs when it's appropriate or the timing seems right for it.  It's not something that only happens at church.  She is the way she is everywhere.  She's not in your face...she's just literally kind to everyone & has a smile for others.  That draws people to her & she's had many opportunities to talk to her friends about God because of it.  
She hasn't made it her goal to seek out people who didn't know they were lost & hammer them over the head with what they didn't know they were missing.

We had an interesting talk a couple weeks ago...it's actually a continuation of a talk we've been having for several months.  It stems from some things people have said to her, expectations that they have of her, not necessarily of what God has of her.  We were talking about her spiritual walk, her future.  She said, "Mom, other than my daily Bible reading & praying, our family devotions & everything else we talk about or do at home, the main thing that has strengthened my walk with the Lord is working with Don."

[Now, Don is a horse trainer.  He trained one of our horses a few years ago & Hannah's been working with him whenever she can ever since.  Don & his wife, Bonnie, are Christians.  They're quiet & humble people.  Bonnie talks about God occasionally & is always ready to pray for the needs of others we're visiting.  She's not preachy, it's just a fact of her life.  I haven't heard Don talk about God a lot, but he often wears a hat with a cowboy & horse kneeling before a Cross.]


So, I asked her, "do you & Don talk about God?"  She said, "No. Never."
Me, smiling, thinking I know what she means, but incredulous at the same time: "So, in what way has he impacted you?"


She then proceeded to tell me (for a long time) that he never talks about God & living a Godly life like it's a separate subject, but that his walk with the Lord is just a way that he lives. He's always patient & kind with people & animals.  He always acts like he has time, even when he doesn't (but doesn't tell people he doesn't have time).  His grandkids live next door & they often are around.  He never acts like they're an interruption or an inconvenience & even encourages them to get involved with what he's doing (even if it takes more time).  
Hannah spent a lot of time w/ Don last summer training horses with him.  He's been teaching her how to train them the way he does it.  Never does he get upset with a horse.  He never gets upset when she makes a mistake with a horse, either.  He's a patient & kind teacher.  He genuinely likes her & accepts her with no judgements, doesn't ever make her feel stupid, doesn't criticize, laughs & jokes with her, treats her like she's important, complements her in front of others & values her & the work she does & her work ethic. They talk about things when they take the more advanced horses on trail rides-about life, about choices, what she thinks about things.  There's never any preachy-type stuff.  It's all seamless & natural.


I love hearing about what they talk about & ask her about their conversations every time I pick her up.  A couple years ago she told me about a conversation they had that I love.  Hannah was riding a horse & after a bit Don asked her what she thought of her.  She said, "well, I don't really care for her that much-she acts like a jerk."
Don then talked to her about how the only jerk is a person who jerks on a horse's mouth or head instead of teaching the horse in a way they can understand.  He also said he makes it his practice to not call a horse names...it's just that they don't speak "people" and it disrespects the horse & makes you disrespect the horse, too.  Hannah said he leaned over on the saddle horn & said, "you know, Hannah, I don't like every single horse I train... but I've learned to find something I like about every horse I train & focus on that. The training & learning goes smoother that way."


So many of the things Don says about horse training applies to dealing with people.   Hannah has been able to make those connections.  I really have noticed a great difference in her.

The thing that's really cool is that Don's ministry is to the horses & their people that he comes into contact with. And people are drawn to him.  Pat abolutely loves to visit w/ Don. He doesn't call himself a mentor-he'd laugh at that title for himself.  And I'm glad of that.  He's been like a grandfatherly friend to her & I'm so thankful the Lord brought him into our lives.  It's so cool how He directs our paths in ways we can't foresee.  We hired him to train our horse, & he's been teaching our daughter ever since. :)  Here's a pic of Don on our horse, Casey, a few years ago.  He's talking to Hannah, who was on another horse: