God spoke to me the other day clearly and I thought i would share but first… BACK STORY

I have this horse…

Her name is Raven but we affectionately call her Rabies or the Raven Lunatic and for very good reason.

She lacks such confidence in herself that she looks to other horses to seek validation on what to do and when to do it.

If she is left alone her anxiety peaks to levels so astronomical it’s a wonder she hasn’t found the core of the earth yet with all the digging her little front hooves do.

The other day I had left her all by herself in another field in an attempt to teach her to self soothe and she was doing wonderful. She was grazing by herself completely happy which was shocking. I’ll admit I was avoiding the dread of riding her and messing with her in general because she is a nightmare to lead, tie, or really do much of anything with unless it’s just sit out in the pasture with her.

However, one of my friends was riding through puddles and that was enough to get me walking out over the mountains and valleys of the field to get her.

Within our fields there is a labyrinth of about 13-15 gates all stragetically placed across the three very steep and hilly fields.

They are all needed, why they are needed I am not quite sure, but believe me, they are.

Raven was in the very top of the back field and I could have done the very simple thing of climbing Mount Everest to get to the top gate and let her throw herself down the hill towards her buddies and the barn.

I decided against that very appealing idea and chose to go the longer but much safer route through the old pond.

God speaks to me much clearer when I’m out by myself with my horses. You’d be surprised how many life lessons can be applied from working with them.

I don’t always hear His voice but that day I did.

As I sat down near Raven waiting to see if she would choose me over looking longingly after her friends across the mountain range I heard Him. The thing about God is that sometimes He will just throw things out there in one or two sentences and then go quiet again because that is all that is needed in order to get the gears turning.

He said, ‘sometimes I have to lead you out of view of what you desire to get you to where you want to go.’

It didn’t fully sink in until I reached up and grabbed Raven’s mane to guide her down the field out of sight from the barn and what she wanted the most.

As I walked the gears started to turn and I realized what He meant.

There was a gate right next to Raven that lead directly down the steepest hill right to where she wanted to be. Had I opened the gate she would have taken off running and could have fallen and hurt herself. If I had opened that gate she wouldn’t have learned the patience of going the long way (although that’s stretching it. I really don’t think this horse will ever learn patience)

Sometimes when we ask God to open that gate that’s right beside us and He says no it’s not because He is denying us that dream or desire. It’s because He’s asking us to do a one-eighty and follow Him down a path that is designed to prepare and refine us for the very thing we asked Him for not because He doesn’t want us to achieve that dream or receive that blessing, but because He knows that the gate leads to a path of dangerous destruction and if we were to arrive and receive that blessing we would be completely unprepared and unhappy because we weren’t refined along the way!

The question is simple friends… what gate have you been asking God to open that He has said no to?

Perhaps He’s asking you to take His hand as He leads you down the safe path so that He can prepare you to receive the very blessing you desire that He has planned for you.