Leah’s Story

You do what you do because you don’t know who you might bless.

When that event rolled around on October 15, 2017, I had just started to go back to church, but I was making myself go for the wrong reasons. I was trying to do it for my kids. I had stopped going because of being more concerned about how other people were living.

I saw this thing about horses that was going on at my Mama and Daddy’s church, and youknow, I’m a horse person, so I went with the intent that I was going to see some rodeo guy gethis tail bucked off a horse. I also knew the people that the horse belonged to and that they’d never get that horse on a trailer. When I got to the church, the horse still wasn’t there. Like I’d guessed, they couldn’t get the horse loaded. During this whole time, Todd was cool as a cucumber. “We got 20 more minutes. Y’all don’t sweat it.”

Sure enough, that horse was in the round pen just in time, so that was the first prayer I saw God answer. Still, when I saw that horse dancing around in the paddock, I thought again, “This ain’t never going to work.”

The event started, Todd walked in the round pen, and what I thought I was going to see was nothing like what happened. I kept seeing the progression of God speaking to the horse and to Todd. He just kept letting her trot around and around and around . . . and he never bothered with her until she stopped.

Then he said, “This is what we have to do in life. We have to let people circle God until they face Him.” And I thought, “That’s me. I’ve been circling God, and I’ve never stopped to face Him.” Todd also said that he was only there to build a relationship with the horse and that we need to let people build their own relationships with God. We’re just tools in His hands.

When Todd walked up to the horse, he touched her all over and then just like that, he started jumping on and off her. I realized in that moment that God was saying, “When you face Me, start to have a relationship with Me, have faith and trust in Me, then you don’t mind things, because you know I’m going to be right there for you.”

You could see that horse accept Todd for who he was, and we need to accept God for who He is. He died for us. Once we have His grace in our lives, it changes everything. He nailed our sins to that cross, and he’ll start peeling our layers of sin away. We belong to Him.

You have got to come to Jesus. Face Him.

The most important part of that day happened when Todd got on that horse—all my sins went away. I finally understood the relationship. I was drenched in my own tears. My children saw me, and when my oldest daughter asked if I was ok, I said, “Makayla, the power of God is undeniable right now.”

After introducing the tack to the horse and comparing it to the armor of God, Todd even went so far as to put his own son on the horse. Can you imagine what God went through when He allowed His only Son to be nailed to the cross for us?

Since that day, I don’t miss my time with God and His church. I finally understand the importance of my own relationship with God. I don’t worry anymore about others relationships with Him and how they may or may not be.

That day healed me.

I now go to church to study God’s word, not just hear it. I want to learn what I can do to share God’s love the way I saw it shared.

I thank God for that day, because my life was such a turmoil, depressed, stressed, mess of a life . . . and now I’m not angry anymore. I’m not depressed anymore. I don’t do anything without asking God first. If it’s not in Jesus or through Jesus, then I don’t want to do it.

And that’s saying a lot coming from someone as stubborn as me. God had to melt my heart.

To see my own son preach wasn’t even enough to stop me from circling God. He used a horse to reach me, because I knew what it should have taken for Todd to connect with that horse, and it should have been impossible. Now I know as long as you have faith, grace and peace with God, nothing is impossible.

The power of God was on Todd, and he never, ever wavered in his faith that day. He trusted God to load that horse, bring that horse, and connect him with that horse. He knew God would see him through. It was the most amazing thing to me.

God used Todd and that horse to save my life. I love Todd as my brother in Christ. He has done the will of God. He didn’t do it for himself. He just put himself out there, and he let the one person sitting there sobbing get the blessing.

It was beautiful.

You never know what someone may get out of what you share. So there’s my story.