Jesus, be my center

It's been a month since I've written on here and it's been one of the busiest and most exhausting months of my life. I've moved 10 times in the past 6 weeks and only once slept in a room by myself. With my personality, I really need time away from people and so two weeks of staff training, where I'm with people 24/7 is a challenge and stretches me. When you do that, you start to realize how selfish you are and how much you focus on your needs and not the needs of others. Campers come tomorrow and we have spent much time and energy in getting everything ready. I am so excited about this summer and look forward to seeing how God is going to move! We've got an incredible staff at Grace, especially at the ranch. Already we are a family, a community, a team working together towards a common purpose and goal. :)

God has really been refining me and teaching me so much. I think one of the purposes of why He brought me here to Grace this summer is because here I can hear him better, without the noise and distraction of living in "the real world". He uses other people, music, the horses, his creation, his word... all of it to teach me. And I'm surrounded by it all day long.

A couple weeks ago, during our ranch training we had a woman named Julie come in and teach us more about how to become better instructors as the wranglers will teach horsemanship lessons this summer. She teaches from a perspective called Centered Riding, which is kind of hard to explain, but basically the premise is that we as adults think too much when we ride. We try to do everything just right: sit up straight, keep our hands low, our heels down, all in a perfect line. And when we do that, it ends up looking forced and unnatural. When we loosen up, find our "center", we are more aware of the horses' movements and how we can then be in balance with them. Which in essence is perfect position. Position is not so it looks pretty, but having good position on a horse is so that you're in better balance, which makes for a more enjoyable experience for both you and the horse and is also safer as well. The horse will live longer, give more, and you are less likely to fall off if you're in balance. Anyways, I took this principle and applied it to my life and relationship with God. I think that's what He's trying to teach me, for me to make Him my center and when I do that, I'll be in "balance" with God. I'll be abiding in Him and living for Him is more natural as opposed to always trying to do the "right thing". I hope that makes sense.

I've got lots more to say, but lunch is in a half hour. Campers come tomorrow, so you can be praying for that. Our first two weeks are leadership training for our junior wranglers (CIT's) and ranch hands who will come back later during the summer and do service weeks. So the next couple weeks will look a little different then the rest of the summer. I'm excited and a little nervous, but God is so good and faithful!