Rein of Faith Ministries, Inc.

Chapter 21 - All Caught Up

2012-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

David is now cancer free. Even though he has difficulty swallowing due to the effects of the radiation on his tongue, he continues to be a strong witness for the Lord. In fact, at one of his past chemotherapy appointments he met a family that has children who homeschools their children. This mom has since promoted our ministry on a public website for Christian Homeschoolers and we had another huge growth spurt growing the ministry to an additional 40 participants coming to our ministry. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purporse." Romans 8:28

In December of 2011, we had a professional photographer donate her time and money to come out and take Christmas pictures of each participant with their favorite horse and then also a picture together with their family. The pictures turned out great. Here is a sampling of some of those special Christmas pictures. My sister was in town, so she was blessed with some pictures too.

Also in December we were blessed with Cowgirl. She was about 150 lbs. under weight when we got her. Her ad said that she would be a great confidence builder for kids. She has worked out to be just that. She also is gaining weight rapidly and looking better all the time. We are up to a total of 12 horses now.

This blog is now up to date. I will continue to post the exciting and rewarding events of the ministry. This blog is a true testament of our Loving Father and the Word of God that is alive and ever so active. We speak the Word of God over the ministry, and then the Word of God is activated. Due to this truth, we have had many testimonies from our participants on how the ministry has truly blessed them in many ways; from salvations to miraculous healings to life changing events. Even the people in the surrounding area of the ministry are blessed. And no one has ever gotten hurt or ever will. Praise the Lord!!!!!

We look forward to the extraordinary in the days, months and years ahead. Please continue to stay posted on the journey of our ministry. We assure you that it will be worth the read!!

Chapter Twenty - Horse Camp 2011

2012-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

While hunting for a shade cover for one of the turn outs on Craigs List, I called on an ad and met Stephanie. Not only did we find a good deal on a cover, but we also got her horse to use. Her horse's name is Harley. She is a beautiful paint. She steels the show in the herd as far as her looks are concerned. She is very striking. In addition, Stephanie is a Mounted Police Officer in the City of Tempe so she invited us to visit as a group during her work hours at the Tempe Police Department's Mounted Police Horse Department. We had a great time seeing how they prepare the horses for Mill Ave., which is a popular hang out for Arizona State University students.

We brought Harley on our 2^nd Annual Horse Camp trip with our other 10 for a total of 11 horses for this camp in July of 2011.

Our chuck wagon volunteers, Becky and Steve, were there supporting the ministry again with our meals. We had about 30 participants this time. My husband Steve came on Sunday and gave us a spirit led message. We had so much more help this time and so much fun. We rented 8 sites this time; an additional 3 from last time.

Here are pictures from our field trip to Temp and our Horse Camp 2011:

Chapter Nineteen - Rio

2012-01-11T16:01:00.000-08:00

In May of 2011, we bred Breehia (because of her really nice confirmation) to a stud owned by Tom Hayman named Rio. This was another “future project” mentioned on our website. I learned very quickly in regard to directing a ministry of God’s, that money should never be a restriction on the growth or activities of the ministry. God would certainly provide the means to take care of a new foal which is to be born in April of 2012. Breehia, Breehia, Breehia. What a beautiful animal. Too bad she was bred to be a “halter horse” which is the beauty pageant for horses. They breed these animals purposely to have cute and small little tea cup size hooves, which truly does not carry a beautiful, muscular body like Breehia’s. The stud we chose for her baby has nice big hooves that should produce a foal that has more substantial hooves to carry the weight. Breehia does have her limitations but I believe she will be producing the most beautiful foal…a sign of the Kingdom of God at work.

Picture of Breehia and her stud, Rio:

Chapter Eighteen - Faith

2012-01-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

We painted the stalls a black enamel and also the arena we painted white. The iron was very rusty. The tenants with the skinny horses moved which opened up another six stalls which I quickly claimed for the ministry. We also were donated Boo by the same people who donated Tigger and Buddy. He too would be donated with care money for 3 years. Praise God!!

Since the new barn location did not have a place for us to hold a Christmas Party per se, I decided to buy Christmas hats for the horses and kids to wear and take pictures of them with the horses.

Sadly, David’s cancer continued to grow. Because of finances, he ended up going for Chemotherapy and Radiation since that was covered by his insurance. This really scared me since my dad’s unfortunate fate. My dad did not have the same amount of faith as David does. God did an amazing thing to open my eyes to His amazing, indescribable love for this ministry. Dillon was extremely sick with Colic. A vet told us that she would be surprised that he would make it. I prayed that Satan would take his death grip off of Dillon. I also prayed for God to heal Dillon. Dillon recovered and then I heard from God. He said, “Why would I heal a horse that is so critical for the ministry, but not heal David who is even more so?” Well, my only answer could be, “you wouldn’t.” So from that point on I knew that David would not be taken from the ministry. So my husband and I agreed to pay double and hire David’s son to take care of his job for 3 months while he underwent the treatment. This was Jan, Feb and March of 2011.

The owner of the ranch traded me the abandoned 5^th wheel that was on his property for the Minnie Winnie that I had gotten from my mom. He thought it would be more comfortable for David to live in.

My son came for a visit and he took some great pictures of the kids during one of our Saturday trail rides.

These pictures really warm my heart. This is what it is all about:

Chapter Seventeen - Extreme Ranch Makeover

2011-12-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

My husband also thought it wasn’t that bad. I thought they were all blind, because I thought it was horrible. Because of my distraught, Steve decided to help out. He contacted his purchasing department to see if they could get some contractors to volunteer to help clean up the ranch. They agreed. Let the Extreme Ranch Makeover begin!!!!

My 50^th birthday party was planned for October 28, so I wanted to have the horses moved over early so my family could come see them at their new location.

The contractors brought in HEAVY equipment in addition to manpower with power tools, the ranch got cleaned up in a weekend. We had all of our participants come out and help pick up trash as well. What an improvement. We hauled off about 1,000 tons of scrap metal. I think the other tenants on the property thought I came in and took over the entire ranch. I believe they felt very displaced and out of touch. When light arrives, darkness has to flee. We rented the back end of the barn which included 6 stalls. We converted one of the stalls into a tack room. Since we were used to having our tack room in the “elements” that was ok for us. We also got 3 turn outs plus we were given the 4 ton pellet bin to use. We moved the horses over just in time for my birthday party. I asked Carol if she wanted to move Snickers over, but by the time she was able to answer, I had already moved her over. She seemed ok with it since I was still paying for her board and care and she was still volunteering in the ministry. Snickers and Carol have since left the ministry. Carol is back at Chris’s with Snickers and her daughter's horse Silvie having a wonderful time. My friend Cami enjoys riding with her Aunt on the weekends.

Here are some pictures of the Extreme Ranch Makeover:

Chapter Sixteen - Tigger, Buddy and our New Home..Really?

2011-12-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

Since Cocoa was still having her challenges (we thought when we got her that she was more broke than what she was), in August of 2010 our need for more horses was fulfilled. We received another donation of two horses, Tigger and Buddy, referred to us by Tracy, the trainer who referred Allie and Cocoa. Thank you Lord for these two animals. Not only did I get these two donated horses that were fairly well trained, but I also received some more tack. A couple saddles and a few other items, plus the promise to donate money for each horse for 3 years to help them with their expenses as long as I have the previous owners first right if I needed to get rid of them for some reason. No problem. What an awesome gift. Only God can surprise you with such an amazing donation. Now we had 10 horses. Too many for the barn, so we turned the geldings out with each other. I learned quickly about pecking orders. The two new horses plus the mustangs and Dillon were all turned out together. Allie, who was turned out just next to them, would always kick at them and kick the fence instead. I think it was about twice that she really hurt herself from kicking the fence. Sometimes it would take her weeks to get better which left her out of commission.

We were crowded. It wasn’t great, but it would do. Now that we had more horses to ride, we continued to get more people coming out. We were getting very busy. God will only give you as much as you can handle. Tom Hayman also became our Farrier. Unknown to him, he would be playing a very big role in our ministry.

My husband and I still visited our house in Laguna Beach every month which would mean that the Ministry needed to go on without me the Saturday that I was gone. This is when I had to begin to turn God’s ministry over to others. It was not going as smoothly as I had hoped in the beginning, because I truly believe that Satan is always looking for a way to destroy this ministry. Even though this is God’s ministry, He has still given me dominion on this earth. So through prayer and intercession, I was able to be victorious over Satan's continued plan of attack once again!!

Not long after this growth spurt in late September of 2010, I found out from David that Chris was asking him to move out. He needed to rent the apartment for income. Wow!!! I went straight to prayer. David is still fighting the cancer. He trains, feeds and cleans the horses plus he volunteers his time with the people coming for the Ministry. David was and still is a very integral part of this Ministry. I knew he would require help finding a place to live. Where ever the place, it could not be very far away from the barn because he feeds the horses twice a day. The volunteers have also stepped up their commitment, during some times when they would come and help feed and clean when David could not. I had a great volunteer and participant base at this time. I knew God had a plan. I started looking for rooms to rent for David in the area. They were running about $300-$400/month. That would work if that was the direction God wanted us to go, however, they weren’t all that close to the ranch. That was the dilemma.

I then remembered that my Mom and her new husband, Cal, had just returned from Washington with their Minnie Winnie, a small motor home. I called her and asked if she would be willing to let us use the motor home for the winter months since David needed a place to stay. It just so happened that she HATED the motor home because it had bed bugs and she never wanted to stay in it again!!! Amazing timing!! So she donated the motor home to the ministry. A $9500 donation!! OK, so now I have a motor home for David to live in. But where would we park it? I called and asked Chris if I could park it near our barn on his property and he said no. I also called and asked our Farrier, Tom Hayman, if we could park the motor home on his property. He said no, but he knew of an old Roping Ranch that used to have RV hook ups, owned by a man named Gene Dietz. He thought it was somewhere off of 136^th St. Then I started calling around the Rio Verde area to find someone that new of Gene Dietz. I got a hold of a woman in charge of the Rio Verde Horseman’s Association and asked her if she knew of a man named Gene Dietz. She said no, but she knew of his son, Paul Dietz. I called Paul and got the number for his dad. I found out later that Paul Dietz had a flyer on Chris’s bulletin board!! Funny, what a small world. Anyway, I called Gene and asked about his RV hook ups. He said he had one available and that he charges $300 month. Since this was about the same as the rental rooms, which I had pretty much settled on that new expense, I was willing to pay that. The Lord then led me to ask him if he had any room for horses. He said that he charged $75 for a stall or $50 for a turn out for a do- it-yourself program, providing your own food and cleaning yourself. Oh my goodness. That price per horse times 10 would be at the most $750/month plus David’s $300 for the RV parking, would still be more than a $1000/month savings. I was so excited about this new opportunity. No agreement was made over the phone until we went over to meet him and check out his place.

David and I drove up and I was in dismay. This 10 acre ranch had been severely neglected. Not only was it a storage for all sorts of street lights, scrap metal and trash, but it also had severely neglected horses on the property, about 10 in all. There were 3 trailer homes on the property that had also been neglected and poorly maintained. My first thought was, Lord, is this what it has come down to? Living in despair and destruction? David was quick to point out that all of this was cosmetic and could be easily fixed. I’m glad he had vision, because mine was being challenged. We met with the owner Gene, and he showed us where we could hook up the motor home. It was our only solution to David’s living arrangement. We also discussed the possibility of moving all the horses over. Gene’s explanation for the neglect of his ranch was heartbreaking. It brought tears to my eyes. I could not let the appearance of the ranch dictate my decision since we HAD to make a decision. So I asked if we could move in by the end of October. That would give me 30 days advance notice for Chris plus whatever improvements we could make to the ranch before we moved over there. I would immediately fly David to California to get the motor home from my mom, have it sprayed for bed bugs, then move it to the new ranch with his horse MaGlory in the beginning of October to satisfy Chris. It would only be a couple weeks that David would have to drive back and forth to feed the horses until we moved them over.

Here are pictures I took of the ranch which I showed to my husband:

Chapter Fifteen - 1st Annual Horse Camp

2011-12-11T17:20:00.001-08:00

Part of the website that I created lists future programs. One of which is “off site trips.” So I started researching campsites that allowed horses and found the most reasonable camp ground that was designed exclusively for horses and campers. So I planned our First Annual Horse Camp in July of 2010. We rented six camp sites. Each campsite includes a pen and a tether line. We took eight horses up to camp. We borrowed our Farrier’s two horse trailer and hired Tom Hayman to haul the rest in his big stock trailer.

We had a wonderful time!!!! We had about 25 people attend. It lasted from Friday-Sunday. We brought the horses up on Thursday to get them ready for all the people. We wanted to get them acclimated to the weather and climate change, not to mention the new trails. We had four people come up on Thursday so we took two trips out on the trails with all eight horses. That one trail that we chose became our one and only trail we used for the entire time we were at camp. It’s much safer to have the horses on the same identical trail each time so there would be fewer surprises!! Isn’t that the truth! Horses are interesting and amazing creatures. They notice anything that is out of place or different. That experience taught me even more about the direction of this ministry and the personalities of the horses. Poor Breehia. We put her in with Allie in a 10 X 10 pen, and Allie chased her around in a circle much of the time. I also made the mistake of not only putting my tent right between two of the campsites, which happened to be the two campsites which we kept all of the horses, but also downhill, which I learned was not a good place during a heavy rain storm. After a few incidents that occurred the first few days, Debbie and I started to pray in the Spirit to quit Satan’s attempts to ruin our camping trip. We defeated Satan’s attacks, and had a great rest of the trip. What a learning experience this first camping trip was.

Here are a few pictures from our 1^st Annual Horse Camp:

Chapter Fourteen – Photo Shoot

2011-12-08T13:34:00.001-08:00

Thank goodness Chris had two arenas at the ranch. We were growing so big that we needed to divide the groups up between the two arenas.

With the growing interest in the ministry, I knew I needed to create a website. I found a great webmaster that I knew would create a great website for the ministry. I really wanted something unique, colorful and fun. The website is: www.reinoffaithministries.org. We happened to have a photographer as a volunteer who volunteered to do a photo shoot for the website.

Here are pictures from the photo shoot:

Chapter Thirteen - The New Barn

2011-12-03T06:03:00.001-08:00

Carol, David and I continued to work with the kids and volunteers. We had a great time. Even though David was still fighting the cancer, he continued to work with us and the horses. He is a fighter. He also has a tremendous amount of faith. He would always confess that he is healed!! In fact, I would make sure that only life was talked about in and around the ministry since Life and Death is in the power of the tongue. It became a discipline in the ministry. Any deviation from this principle would be strongly addressed.

We started having more kids come out. Around the same time, Carol was looking for a horse for her own and I was looking for a horse to add to the ministry too. We had sent Missy off to a retirement facility, because she no longer was able to meet the needs of the ministry. We didn’t have enough well trained horses to meet our needs. I felt I was being led to look for a replacement for Missy. I found Breehia on Craig’s List for $1500. She has the most beautiful confirmation, just like what David had been teaching me to look for, plus a young girl had been showing her. I hoped that she would be a great addition to our ministry. I was quick to make the decision, and we ended up getting her in the dark that same evening that I found her on Craigs List. David rode her with his equipment. She threw her head a lot, but again, he was sure that he could resolve that using a martingale as a training tool. One thing I did not know was that she had sore feet!! What I learned later is that since she was bred as a halter horse, which is the beauty pagent for horses, they (the halter horse industry) like the looks of the large muscular body but with small tea cup hooves. Unfortunately, these small hooves are not big enough to carry the massive muscular bodies which in turn creates sore hooves.

Carol also got a horse named Snickers. We added her temporarily to the ministry horses in exchange for Board and Care, knowing that we needed more horses suitable for kids. We added her to the “free barn”. Now, I had 4 horses I was paying board for and 4 horses I wasn’t. Plus, David was living for free in the apartment on the ranch. Chris came up to me and asked if I would just rent the entire “free barn” for $2300. That would give me 10 stalls. I decided I would take it because I would get my own tack room (a converted stall), plus when all the people would come out for the ministry, which started to be a lot, we wouldn’t be in the way of Chris’s other paying customers. The $2300 did not include food or cleaning for the horses. My budget just jumped up over $1000/month. I believed that God would continue to provide for the ministry, so I did not let that concern me. I knew that what I was doing was His plan for me, so I stood on that truth.

We held a Barn Dedication Ceremony……I wanted to publicly dedicate the new barn and the Ministry to the Lord. We had a wonderful dinner and dedication with about 30 people attending. It was a wonderful time. The Holy Spirit was present. The Ministry officially became God’s Ministry….not mine. All I had to do was get out of His way and pray a lot. In fact, I began to say “Yes” to every request of people wanting to come out and participate not knowing how I was going to work it out. Not sure if I would have enough horses, if we would be able to accommodate everyone’s needs; when you give something like this to the Lord knowing that it is for Him, the answer should always be “Yes.” Love is more powerful than fear!!!! From this point on, I knew that He would be in control of every situation and every challenge that would come up. My trust and faith in Him is an every moment by moment reality in this Ministry.

Here are pictures from the Barn Dedication Ceremony:

Chapter Twelve - Easter Fun Day

2011-11-26T16:11:00.001-08:00

In February of 2010, Cami invited her Aunt Carol and her daughter, Tracy, out to ride with us. Carol rode Dillon, Cami rode Missy, Tracy rode Dude and I rode Zeke. It was a great time. Carol had just retired from the Post Office and wanted to work with horses again. It had been many years since she had worked around horses. She had also given kids in the neighborhood lessons back when she had horses, so she thought it would be a great ministry for her to become involved with. She is a spirit-filled Christian and I too believed she would be a great help to the ministry which she was. She came out and started helping me teach the kids how to ride. She was my very first committed volunteer.

Around that time, Cocoa and RaeLana, were donated to the ministry. I did not have a chance to meet them first, but David and Chris (the owner of the ranch) just went to go get them. RaeLana is an Arabian, and we really didn’t want the Arabian breed as part of our ministry because of their hyper nature. So I gave RaeLana to Chris in exchange for his kindness with David living on his property and also the free board for MaGlory and Allie and now Cocoa. I wasn’t there, but supposedly when David went to halter Cocoa, she reared up and knocked him over. He figured that would be a quick problem to resolve so they took her anyway. She is a good looking horse. Her papers were registered as a Paint even though she has no markings. She also has the body of a quarterhorse. Her owners not only donated the two horses, but donated about $4500 worth of tack. That was amazing. I was very appreciative!!! Another important note is that the person who referred them to us was also the same person that referred Allie to us. She admired David as a horse trainer and she also liked what the ministry was doing. I mention her because she helped us get three more horses down the road a bit. I was also blessed with my own ministry pick-up truck from my husband, Steve, around this time. Praise God.

Easter was approaching, so we decided to have a Easter Fun Day. I decided that we could decorate the horses instead of decorating Easter eggs. We used Dillon, Allie, Cocoa, Dude, and three of Chris’s horses, one older horse and two miniature horses for the younger kids.

During the planning stages of the Easter Fun Day, a daughter of a family at our church came out to help us with the horses too. She had just moved home from Las Vegas and I thought it would be a great opportunity for her to do something that she loved, which was working with horses. My husband knew right away that I had not been led by the Holy Spirit to ask her to be a volunteer, but I was quick in my decision. The point that I have in bringing this up is that we MUST, as a regular part of any ministry, pray before we do anything!!! This was definitely the most important thing I learned regarding directing a ministry of this magnitude. I knew, in my heart, that Satan did not want this ministry to succeed. The spiritual battle began and I became even more prayerful regarding everything I did with the ministry!!!

The Easter Fun Day was a great success. We had all of our angels on heavy assignment. We had about 50 people attend. My husband also came out to give a message from the Lord for our Easter Celebration. And, Carol presented me with a beautiful collage board that she made to show her appreciation for the ministry.

Here is a picture of Carol and the rest is of our Easter Fun Day:

Chapter Eleven - Christmas 2009

2011-11-18T19:48:00.001-08:00

We had a little Christmas party that year with about six girls and six adults. I began to refer to everyone as participants in the ministry. The Christmas party was great. The love everyone had towards David and I and the ministry was a great indication of what God was going to do with the ministry in the future.

Here are some pictures from the Christmas party:

Chapter Ten - A Big Attack by the Enemy Against David

2011-11-13T12:00:00.001-08:00

Around this same time, David found out that he had throat cancer and also cancer in the lymph nodes around his neck. Led by the Holy Spirit, I immediately laid hands on David’s neck and commanded in the Name of Jesus for the cancer to go. I knew in my heart that it had to leave his body and not kill him because I finally had a horse trainer that I believed was sent to me by God as a Divine appointment and there was NO WAY Satan was going to take away from me someone that God just sent me to help with the ministry. I have stood strong on my faith every day since, however, I didn't trust conventional treatment. My dad had recently passed from chemotherapy poisoning and I did not want David to go the same conventional route with chemo and radiation that my dad did because I blamed his death on the chemo, however, I did know that David had faith to believe in his healing. I decided to connect with David’s wife Shirl to see where she stood on conventional vs. unconventional treatments. I had met her once before when my husband and I went up to Rose Creek ranch to see a piece of property that was developed to withstand civil unrest. It was built with a preparedness perspective. David spoke a lot about being prepared for the difficult times to come in the future.

To my excitement, Shirl was on the same page as me. I immediately bought Apricot Kernels, which has a high concentration of Vitamin B17 and gave them to David. Vitamin B17 is a proven vitamin to prevent and kill cancer cells. Unfortunately, it is illegal in our country. Shirl also put him on a very strict vegetarian and no sugar diet. This is very advisable to quickly stop the metastasizing of the cancerous cells. David was not convinced at that time that this would work. He scheduled all of his appointments to go ahead with radiation treatments. He also went ahead and got a supplemental insurance addendum to help cover the expense of conventional treatment. His friend, John, is also his insurance agent. He encouraged him to be completely covered for any future expenses. Although David committed to go the unconventional route, he was starved. He had a very difficult time keeping up with the diet that Shirl put him on so, on occasion, he would buy food outside the diet parameters. He also had his buddy, Elmo, bring him food with meat from time to time.

David’s Ford Ranger broke down one day at the barn, so I lent him my truck. So, I had to drive my Mercedes out to the barn. Then I was struck by a deer which put my car out of commission. Debbie and I were on our way out to the barn when a 250 lb. buck came flying out of the desert. It was a 1 second miracle. If it was 1 second earlier or 1 second later he would have been thrown through the front windshield or through the passenger window. He hit the side door frame which caused him to fly up on the hood and then the windshield. Thank God for a well built Mercedes. My car needed major body work repair. I now needed to get my truck back from David while my car was in the body shop. I then became David’s driver. I picked him up, drove him out to the barn and dropped him off. I also drove him to his homeopathic treatment appointments. Finally, when my car was fixed, I gave David the truck back. I decided, however, that I didn’t want to continue to drive on the dirt road to the barn with my car, so I had David start picking me up.

Well, unfortunately for David, Shirl found out about the food he was eating outside her diet for him. That I believe, in combination with other things, really made her mad and she asked David to move out of the house. She was convinced that he was going to die. I wasn’t.

David took my truck, packed up and moved out. He stayed with his spiritual son Les for awhile, then Les had to move. He then moved in to the apartment below Chris’s ranch house for free. He also asked if he could move MaGlory over to the barn and Chris agreed. MaGlory stayed at the barn on the other side of the ranch from where the ministries’ four horses were boarded. Now that David lived at the ranch, I couldn’t have him drive to pick me up so I drove my car and parked it at the Verde Golf Course parking lot in Rio Verde and he picked me up from there. This went on for many months.

David continued to be treated homeopathically with great success. However, it was extremely expensive for him to do so. It was not covered under insurance. He also increased his B17 intake to intramuscular injections which I purchased for him.

David continued to train Dude and Zeke, never missing a day due to his health. They were coming along great. We started to get more kids coming to the ministry. We also had adults coming out as well. This is when I realized that the ministry is really for everyone, not just kids. I had people that wanted to volunteer, however, they needed to learn about horses as well. Beginning in the first part of 2009, I was having new people come out, taking lessons from David and myself and learning all there was to learn about the horses.

Then, in October of 2009, Allie was donated to the ministry. She is a prize horse. David was so thrilled with her. The Lord’s favor was definitely on the ministry. Since MaGlory was already in the other barn and David was taking care of her there, we just added Allie to that barn as well, so I did not have to pay board and care for her. I just had to pay for her food. David did the rest. Chris was very kind to let us have those two horses in that barn. The ministry had five horses then.

Chapter Nine - Dillon

2011-11-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

While David was working with the mustangs, I was still working with Missy. I hadn’t hired David to help me with Missy, but he would offer me suggestions. It wasn’t long after that that my husband’s boss, the CEO of his company, donated his horse Dillon to the ministry. This was in August of 2008, just one month after hiring David. Finally, I had a really good horse to learn how to ride on. David starting having me ride the mustangs though still as well since I now had a few more people coming out to ride.

Pastor Dwain was the first one to ride Dillon. I had only been on Zeke a few times. I’ll never forget that first ride with the Pastor. He and Debbie were behind me and Zeke. Debbie was on Dude and Pastor was on Dillon. We were headed out to the desert when Zeke went in to a wild buck. I was still learning from David how to sit properly so of course, I came right off. The wind got knocked out of me for a second. I think the Pastor's voice and Dillon scared Zeke and he paniced.

I told the Pastor and Debbie that I would meet them back at the round pen. I took Zeke in there, lunged him around a couple times like David had showed me, then I got back up on him. That was probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, fighting fear, other than scuba diving!! The trail ride was a success!!

The ministry had four horses now. My friend from church Cami started to come out. She loves horses. She and Missy got along great. Apparently Missy’s previous owner was diabetic and had had a leg amputated. I think that Missy remembered that about him and was very slow and kind to Cami. They fell deeply in love. Missy was her girl. I have a great picture of Cami on Missy, Christinna on Dillon, Debbie on Dude and Me on Zeke. We called ourselves the Gospel Riders!!

Chapter Eight - The Lord Blessed the Ministry with David

2011-11-01T17:10:00.000-07:00

Five months after having moved to the new ranch in Rio Verde, God led me to my new horse trainer, David. I know for a fact that was the result of my praying in tongues. Chris told me that David was a Christian and Pastor and that he just came out of retirement. I felt comforted knowing that. When I first met David and introduced him to Dude, I was both embarrassed and hopeful at the same time. After about 10 minutes or so of Dude being tied up in the cross tie with David, he started getting antsy pantsyish, a common occurrence with Dude. David told me that this horse was not broke at all. Wow!! Not broke at all after having them now for almost a year and a half. What a waste of time, I thought. Well, maybe now we can see some progress with David. He seemed to be a very knowledgeable horse person, someone I could trust to get the job done.

I hired him immediately and he started to work immediately. He told me that the reason he had to come out of retirement was because the church could no longer pay him. He also told me that his wife had bought him a horse about a year ago, but she really didn’t want him to train young horses any more since he was older and she didn’t want him to get hurt. He still agreed to help me with my mustangs. I met him at the barn and he started to work with Dude. He also worked with me too. He showed me how to tie him up the right way, and how to start sacking him out. He then would put the saddle on and bring him into the round pen. He showed me how to put the bit in and do lunging work with him in the round pen. After about 5 days, he was up on Dude and riding him out in the desert. Oh my gosh!! To my amazement seeing David ride Dude off into the wilderness. I paced and paced until he came riding back on him in the ranch. That was a great day!! Then, only after about two week s of working with Dude, Dude was cut really bad on a tree branch and needed stitches. He was out of commission for at least a few weeks. David started to then work with Zeke. Zeke took a little bit longer to get going with the saddle, and sacking him out. Zeke was a bucker. He would always go into a buck. However, it really didn’t take David long to get on Zeke’s back and have him out in the desert.

We even took Zeke to an elementary school for “Western Days” as one of the exhibits:

Chapter Seven - The Ministries' 1st "Rideable" Horse, Missy

2011-10-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

We were very happy with this new arrangement, having Leslie on the property with the mustangs. And around this same time, we were contacted by a woman who had a horse that she wanted to donate to the ministry, now that we were an official 501c3. Christinna and I borrowed Leslie’s trailer and went to go look at this horse. We were so anxious to ride a horse, that I didn’t pray or get guidance from the Holy Spirit about getting this horse at all. She ended up having laminitis and cushions. Wow!! Now I needed to purchase medication for her health issues. We also found out when we got her home, that she was extremely barn sour. Anytime we would ride her in the arena she wanted to run back to the gate so she could go back to her stall. We attempted to ride her around the ranch, but she put up quite an argument if she thought she was going to have to leave the ranch. Leslie gave us a few pointers to work on which kept us busy with her.

Christinna, however, because of the long commute, was not able to come out as often as she would have liked. She went back to work full-time, which greatly limited her time. Then, to make things even more challenging, Leslie was removed from the ranch. She no longer could come on the property and work with me and the mustangs. OK!! Interesting developments.

So, as of now, I still had the mustangs that couldn’t be riden, even though I was working with them every day, watching DVD’s, learning all I could about how to train them; and, I had a horse to ride that was barn sour and sore. The owner of the new ranch, Chris, took the initiative to help me find another horse trainer. He pointed out a few horse trainers on occasion when they would come to his ranch to work with other horses, but I just did not feel comfortable with any of them. They all reminded me of Randy, from the other ranch. I did not want to get back in to that situation. I knew in my heart that I needed to have faith and be patient and that the Lord was working it all out for me since I was fulfilling the calling that He had placed in my heart in the first place.

However, I still had to take my new situation to the Lord in prayer. I had been praying all along, but I really needed to intercede in the situation and seek guidance. Since I had a longer commute now, I started to pray in the spirit even more!! I’m so thankful that I have the Holy Spirit to turn to since this is where our power comes from and where things change in the spirit realm, before things are changed in the physical realm.

Despite everything, the ministry was still growing. I had a few more kids coming out to meet the horses. I would take the kids on "pony" rides with Missy. She was a good start for that. Plus, she was really calm during the grooming and bathing process.

Pictures of Missy:

Chapter Six - Back to the Drawing Board

2011-10-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Dude was surely not ready to ride. So, after about 9 months of working with Leslie, Christinna talked to me about getting someone else with a different approach to train the mustangs. We were getting quite anxious for this part of the training to be done with. We knew that by now they should have been at least riding with a bit. So I decided to hire the on-site trainer, Randy. I paid him for boarding and training. This was in November of 2007. He told us that when we moved the Mustangs over to him, we would no longer be able to work with them. The only thing we could do was go into their stalls and groom them. They also would have to be separated from each other. The stalls, to us, were like prisons. They only had one area to look out. They cried for each other almost every day for like a week. It was heart breaking.

Every time I would go by there to visit, I would never see them working with them. I would check on the schedule and they had maybe every other day for an hour set aside for them. Some weeks they would take off because of shows or the weather was either too wet or cold to work with them. This went on for about 2 months. Sometimes, Christinna and I would sneak them out of their stalls and put them in the arena to run around when the owners of the ranch weren’t there. We loved to watch them run and play. Also included in the board/training were horseback riding lessons per horse. So, Christinna and I took lessons with Randy using their horses. Finally, we were able to get on the back of a horse. I believe he was a horrible teacher. He did not teach us how to sit properly and he kept yelling at Christinna because she was in the wrong lead. The horse I was on was very difficult to get to lope. One time when working on that I whipped him in the butt which caused him to crow hop and since I wasn’t sitting properly I launched forward and was hanging on by the neck while he was going pretty fast and I fell off. That was the 2^nd time I fell off!! Of course, I got back on since I knew that I needed to get back up like the saying says to “get back up on the horse after you fall off”. That was pretty much the end of the lessons, because one week that they were out of town, I felt so sorry for Dude and Zeke being stuck in their stalls that I decided to take them on a walk. Dude was so excited to get out of the stall, that he was bucking and rearing on the end of the lead line. It was quite a challenge just to take him for a walk around the arena. Then I got Zeke out, who normally is pretty shy. He wasn’t as bad, but you could tell he was super antsy.

During all this time I had only seen Randy get up on Dude maybe twice in the arena and Zeke maybe once in the round pen. Zeke just wanted to buck every time he got the saddle put on let alone anyone on his back.

So, back to the drawing board. I then called Leslie back up to see if she wanted to work with them again. She said that the only way she could is if I moved them up to Rio Verde to a ranch that she was working at full time. Christinna and I went up to look at the ranch and thought it would be a great place. Even though it would be a much longer commute, the board was half the price. Also during this time, my mom donated her truck to the ministry. I was officially a horse woman with a pick up truck. My father had passed away from chemotherapy poisoning in August of 2006. My mom needed a car more fitting for her needs.

Christinna and I worked on “trailer class” for about a week, using Leslie’s trailer, to teach the mustangs how to trailer. We would drive around the ranch, while one of us stood on the wheel rim, “comforting” the mustangs with carrots through the window while driving them around in the trailer. It was soon time to transport them. Christinna couldn’t help, so I recruited Debbie to help me. She showed quite an interest in helping with the mustangs as well. She grew up on a cattle ranch, so she was familiar with hauling livestock. It was pretty scary hauling them up to the new ranch in Rio Verde, not to mention the hour it took to get them in the trailer.

We really liked there new “view” stalls, plus we had Leslie right there on the property to work with them more often.

Here’s a couple pictures of Leslie with Zeke:

Chapter Five - Motivated by the Extreme Mustang Makeover

2011-10-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

During this time, Christinna was doing research about mustangs and training and learned of an Extreme Mustang Makeover that was being held in Fort Worth, Texas. We made plans to attend. On the flight there, we worked on all the corporation documents required by the Corporations Commission of Arizona and the IRS in order for the ministry to be tax exempt. We came up with our Mission Statement:

“Through Christ Jesus, Rein of Faith Ministries, in its commitment to God’s children, seek to develop a ministry with the stewardship of horses and the guidance of the Holy Spirit enabling the ministry to combat community deterioration and juvenile delinquency by exposing the community to the power of horses whereby mutual respect grows between horse and human creating a positive diversion in the direction and path of the individual in his/her future; a trail full of new responsibility, submission and self-control with a commitment to an amazingly strong but sensitive animal that God created for us to love and respect.”

The Extreme Mustang Makeover event was wonderful for us to attend. We had new hope for the mustangs. When we returned home, we immediately went and bought composite saddles, saddle pads, bits and bridles!!! We were encouraged!! It was time to mount up. Saddling Dude was much easier than saddling Zeke. We were probably about 3 months further along with Dude since we had that head start with him. It wasn’t long after we bought the saddles that we were able to get up on Dude with someone leading him. I think we held our breath while we were up there. We were very gentle and cautious. One time, however, we decided to lunge him with Christinna with the lunge line and me up on him. Well, I think he was surprised that “something” was on his back when I said something, because he started running around the lunge line so fast that the saddle started to slide and I had to bale.

That was my first fall off a horse in a very long time!!! We then started to work with putting a bit in. While working with Leslie I was also watching training DVD’s by Kitty Lauman. She was one of the winners at the Extreme Mustang Makeover. I thought I could learn a lot from just watching her DVDs.

Picture of Dude’s 1^st ride:

Chapter Four - Let the Training Begin

2011-10-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

The owner of the ranch gave me the name of a natural horsemanship trainer named Leslie to help me train the mustangs. I immediately gave her a call. In the meantime, Christinna and I were always at the barn visiting them. It was only about 5 minutes away for Christinna and about 13 minutes away for me.

We were able to start leading Dude around on his halter. We kept it on because we weren’t sure we would be able to get it back on if we took it off. We also set up a barricade that we could use when we wanted to let the mustangs out in the arena for some exercise. We would lead Dude in first and then herd Zeke through the barricade into the arena. We would use Dude to help get Zeke back in to his stall. It became a fun activity for us. Word quickly got out in the church about the horses and I began to get people visiting them. They all wanted to see the wild mustangs. I met with Leslie and we worked out a schedule for her to come and help us. In the beginning she showed us some exercises to do with Dude, using a whip with a bag on the end, to help with some ground training. Zeke, was still unapproachable. She suggested that we start feeding him ourselves and stay in his stall while he goes after the food to get him used to us being there. So, Christinna and I split the feeding responsibility. She took the morning shift and I took the afternoon shift. This went on for quite a while. He would start playing a game with us where we would put some food into a rubber feeder close to us and he would pull it close to him. We would reach out to touch him but his reflexes were so fast, that we would never make contact. Frustrating. He also had this dreadlock on his mane that we couldn’t wait to cut off.

We spent much time working with Leslie and the mustangs. My husband loves telling a story about when we started to work with Zeke using a bamboo pole. We began to scratch his behind with it. Then eventually we led our arms up the pole and replaced the pole with our hands. We began to scratch him on the back and toward his tail. We spent a lot of days doing this. Zeke enjoyed it so much that he began to turn his butt to us as soon as we approached his stall so we would come in and scratch his butt. We even got to the point of hugging his butt. Slowly, we would creep up the side of him continuing to massage him. Christinna was finally able to cut off that dreadlock. Not saying she never got kicked, because she did. She was much more brave than I was. I really got frustrated with the butt massage. I wanted to be able to touch his head. We continued to work with Leslie and finally, with the help of Babs, we were able to get a halter on Zeke. This was 3 months after we got him. The ground work training continued now with both Dude and Zeke. The two of them were such opposites. Dude was extremely pushy and Zeke was extremely scared and cautious. Dude would pull us around like a bad dog. We really had to learn to become super aggressive with him. Zeke, was very sensitive and would practically tip toe wherever he went with us. He did start to really enjoy the human contact though. We would “ground tie” them and groom them and give them spa day almost every day. It was much harder to get Dude to stand still though. We never really tied them up. We also needed to get them gelded since they were approaching 18 months old. We called a vet to come out and we were told we needed to spray where there testicles were with a hose to break open the seal to allow it to drain every day. Wow!! We were hoping this wouldn’t set them back because we just were able to have contact with them. Good thing we had developed a trusting relationship so this procedure did not set them back.

Pictures of Dude and Zeke in their early training days:

Chapter Three - That Didn't Work, Let's Move Them

2011-10-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

I needed to find a new place for the mustangs. Since we still could not touch them I knew I needed some “different” professional help. I also knew that it would be awkward with the owners of the facility where they were. A few people that I came in contact with gave me a few names of horse owners. I began to reach out to them. I also explored other areas to relocate them. One person I talked to said that maybe Brandi Lyon (John Lyon, who is a well known horse trainer's, daughter) would be able to help. She gave me her number. I called her and explained my situation. Not only did she come and help me move them, but she also found a new place for me to move them to. Right down the street to a place called Camelot Farms. Brandi also believed that she would be able to get them halter trained in a few hours, following after her father’s footsteps. She brought in a friend that would video tape the experience.

Brandi came with her horse and trailer and she was able to herd them into the horse trailer. We had to use panels on each side of the trailer’s door like a shoot. I was on one side of the panels. This was, again, another opportunity for me to realize what I was dealing with. They tried to escape through those panels and I felt the strength and determination of them. They weren’t able to, thank God, so they got in the trailer. Brandi brought them to the new location and herded only one of them into a round pen there on the new property. That was Zeke. Dude stayed in the trailer and kicked and fought in that trailer having been separated from Zeke. That was another indication of what I had my hands full with. Now Dude, still had his halter on, but Zeke did not. Brandi worked with Zeke on foot and then on her horse to no avail. She did all the techniques that she knew to get him to submit, but nothing worked. She ended up calling her Dad for counsel. He ended up telling her that she had done enough for that day and that they should be left alone for awhile. Dude was then put in the round pen with Zeke. I paid Brandi for her time and she left. I knew that she would not be coming back. I then left the mustangs in the round pen as there new round pen home. Bummer. Still no progress had been made.

When I came back to visit them the next day, they were not in the round pen. Somehow the owner of the ranch was able to transport them and put them each in a stall in the barn that would become their new home. Wow!! I could not believe that they were actually in a stall of their own. Now, they are separated which meant we may be able to get somewhere. The owner and I went in to Dude’s stall and it did not take him long to grab his lead line and pet his head. Finally, human contact!!! I’m glad that was done with Dude.

Here are pictures of their then new home:

Chapter Two - Two Wild Mustangs, Now What?

2011-10-11T11:47:00.000-07:00

OK, so now I had two wild mustangs. They needed to be placed in a shoot on the way into the stock trailer so they could put the halter and lead rope on them on their way in the stock trailer. Dude got his on without too much of a fight, but it was more difficult to put Zeke’s on. This was the first time that I saw how scared they were of humans. The facility that I was bringing them wanted them to go into their round pen. This was in January of 2007. The mustang colts, Dude and Zeke, were just over one year old. The owners of the facility did not want to put them in the barn with the other expensive horses until they received immunizations. Especially the immunization for Coggins. Also, they needed to be wormed. Christinna and I visited them in that round pen for 30 days. Each time we came we wanted to try to get them use to us. So we would go in and give them treats. Dude was very curious about the treats. He learned right away that we brought things that tasted really good. One time he almost mauled me to get to more treats. I quickly realized that boundaries were very important or else you could get hurt. During those 30 days it rained a lot and was extremely cold. Zeke’s halter was not on very tight since he gave them such a hard time putting it on. So during that cold winter month, his halter fell off. Zeke was not eager to learn about the treats from us at all. He always stood behind Dude, watching us. Even though we were able to feed Dude the treats, we were never able to touch him. Now, I was paying for the owner’s of the facility to “train” them, but they didn’t show much interest in getting the job done. They were either too busy with their other horses, or they didn’t want to bring their horses close to them because of the risk of infecting their horses. During the time they were there, I only saw them attempt to work with them maybe ½ dozen times. One of the times, they showed us some things to do with them which we immediately implemented which was having them run around the round pen with us in the middle with a whip in hopes that they would turn and face us as a sign of submission and then come to us. Because there were two of them, it was very distracting for them. Dude was so busy protecting Zeke that he didn’t pay much attention to us. If there were just one of them, we would have been able to progress faster, but because there were two of them, it was much harder. This round pen had solid walls. The only outside they could see was through the little cracks between the panels. I started to feel very sorry for them. I knew I had to make a change. The owner’s of the facility did not seem happy to have them there. The wife, Amy, really did not like Zeke. In fact, she didn’t trust him.

Meanwhile, Christinna and I talked about this becoming a ministry for kids using horses. I believe I was so quick to go this direction, because I was in the Word and praying in tongues a lot. I believe the Holy Spirit was guiding me in this direction. It could also then be a write off on my husbands and my taxes. My son helped come up with the name of Rein of Faith Ministries. I reserved the name through the Corporations Commission in February of 2007. The name was reserved until June of 2007.

Pictures of Dude and Zeke in the round pen:

Chapter One - The Adoption

2011-10-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

REIN OF FAITH MINISTRIES, INC.

Chapter One
THE ADOPTION

In 2003, right after my marriage to Steve, we were transferred to Atlanta, Georgia from Scottsdale, AZ. Prior to the move there were two things on my heart. One, being able to have a horse in Atlanta and two, being filled with the Holy Spirit before the move. I began researching horse boarding facilities in Atlanta. I also began searching for “signs” in the Bible regarding horses. I had had horses growing up from ages 7-11 in my backyard. I remembered how much I loved them and how much joy they brought to me. At the same time, I was hungry for the Holy Spirit. I had been praying to receive Him for almost a year, but wasn’t really sure how to do it. So I seeked the help of my friend, Elizabeth, to lead me in a prayer to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of praying in tongues. The night of the move, the cars were taken already, the furniture was on its way and all I had to do was catch a plane the following day to Atlanta. I was spending the night at my friend Marty’s house. Elizabeth and I met outside of a Starbucks and sat in my rental car. We prayed until I received the Baptism. I spoke a few words in tongues, but still didn’t understand if I was doing it right. When I got to Marty’s house, while continuing to say those few words (I thought I had to memorize them as if I was learning with my mind a new language), all of a sudden my prayer language came flowing out of my mouth. I was so excited that I called Elizabeth and prayed over the phone to her so she could hear. Then, I called my husband, who at the time was less than excited to hear my “strange” prayer language. The following day, I got on the plane and flew to Atlanta for my new beginning.

As with all new moves, we became very busy with all other things that life throws your way, from buying a house, to decorating the house, to finding a home church and really just getting acclimated with the new environment. I had never been to Atlanta before, so I had to learn how to get around. And, anyone who has been to Atlanta would know how difficult that truly is. By the time we settled in our new home and were situated, I remembered the location of the one horse facility that I had found on the internet. Out of curiosity I went on a drive and drove by it. It was not anything that I had hoped for. It was very far away, lot’s of traffic and it seemed to be entirely English riding. All I remembered having horses growing up in California was western riding and how fun trail rides were. I did not see an opportunity for that at all. So I put the dream of horses on the back burner. There was one time when I was introduced to a charity for Premarin babies. These were foals that were born by mare’s that’s entire existence was to be pregnant and supply urine for the Pharmaceutical industry to manufacture an estrogen drug called Premarin, which really stands for Pregnant Mare’s Urine. These foals would be killed and sold for glue unless someone would take them. This organization brought them home. I prayed, “Lord, is this the horse project that you meant for me to participate in.” His answer to me was “No.”

Meanwhile, I had a lot of time to study the Bible and participate in Women’s Bible Studies, learn about prophecy and also continue to grow in my marriage to Steve. It was a wonderful time to self reflect, heal and get to the deeper things of God, since I really did not have any other full time commitments. My husband and I invested in quite a few real estate commercial transactions which kept me busy. We started our own Life Group as well. Then, Hurricane Katrina hit and we were the recipients of family and FEMA for Steve’s family. That took up a year of my time with all the help we gave the family during that very difficult time. Shortly thereafter, my husband was relocated with his company to New Orleans, to start a new Coastal Division which would include Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. The home search started and my life was devoted to finding a home and getting us settled in, while maintaining our home in Atlanta.

About 9 months later, my husband took a new position with a new company which would require us to move back to Scottsdale, AZ. While waiting for the moving truck to leave at the Atlanta house, (we moved all the furniture from both homes for storage in Scottsdale, and also for our Laguna Beach house) I went to the movies by myself and saw the movie Flicka. For some reason, (I know why now), horses were still a desire of my heart. Immediately after the move back in October of 2006, we joined back with our Home Church, Desert Valley Church of Scottsdale. I was having a conversation about horses with Christinna, a woman at church, who also had the same love for horses. I told her that I would like to get a horse since Arizona seems to be quite the horse country. I had never really noticed that before while I was living in AZ for about 7 years..or at least not to the degree that I saw it then. I think that because I was believing so much for it to help me move to Atlanta that when I returned back to Arizona I saw a whole new opportunity for horses. Of course, I continued to pray in the Spirit all the time. We never really know what we are praying for, but I do know that God will always give us the desires of our heart.

Christinna, on one Sunday at church shortly after our conversation, brought in an article about a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) auction of Wild Mustangs. This really intriqued me. She asked if I wanted to go check them out. So we met over at Westworld where the auction was to be held and looked at the mustangs that were to be auctioned off. I really did not have much time to think about what I was doing, because I really wanted to get a horse. When I got there I knew right away that not only do I want to get one, but I want to get two. So, I signed up for the auction. The BLM staff was very strict about the adoption process. You needed to have a stock trailer to load them, you needed to provide proof of their home location that it would consist of a stall that was at least 20’ X 20’ and you had to buy a halter and at least a 30’ lead line. I called my husband and “told” him that I was going to adopt two mustangs. He asked me why I needed two and I said that two would be more fun than one. My husband knew of my love of animals, and he didn’t want to get a dog, so he agreed that I could have a horse. Then, quickly I needed to search for the ideal place to keep them. I started searching for locations. Christinna’s husband serviced a pool at a boarding facility so we got there number and went and met with them. Amy’s husband was at a show at Westworld so she offered to help me pick out the best two mustangs to adopt and she also agreed that I could bring them to her facility. It was very expensive for boarding and training. I gave her a month deposit for both mustangs. She came and picked out two for me. She agreed that the one that Christinna and I had spotted would be a wise choice, who is Dude (we named him that because he reminded us of a surfer dude), and then I told her I really wanted a black horse, so she picked out Zeke. That night Christinna and I both came up with the name Ezekiel with Zeke being his nickname. That’s when we gave Dude his full name of Deuteronomy. They both had really good confirmation. I hired a stock trailer transporter to bring them to their new home. I was so excited at the auction. Christinna could not be there, so her husband Keith came and videotaped the auction. Pastor Dwain and his son Chad also came to watch. It was such an exciting day for me. I didn’t want anyone else bidding on those two mustangs so I stood around the auction board making sure I was the only bidder on the two. The starting bid was $125 per mustang. If you got one for $125 you could get a second one for $25. I wanted to make sure I got both of them, so I signed my name to each auction board. I ended up winning the auction for both of them for $125 each. Wow!! What a bargain.

Here are pictures of that exciting day: