Beautiful Brokenness
The first time I saw Scooter, I knew he would come home with me. I simply could not leave him where he was. I tried to be logical. I weakly explained that I was looking for a horse I could immediately ride, I was not looking for a project.
Scooter’s owner stared at the horse with tears in his eyes. “You have to take him. I’m doing things I shouldn’t. He just makes me so mad!â€
I realized that “Joe†( not his real name) was beating the little red horse. All those strange marks on Scooter’s hide were from a dressage whip, not from getting caught in wire. Joe said that he didn’t want to beat him, but he did not know what else to do.
So I purchased my sweet Arabian gelding from Joe that day. I paid $500.00 cash for him. Not very much money, but Joe did not value Scooter. He equated value with performance, and the terrified little gelding was not performing well.
I coaxed Scooter onto my trailer and transferred him from Joe’s place to mine.
Now the real work would begin.
Even though I had rescued Scooter and redeemed him, Scooter was unaware of his new identity and continued behaving in the same anxious, fearful way he did with Joe.
Scooter was unaware he had been rescued, redeemed and reconciled by me.
Did you catch that? He was rescued by me. Redeemed by me. Reconciled by me.
I am the one able and sufficient to do the work. Scooter is the recipient. He could never achieve his own rescue, he could only receive it.
Cash, the method of redemption, occurred in a place outside of Scooter’s comprehension. Scooter does not understand money. Money is outside of Scooter’s economy.
Scooter needed someone to break through his fear. Break through the lies he believed about me, based on his experience with Joe. Break through the bondage that prevented him from walking with me, resting in me, enjoying our relationship.
Scooter needed me. Not the other way around.
Father has used my little red horse to show me Truth about Him. The Truth that He rescued me from the domain of darkness (Colossians 1:13) redeemed me with His Son’s blood – an incomprehensible price – and that He is the One to bring me into an understanding of our reconciliation.
Jesus is not like Joe. He does not set my price based on my performance. The value He placed on me was His very Life. He said and He followed through on His proclamation that He would be the Lamb, the sacrifice pure enough, precious enough and powerful enough to take away the sin of the world. To pay, once for all.
Jesus rescued me from the domain of darkness, redeemed me with His blood, and draws me into an intimacy and freedom I could never imagine for myself.
He invites me to dance. In a rhythm as powerful and eternal as His Life in me.
Katy Pistole
The video below is worth watching
The Dance
The author has a ministry of rehabilitating horses and women. You can find more information by going to:
www.beautifulbrokenness.org.