Heidi’s Story

Jesus has called us to show love and acceptance to hurting young women. Jesus wants to restore their souls and make them whole again.  Because of the way he created horses God has been able to use these animals to unlock hearts that have been walled up and hardened.

Last year “Heidi” arrived at the barn and made it clear to us that she was not a believer. In fact, she told us so repeatedly. She also told us she would not continue in Phase II of the Engedi Refuge program because “it got too religious”.

During a session last fall one of the staff shared the true story of Hero, a horse that had been shot in the head twice and left to die in the Oregon wilderness. Hero’s story of near death, rescue, and restoration so resonated with Heidi that she had silent yet uncontrollable tears running down her face.

As we moved into the horse-handling portion of our session, Heidi went and stood beside a pen holding my horse Bubba. Now, we haven’t been able to use Bubba in sessions because he thinks this is so exciting when the ladies come, he can’t quite behave himself and he gets this mischievous twinkle in his eye and it’s anybody’s guess what he might do.

Bubba approached and quickly picked up on Heidi’s emotions. He quietly stood beside her while she cried. As she cried she gently stroked Bubba’s face. And he just stood there. No nibbling lips, no reaching through the bars for something to grab. Just stood still and shared her pain.

Months later Heidi couldn’t stand it anymore. She could not deny the overwhelming love and acceptance that kept coming at her from all directions. She gave her life to Christ.

Jesus is restoring her soul.