Whoa Nelly!

So on our recent vacation trip we decided to try something different. We decided to take P.J. horseback riding in the mountains at Cade's Cove. We decided on the 1 hour ride rather than the 30 minute ride simply because of the fact that we don't do it that often and it was a belated birthday surprise for P.J. Well, she had a blast and that is all I will say about it. We got on our horses with our guide and started off on a 3.5 mile trail through the mountains and back where we crossed through a creek, walked past a bear's den and cut through all sorts of terrain. When we first started off P.J. was in the lead behind our tour guide, along with Alexa then Tara and myself. Well, we got through the creek and off onto the path when we passed another group coming in from their ride, and when we passed them my horse decided to turn around against my will and start following the other group. I got him stopped and then the guide came back to help me and Alexa and Tara's horses started following along. My horse got stopped so the guide went back to get another horse herself to better lead and be able to tie other horses to hers. Alexa and Tara's horses followed P.J.'s horse stood still and didn't move while my horse wanted to go back but I wouldn't let it. I sat there for what seemed like forever as I watched P.J. pet and love on her horse and realized that I was the only person left in the woods with my little girl besides the deer, snakes and bears. So I did my best to keep my horse close to her, but it wasn't easy. If you could have filmed it, it was probably hilarious to watch as I had the horse by the reigns and he would start to leave the area and I would pull back and say whoa! Whoa , Whoa Boy! He would stop and if I held the reigns up for just one second too long he would start backing up. THat was one of the commands pulling up and yelling whoa stopped the horse, if you keep the reigns up for more than about 3 seconds he will start backing up. So we took steps forward and three steps back in a pattern for about 5 minutes waiting for our guide and Alexa and Tara to return. I must admit it seemed like a few hours!
"And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith" (Matt 13:58).
Think about me on that horse, the same thing that stopped the horse would back him up. Our faith is the same way, when our faith stops growing we stop moving forward and after a very short while we begin backing up. Before we know it all of the hard work we did to build up our faith and our relatinship with Christ is gone and we have to start all over. We must renew our minds daily, we must strive to grow every week and not sit stagnant or we will start backing up. And once Satan gets ahold of a Christian that is backing up there is more damage done to the other believers around them than we can measure.
Spend time alone with God today, don't let God's works in your life be limited by your weak faith. Grow it, build it and keep it moving forward.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!