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From fear to love of horses
Several years ago, I was a counselor in training at a summer camp for Christian Scientists. I was very excited about this opportunity, except for one thing: I was really afraid of horses, and I knew the corral was a big part of this camp experience. Every horse I had ever been around bucked, kicked me, bit me, or stepped on me, and I was terrified. I figured I would just not go to the corral!
Well, my third day at camp, I was sent to the corral. I couldn’t help at all—when the horses walked by me, I would just stand petrified at the fence. I was useless.
That afternoon, when I had some time off, I went to the house where the camp’s Christian Science practitioner lived. I didn’t mind being nervous around horses, but the experience that morning had been so wrong and unexpected that I knew I needed healing. It wasn’t right for me to have a debilitating fear about anything. I talked with the practitioner a bit, and he assured me that fear was no part of God’s creation. God didn’t make something that could scare me, and I could not be touched by fear. I had heard these words before in other arenas of life, but this time I really wanted to live them. So I resolved to simply not allow myself to believe in a power other than God—be it a horse kick, fear, or embarrassment.
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