Lisa Boucher - Pray. Trust. Ride: Lessons on Surrender from a Cowgirl and a King

Lessons on Surrender from a Cowgirl and a King

Lisa Boucher

SHE WRITES PRESS

Copyright 2022 Lisa Boucher

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Published 2022

Printed in the United States of America

Print ISBN: 978-1-64742-263-9

E-ISBN: 978-1-64742-264-6

Library of Congress Control Number: [LOCCN]

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To some of the best people I know, my twins and their spouses:

Austin and Alexis

Collin and Kiera

No matter what happens in your lives, stay in the saddle, and ride it out. Everything works out in the end. It always does.

Jeremiah 29:11

We trek from birth to death, but its how we travel along lifes passageway that matters. As a fifteen-year-old, I took a particular horseback ride that etched itself into my memory. I couldnt have known then that it would later emerge as a metaphor for letting go, nor could I have discerned that decisive surrender is the pathway to peace.

The significance of that long-ago ride is now clear, but as a teen, I gleaned little insight from the experience. It was only when the memory resurfaced years later, around the same time that I read, yet again, the biblical story and prayer of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles, that I understood my task.

As most writers will attest, sometimes a story chooses you. Im fascinated by the story of King Jehoshaphat, and when I wed it to my favorite childhood memory, the message becomes clear: We struggle because we hang on too tight. We want what we want, and its only in the surrender that we will find peace. If we want tranquility, we have to let go!

We live in a complicated world. People are plagued by anxiety, depression, and fear. And what resides at the bottom of those uncomfortable emotions is the desire for control. We become anxious and fearful when we want things to go a certain way. We stand firm and exert our will because we are afraid of what could happen if we dont get our way. We want things to unfold as we think they should, and when they dont go as planned, we push harder. The problematic relationships and situations that torment us turn into granite slabs that will not budge. It is only when we let go, when we relinquish all self-will, that our struggles with anxiety, depression, and other emotional maladies cease to torment us.

Ive journeyed down a few trails, some good and some not so good. A worthy trail ride, just like life, can be messy or hard to navigate, but in both living and riding, each day were presented with new lessonsits knowing how to tune in to the lessons that God wants to teach us thats the hard part.

Pray. Trust. Ride. encourages you to stay in the saddle and ride through life with a loose rein. We live more fully when we can let goeven when all looks bleak and our brains scream, hang on and do something! Do anything! Fix this! Stop that! The truth is, those problems that strangle our hearts are the sort of problems that we cant fix. Letting go allows us to accept that well have problems and people in our lives that we can love but that we cant control. We cant save others from themselves. We cant stop the inevitable from happening, but we can let go.

We hold on because of fear. Its the fear of the unknown that propels us to clutch the illusion that we have the power to alter outcomes. Anxiety lives in the futurethat space and place where we travel in our minds and forget to take God with us. Living well is about keeping our wits; its not about giving up on the dream, but about giving up on the way we think the dream should unfold. In all cases and phases of life, we can find our peace when we learn to rely more on God than we do our finite selves.

Letting go doesnt mean that we will live a problem-free life or that we must push people away. Its the way we think about our problems and those difficult people in our lives that determines whether or not well have peace. Consider a skittish horse who has had bad experiences with humans in the past. Its anxiety shows in obvious waysit might prance, have a wild look in its eyes, or attempt to flee if restrained. The first instinct of a scared horse is to bolt. When you break a horse, its natural for it to reject the bit, the saddle, and even the rider at first, but with patience, it will come to learn that battling whats in front of it produces more stress.

Can we control the rivers current? Can we stop a loved one from getting ill or prevent any number of accidents or mishaps? Can we make great things happen or prevent bad things from happening? Can we stop the storms and the floods? Of course not! None of us has that sort of power or influence, and yet, how often do we fight for the illusion of control? Can we recognize that all forms of self-will are futile attempts to manipulate outcomes? Lets face it: micromanaging does nothing but leave us feeling more frustrated and exhausted than ever.

Within this book are vignettes and anecdotes to contemplate. Other pages might have a few words or a short thought aimed to snatch you out of an unconstructive thought pattern. Are you tired of struggling? Are you ready to get into the stream of life? If you answered yes, or even maybe, please keep reading. Of course, youll have to do some steering and keep your eyes wide open to navigate around obstacles that may block the way, but as life goes on, you can let go and ask God for help.

We can choose to dodge the mindset that turns our problems into insurmountable hurdles that strangle our hearts and steal our joy. We get to choose whether well appreciate the journey or waste the whole ride because were so caught up in fear and projection that we miss the scenery.

Theres much to learn about life from the trail. Come, lets take a little ride.

One sticky summer evening in Hubbard, Ohio, I did just thatI let go of the reins. The year was 1975. Id completed a long session at the 4-H barn and had a six-mile ride home. I knew the trail well as Id traveled it twice a week for the past three years. I never tired of the landscape; nature always had something to give.