Restoration Ranch

Restoration Ranch Ministries was birthed in my husband and my own heart during one of the most difficult season of our marriage.

I had walked out my three years of grief over Justin’s death to a place of healing when I learned that my emotional dysfunction and tendancy to unravel had driven my husband to an online emotional affair with another woman.

At first I became angry, then I scared and somewhere in there I began to realize I was actually part of the problem. I fell on my face before God and began to pray for my husband, my marriage and well for my own heart as I had never done before.

I repented for neglecting Scott’s needs and allowing him to believe I had been unconcerned with what he was going through. I forgave him by a choice of my will in those early days, and then –by my estimation what is more critical — I also chose not to focus on what was wrong, but on rediscovering who we are to one another again. We started to date again and just talk. We attended Freedom classes at church, and I received personal ministry with my oversight pastor.Healing began to come into our lives in small doses and we both resolved to restore our marriage and seek God in the process.

Scott, to his credit, could have left in those early days of revelation when every other moment became filled with volatile emotional angst. I’m sure for him leaving would have been the easy answer. But, he stayed and I’m grateful that he didn’t go. We are learning to give each other room while not letting go of each other. It’s a sweet type of dancing the give and take we are discovering.

A few weeks after the revelation broke, we went to have dinner with a couple we’ve been close to off and on through the years. After we ate, Phil asked Scott and I a very important question. “Do you have any dreams?”

Scott smiled and looked at me. I smiled back and said, “My dream is to someday be a published author.”

Scott smiled again. Phil asked him, “So, what’s your dream?”

Scott answered in a riddle. “Her dream will pay for mine.”

Phil looked at me and I looked at Scott. He then asked me, “Do you know what his dream is?”

I said, “Yes. Ever since I’ve known him he has wanted to own a ranch with horses.”

Scott nodded. And the conversation turned to what the ranch might be like for Scott.

In the car on the way home I said, “Scott, I’ve had this desire to open a retreat center where hurting families come to receive healing. And, your dream is the ranch. What if God wants to give you your dream, but it looks a little different than you thought?”

He said, “What do you mean?”

I went on to explain that I thought God might want to give us both our dreams but in one place.

The Ranch.

Over the next few weeks we talked about our dream of making the ranch a reality and agreed trusting God for timing and provision would be critical. Eventually He gave some Scriptures and hope for the future.

One morning I sat in Chik-Fil-A reading Jeremiah 32. As I read I could not believe my eyes. One of the things we were struggling to get our mind around was how God was going to “provide” the ranch. Then I read of how God told Jeremiah to buy a piece of property that did not make sense. As I was reading, this verse stood out to me: “Am I not the God of all flesh, is anything to hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27 – my memory)

I rushed out to the car and got inside. My phone rang. The caller id revealed it was Scott. I answered excited to share my news. He said, “I have been thinking, what are we going to do with all the people?”

I came up short. “What people?”

“The ones you said would be coming to the ranch.”

“I figured they would stay in the house with us.”

“No, I think we need to build them a place to stay. “

YEA! God.

So, now we are in a preparation and waiting season. We are watching the Lord be mighty among us. I am learning to step out of the way and just trust that He knows what He is doing even if I don’t. And, well… Scott is feeling his way through this in his own time and way.

God is good and I’m looking forward to the day we welcome our first guests to Restoration Ranch!

Jeremiah 33:6-11, 16 (AMP)

Behold, [in the future restored Jerusalem] I will lay upon it health and healing, and I will cure them and will reveal to them the abundance of peace (prosperity, security, stability) and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to be reversed and will rebuild them as they were at first. And I will cleanse them from all the guilt and iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will forgive all their guilt and iniquities by which they have sinned and rebelled against Me.
And [Jerusalem] shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth that hear of all the good I do for it, and they shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace, prosperity, security, and stability I provide for it.

Thus says the Lord: Yet again there shall be heard in this place of which you say, It is a desolate waste, without man and without beast—even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast—[There shall be heard again] the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those who sing as they bring sacrifices of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord, Give praise and thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good; for His mercy and kindness and steadfast love endure forever! For I will cause the captivity of the land to be reversed and return to be as it was at first, says the Lord.

In those days Judah shall be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name by which it will be called, The Lord is Our Righteousness (our Rightness, our Justice).