Putting it in perspective

     Sometimes I think that God puts good days and bad days in our lives to make us see perspective. The NP child has been working really hard this year, both with her calf, with her old horse and with a young horse, and just hasn't really been clicking with either horse. The calf has been going wonderfully, however! Then she had a major breakthrough with her older horse, and won a reserve state championship an invitation to ride in Texas at an invitational event, and a district showmanship buckle. After that, every performance with the old horse got better and better; and now she's not clicking with the new horse at all anymore...There are some shining moments, and I am sure that they will get there sooner or later, but as I watch her and her old horse run, I wish that I could teach her how to transfer the confidence she has in him to the other horse... Today she ran her first clean pole run at this particular rodeo arena on the old horse, and ran the 2 most correct barrel patterns I have seen her do on him in years. 
    I guess I'm going to have to give y'all a bit of background on us...We moved to Arkansas from Minnesota 3 years ago; and this is the first year since we moved here that we really competed.  The NP child was at the top of her game in MN, very consistently placing in the top-10 at shows and barrel races. But the lack of being in the competition ring wasn't kind to her; she has had to re-learn a lot of things about competing, especially muscle memory and timing, since we do speed events. I'm happy that she's getting better, and I'm hoping that we can build her confidence up to the new horse... I am just so glad that God puts things into perspective for us at times!! 

Irritated

     I'm having an interesting day today. For some reason I am irritated... Almost like my skin doesn't fit right or something. It has been busy; the BABY and I had to do some errands today, and we had some pleasurable visits while doing so. I don't know why I feel this way...But I'm sure that "this too shall pass."
     In 3 days the NP child will be competing at a huge invitational show in Texas. We just finished up the district fair on Saturday...It's a lot of running, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't wait to see my aunt who lives down there...I haven't seen her since my grandma's funeral almost 2 years ago. We are hauling the horses to the vet tomorrow to get health papers to cross the state line, and we will be set! I am wondering if nerves and stress are ganging up on me to make me feel so weird? Years ago this would have put me into a full-fledged panic attack. These days I am much more likely to "let go and let God."  It took me a long time to get to this point. I was always a churchgoer; however sporadically. But I don't know if I ever allowed God as deeply into my life as He is now. I KNOW that He is with me at all times; He is a part of me. I don't think that I ever had that before. I can actually FEEL His presence in my life. He is such a comfort to me...Why would anyone choose to NOT have Him as a part of their lives?