The weather this summer has been horrible for the farmers in our area because of the incessant rain. This also happens to be the first summer we are harvesting our own hay. It could have been a recipe for disaster but I've been crying out to the Lord for mercy and guidance because I know so very little about what to do to get good quality hay for our horses.
Thankfully God always gives grace to the humble and He's been making up for our mistakes, which have been huge and hilarious in hind sight.
After we had harvested half of our first cut of hay our neighbor, Dick, who also happens to be a prominent dairy farmer in the area came over. He couldn't believe that we had baled dry hay. He kept commenting on that so I asked him, "Would you like to inspect our hay?" He said, "Sure," so he, my daughter and I went up into the loft to inspect the hay.
He inspected a number of bales of hay and said, "I can't believe you've got dry hay." He was checking for moisture which leads to mould and worthless hay. He asked me, "How did you do it?" and I said, "I prayed. I asked God to have mercy on my husband and I, 'city slickers', and to help us not ruin the crop." What a testimony God gave us!
Just this week we were trying to harvest our second crop of hay which is mostly alfalfa and the weather had turned against us. (In hindsight I realize that I believed the weather man more than I believed God because I hadn't even prayed that morning.)
I called the farm around the corner and got a hold of Case, Dick's father and asked if they could use the hay for silage since it didn't look like we would be able to bale it before it went mouldy. He said "No, we aren't set up for it right now." So I said, "Well, I had better start praying." He commented, "You should be happy with a barn full of good hay in such a bad summer." He was right of course but we were believing that we would be blessed abundantly so we could give an additional offering to one of our ministries.
We said our goodbyes and I prayed and asked the Lord to intervene with the weather so we could be a blessing to others again.
I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to go rake the hay around lunch time but it was still really overcast and the weather forecast was for thundershowers in the afternoon. A few minutes later I felt the prompting from the Holy Spirit again so I obeyed and went and raked the hay in fourth and fifth gear. By two o'clock when I was finished raking the hay the weather had completely changed and it was partly sunny with nice white clouds. I called my husband to come home to help and I started baling (square bales) with my 13 year old daughter.
Around five o'clock Case came by and talked to me on the field and said, "Look what happened when you prayed! I remember what you said at lunch, that you said you were going to start praying. The next time I need help with the weather I'm going to pray and come see you for help to pray too, okay?" I said, "Sure." He said "We are cutting hay because we are running out of time." I said, "But it's supposed to thundershower for the next three days."
He remarked, "Is it?" and he had a big smile on his face. I understood that he was hoping I would pray for him (which I did). Guess what? We didn't get any thunder showers. They all went by us in response to our prayers. Isn't God good? We were able to put 500 bales of excellent quality alfalfa hay in our barn which will sell for $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 depending on market conditions. Case and Dick's hay didn't get ruined either, Praise the Lord.
I'm so thrilled that I finally realized that my ministry is wherever I am right now. The Lord Jesus sure gave us a witness this summer! I'm praying that the Lord will encourage them and bring them into a stronger relationship with himself.
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