Flash: The Homeless Donkey Who Taught Me about Life, Faith, and Second Chances doesn’t seem like a typical read for me. If you’re an animal lover as I am, you might be willing to give it a chance; if you’re not, you probably feel like it would be a waste of your time. Please hear me—it’s worth every minute you take to read it!

Written by Rachel Anne Ridge, this is the story of a struggling family of five who find a wounded, dirty, and frightened donkey on their driveway one evening. They end up giving him a home when no one claims him, but what they come to find out is they need him far more than he needs them. Who would think a donkey would be a life-changer?

Due to the circumstances of her life at that time, Rachel finds herself going through an identity crisis, admitting that “somehow, in the busyness of the kids’ activities, work, cooking, paying the bills, and trying to juggle it all, I’d stopped paying attention to my spiritual life. Prayer had become little more than accusations and pleas for help, addressed to a God somewhere up there. Time spent listening for Him, or reading His Word, was nonexistent. Why bother? Focusing on myself, my problems, and my solutions, I had let the connection with my Maker go cold.”

Her experience is not unique. We all get busy with obligations and stresses and, oftentimes God gets pushed away or neglected in the process. He is no longer our priority, so we face our challenges alone, making things so much harder on ourselves. How God draws Rachel back to Him is distinctive—He gives her family Flash, but his story isn’t about a lost donkey. It’s about “heart change. It’s about transformation. It’s about God showing up and making us new. Lost donkeys. God’s purposes. A date with destiny.”

Rachel states, through Flash’s example, they “learned how to live abundantly in our circumstances, with gratitude and joy. He reminded us to keep breaking down fences to find our passion, and we learned to run with horses and find satisfaction through serving others with love. He taught us to wear our donkey hearts on our sleeves and open up to the world around us. He reminded us to not be afraid of change . . . to let go of the past and embrace possibilities. His donkey trails pointed out that our plodding was really going somewhere after all. He showed us how to make the most of the days we are given. Such priceless lessons.”

Throughout the book, Rachel shares verses that are meaningful to her in each step of this journey, such as “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you (Psalm 32:8),” “We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9),” and “Let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands (Psalm 90:17).” These verses are worth memorizing to make them our own.

God uses Flash to teach Rachel about choosing gratitude, overcoming insecurities, savoring the not knowing, perseverance, faith as a lifestyle, embracing change, and the pursuit of excellence. One point she makes that especially touched me is in reference to Ephesians 4:2: “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love,” explaining, “We are imperfect creatures, all of us. What a shame to waste our time on trivial differences and self-made rules rather than savoring forgiveness and love and enjoying the richness they bring. We should take someone’s hand. We should look our loved ones in the eyes. We should hold a gaze and say the words ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I was wrong’ and ‘I forgive you.’ We should. We must. And we must also say the words ‘I love you’ while we still can. This time may be the last chance we’ll ever have, but we won’t know it until it is gone. Don’t miss it.”

I’ve lived long enough to know God doesn’t waste anything in our lives. He allows situations, circumstances, people, and even donkeys to teach us and draw us closer to Him. The lessons in Rachel’s story are valuable, and as I wrestle with my own issues, I’m thankful for her transparency and honesty—I can identify with so many of her struggles. I have a feeling her wisdom and experiences will stay with me for a very long time.

Blessings to you!
Lori 

Historical novels educate as well as entertain, and adding a spiritual dimension enhances the enjoyment in my book. I read A Distance Too Grand by Regina Scott over the summer, but still recall what a delight it was and how much I learned. It’s the first installment in her American Wonders Collection and I highly recommend it!

The main character is Meg Pero, who has taken over her father’s photography business in 1871 after his death. This is a time when women are not considered worthy of such a profession, but she is determined to finish out the contract he signed with the Army to survey the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The leader of the expedition is Captain Ben Coleridge, a man with whom Meg has history and who has issues of his own.

At the outset of the trip, Meg’s belief in God is weak but, as the days go on, she begins to recognize the wonder of God in the nature she sees and pictures she takes. Ben is a man of faith and uses every opportunity in recognizing God’s handiwork to witness to Meg. At one point, he tells her, “‘The Colorado River and its tributaries carved these canyons…But they are more than geologic wonders. There’s always a reason for God’s creation. What was He trying to tell us? What are we to learn from all this?’ Meg reared back. ‘God didn’t put this here for us. We just stumbled upon it.’ ‘Did we?’ He focused ahead, as if he could still see the canyon in all its majesty. ‘Or did He have it ready when we needed it?’”

As the expedition draws to a close, Meg is drawn to the beauty surrounding them and while taking a particularly spectacular picture, “the canyon called to her, drew her closer. Such beauty! Such majesty! Had God known she needed this, not only for a picture that would produce income for her future but to fill her empty heart? Perhaps it was Ben’s words, perhaps this view through her lens, but for the first time in a long time, she wondered whether there truly might be Someone who cared.”

How long has it been since you’ve looked at the world God created with the same wonder as Meg? When you take the time to focus on nature and its beauty, do you feel God’s care for you? We get so busy with our lives, consumed with schedules, work, family, and friends that we aren’t even aware when God provides an incredible sunrise or sunset. We enjoy vacations to picturesque places, but do we really appreciate the incredible ocean or beautiful mountains—the wonder of all that God made?

The Bible tells us in Romans 1:19-20, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” This passage makes it clear that God shows Himself through His creation of the world in very evident ways.

At one point, Meg thinks of God as a distant being. She believes “He’d set things in motion. It was up to them to see how those things played out. The only time she’d truly prayed with all her heart was when she’d realized her father was ill. God hadn’t given her any indication that He was listening. He certainly hadn’t acted.”

Oh, please don’t fall into Satan’s trap of believing God is distant and doesn’t care because He doesn’t answer your prayers the way you want! He is so much more than we give Him credit for! We all too often limit Him by putting Him in a box and expecting Him to behave as we would, but would He be worth worshiping if He was like us? Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us: “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

I don’t want to worship a God Who fits into my limited thinking or can be explained with my finite mind! I worship God Almighty—Creator of heaven and earth, holy, righteous, sovereign, and eternal—the great I AM!

This God counts us as extremely valuable, to the extent that “even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows (Matthew 10:30-31).” This God “so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).”

“Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! …I am the Lord, Who made all things, Who alone stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself” (Isaiah 44:23, 24b).

Like Ben and Meg, and the earth, mountains, forest, and heavens, let us praise God for how great He is and how great is His love for us!

Blessings to you!
Lori