CORRAL’s mission statement says:
“We’re a Christian nonprofit that pairs rescued horses with girls in high-risk situations to provide healing and transformational life change.”
What they fail to mention here, is that they also provide transformational life change to everyone that comes in contact with CORRAL.
For the past 5 months, I have had the amazing opportunity to serve CORRAL as their Business and Communications Intern, but I think it would be better said that CORRAL has served me.
When I first came to CORRAL (all the way from Colorado), I honestly had no idea what to expect. I’ve never been much of a “horse person” or an “assertive person” and those seemed to be the two main attributes of almost everyone at CORRAL.
But, of course, those are the two main areas God has grown in me most since being here. Whether it was through tutoring a CORRAL girl, sitting in weekly meetings, or trying my hand at horse work, I can honestly say that CORRAL has served me more than I served them.
Through my relationship with the CORRAL girl I tutored for the past 20 weeks, I have learned that sometimes you just need to be present. They aren’t looking for all the perfect answers, or someone to rescue them. They are looking for someone who is willing to simply sit next to them and love them through their pain.
Through sitting in weekly meetings and becoming close to the staff members here at CORRAL, I have learned that there are people out there willing to “do the dirty work” for world change. I have seen these people work so hard in hopes that even just one girl’s life will be changed (but 164 girls served isn’t too shabby either). They have shown me a better picture of the physical hands and feet of Jesus by loving these girls and never quitting on them.
Lastly, through my (very poor) horse work, I’ve learned how important it is to advocate for yourself, how to be assertive, and how truly healing a relationship with a horse can be.
All of this is to say: Thank you CORRAL for all the ways you have transformed my life, and I’m finally beginning to understand this whole “horse person” thing.
