Grateful for the Lord paving the way for the publishing of Unplowed Ground

This is the 3rd & last installment of our 3-part series: Immeasurably More: The King’s Ranch Story. Read Parts 1 & 2 here.

With that, this new season of ministry was born and King’s Ranch: A Home for Children in Need, became King’s Ranch: HOPE for Children in Need. I remember years ago being a mom of four and sensing the Lord calling me to immeasurably more. It was like everything was coming full circle as He opened doors for me to serve the forever moms and dads of the children for which He gave me such a burden. And the longer I had the honor of working with these forever families, the more I learned about compromised attachment, the more my therapeutic parenting skills were refined, and the more we saw family after family saved, child after child healed.

With a new season of ministry well underway, King’s Ranch: Hope for Children in Need was flourishing as an community-based adoption support ministry, including a therapeutic school and support for local adoptive families. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I began to feel the Lord send another twist. Another turn. Unexpectedly, I began to feel a change coming, as I began to feel the Lord’s empowerment for our school decreasing. Weariness was setting in, as my passion for leading the community school, along with the funds required to do so, was drying up. It became apparent that the school portion of our ministry was coming to an end. This was a confusing new season, to say the least, but we embraced the change and continued with our ministry of teaching, equipping, and supporting adoptive families.

We provided respite care, short-term placements, and education in therapeutic parenting as we were running the community school, but it wasn’t until we made the decision to trust the Lord’s leading and close the school that He revealed to me what He had been doing all along. He had been training us! Just as He had been training us with our journey with Crissey all those years ago, when we thought we were just waiting for a measly little conditional use permit… just as He had been training us with our five years of operating as a children’s home for children with compromised attachment, seeing child after child heal… now He had been training us with these local families in crisis we were able to serve through our community school. He had been training us and teaching us to help rescued children heal through the best of the best therapeutic parenting technniques, by letting us live them out 24/7 with countless children.

Now it was apparent that He was ready to do immeasurably more than all we could have asked or imagined. As I followed Him in obedience to close the school, not knowing where the next season would lead, I found myself with the time to put into words all that He had taught me about parenting these precious children. He literally gave me the words to write and develop what we now call Unplowed Ground: Cultivating the Soil of Your Rescued Child’s Heart. Unplowed Ground is our therapeutic parenting program we use to train and equip adoptive and foster families to help their rescued children heal. It was published in 2017.

It all makes so much sense looking back – all the twists and turns, why it happened the way it did. There was no other way to train us than through living it ourselves so we would have the skills to share with the body of Christ called to visit the orphan in their distress (James 1:27).

And so the next season of King’s Ranch is upon us – King’s Ranch: Equipping Families. Restoring Childhoods. With our therapeutic parenting program, Unplowed Ground, and our onsite therapeutic parenting intensives, retreats, and respite care, King’s Ranch serves families from all over the world. He truly does do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He has trained, equipped, and prepared us in a way only He could, to enter this next season with joy and confidence in His calling. May we glorify the One who does immeasurably more in all we do at King’s Ranch!