OUR HUMBLE BEGINNING
From the time she was a young adult, Wendy Smith had dreamed of a place where ‘broken’ people could come to be loved by people and horses. She grew up on a farm with a horse trader father and out of four children, she inherited the passion for horses. He threw her on most horses that he brought home to “see if they were broke!” She learned early on the healing power of a horse when she got into Jr. High School and was no longer accepted. She was not an athlete; she was not a cheer leader, and her grade school friends found other cliques that she was no longer part of. Many days she went home from school and rode her horse and cried tears of hurt and frustration. Many years later following a divorce with numerous scars and loads of unhealthy bondage, Wendy experienced a newly found relationship with Jesus Christ who is the only hope for true healing from brokenness.
From this came the beginning of Blazin’ Saddles/Son Shine Farm refuge. It started in 2008 with day camps for kids with the partnership of Wendy’s daughter, Amanda. It gradually grew into larger overnight camps and a women’s retreat weekend. The last several years the Lord directed Wendy’s focus to faith based Equine Assisted Learning/Mentoring and healing for people using horses as a tool. That part of the ministry has now moved to Rick and Wendy’s farm.
Wendy has attended a training course at the MN Horse Training Academy and learned a lot from the training program Larry Durrett uses. She has attended several certification clinics with OK Corral (Greg Kirsten founder of EAGALA). She is certified with Elaine Davis at Unbridled Faith and they are also a like minded ministry with Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in Bend Oregon. She has also been certified as an encourager with Freedom in Christ ministries.
In 2012 Wendy married Rick Smith. He has his own set of scars and bondages that he has been set free from, and a story of deliverance to bring to SSFR ministry. He was raised in Fargo, ND by a single mother, visited his father on weekends and there got to ride horses and go to horse shows. Living in low-income housing in Fargo, he began to make bad choices at a very young age. His story is not pretty. He married, had two children and his own drywall business. But with the pressures of life and his pattern of self-medicating when things got hard, he traveled deeper into the drug world. He tragically lost his family, his business and was sitting in prison looking at a sentence for possession of drugs. He met Jesus because of a beautiful couple named Roy and Carolyn who loved the Lord and had spent many years doing jail ministry. He found the love and peace he had been looking for his whole life and has spent the last 16 years as a follower of Christ, wanting to share his story and the hope that we all can have in Jesus Christ.
Rick and Wendy’s desire is for Son Shine Farm Refuge to be a haven of hope for people who are struggling in any way. Scripture says in John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full”. The enemy stole a lot of life from Rick and Wendy both, but Jesus gave them back everything and more than what the enemy stole from them and they wants to help others to be set free from all that is keeping them in chains. God is so faithful, and he changes lives!
God’s refuge has been entrusted to Rick & Wendy.. It’s a place where the Lord wants children and adults to come and find hope and freedom from the things that keep us bound up in chains, our own prisons. Bondage is like an onion with many layers, and the Lord wants to peel away those layers of hurt, shame, lost identity, hopelessness, anxiety, fear, anger and replace those things with Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Kindness, and Self Control.
STATEMENT OF FAITH
Son Shine Farm Refuge (SSFR) is a faith-based ministry. The Founders, Board, and Staff love God and desire to make his love known to others. We believe that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God; He is our Savior, our Redeemer, and coming King. We believe that the Holy Spirit is the indwelling power in a follower of Christ and is the transforming power that can change the way that we think and act. We believe the Bible is our authoritative guide for this journey of life and faith. It is the living word and its truths can transform our lives. It is our greatest desire to serve the Lord by the demonstration of our faith through action. To those we work with, faith at the refuge is expressed through “living example.”
It is our highest honor to serve children and families of all backgrounds with the same loving grace that has so freely been given to us—through Christ. We want everyone who comes to the refuge to know the freedom we have found only in Jesus.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
John 8:36: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Galatians 5:13-14: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”