Shane Byerly

Testimony

7/28/07

Lets face it, being in the horse business is not easy! It’s not a lifestyle for those who are weak, undetermined or have a lack of drive. It is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

Most often horseman are measured by the amount of success they have achieved. The only problem is...we tend to measure SUCCESS incorrectly. I was one of those people! I was driven to succeed. I ATE, DRANK and BREATHED to train horses. In essence it became my god! I put my drive to succeed above family, relationships, my marriage and even God Himself. We have a saying in my family “it’s all about me!” It’s sad to say but, it was a true statement. Just like many, I claimed to be a Christian but it was untrue. God was not the Lord of my life. I grew up in a church going family. I was supposed to know better. I would only call on God when I was in trouble. Unfortunately, this was a cycle of life that I continued in for quite some time.

In the horse world it was perceived that I had achieved success. I had won multiple Futurities, many Circuit awards and had a Top Five placing at the APHA World Show.

Even with all of this “perceived success” I still felt like I was drowning inside! My marriage was a roller-coaster, I had a bad TEMPER and I was full of RAGE. It didn’t take much to set me off! I was a ticking time bomb. I was even to the point of thinking of suicide. I would be in a truck pulling a trailer load of horses and I would hear that voice.... “if you would run this rig off the road it would look like an accident, just end the pain.” It was such a cowardly thing to do and it was also a lie. I grew to HATE my business. I believed I even hated myself. I was always trying to be someone else. All those years I had tried to satisfy a hunger of the beast that was within me. His name is FLESH, and I had allowed it to dominate my life. I had given SATAN access to every area of my life.

In 2003 it started to change. My family and I started to be more active in a local church. I could feel my appetite change from feeding the FLESH to feeding the SPIRIT! I went through a stage where I could hear the name JESUS and I would weep! It was evident to me that “a change” was taking place. During this time I had just happened to be at some close friends of ours, Blanchard and Debbie Poole. Who I consider to be my Spiritual Parents. They’re also Horse Trainers as well as Spirit filled Believers, what a GREAT combination! I explained to them what was happening in my life. They were so wonderful, I felt like a mess and they were excited! Blanchard loaded me up with tapes, CD’s and books on the Word of God.

When I came home I read, listened and studied nonstop! I barely came up for air. I read more in two weeks than I did all through school! I finally decided I would make JESUS the Lord of my life. I remember that afternoon so vividly. With tears in my eyes I asked the Lord to come in and RULE my life. I told the Flesh, “from now on, things are different. I will walk, talk and act as a Jesus filled person.” Since that time God has done AMAZING work in me and my family’s life.

I know God has called me to preach the Gospel. It is such a RUSH to minister the Gospel. It far exceeds anything I could’ve ever imagined accomplishing. I THANK God for my calling. By understanding THE CALLING he has placed on my life, I now see the measure of “TRUE SUCCESS” is only found in CHRIST!