The text messages started as soon as breakfast was over and everyone cleared out of the house.

2 heifers are out on horse hill

I need lunch money

I’m out of gas or the battery is dead, I’m not sure which

There’s nothing wrong with the battery, she’s just out of gas and she doesn’t know the difference

Ok I’m coming

Bring the gas can

kk

I donned my barn clothes and headed out the door and when I spotted the heifers, my head started to spin; should I put the heifers in or let them graze in the yard?

The kids needed to get to their respective schools, but should I leave the heifers out? How far will they go if I just leave? Probably not very far. No, I better put them back in quick. They know where to go, they’ll probably go right back in.

Ten minutes later they were running in different directions and words were coming out of my mouth that shouldn’t have been. One last attempt at out-maneuvering them sent them further down the road, and I figured since this wasn’t going too well I might as well let them go and go rescue my kids instead.

I stood in the middle of the road hopeless and frustrated, when I saw the neighbor driving up the road on his way to work. I figured he would just drive by, since seeing heifers out is not an unusual occurrence on our road.

Just as I started to hop in the truck, the heifers trotted passed me, down horse hill and back into the pasture. And as I watched my neighbor drive by, I thought: How did he do that?

Thankful for that miracle, I put the gas can in the truck and met my kids on the side of the road. I hurriedly dropped one kid off at school, ran to the gas station and went back to pour the gas in the truck for my daughter so she wouldn’t smell like gas in her math class. In the meantime, my phone was blowing up with text messages and phone calls, all of which I was ignoring. I was eager to get back to the farm for another cup of coffee. I needed it … no, I deserved it!

Have you ever had this experience? You feel like a goalie deflecting the pucks as they come at you relentlessly. You get one puck deflected and then it comes right back at you even harder. You stand up and get your wits about you, and another flies at your head. You reach up just in time to deflect that one – and you feel another one hit you in the gut.

Life is like this some days. And standing up to the challenge with all the courage you can muster can turn you into one strong defender. But, standing up to the challenge with all the courage you can muster and knowing there is a big, strong, loving God standing behind you can make you fearless. Don’t cower in the corner from the confidence-building challenges that stand before you. Take them on, knowing that on the other side something great will come from enduring and conquering your foe. Never give up.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.