When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of having my very own horse and riding it with reckless abandon through the grassy meadows that lay just beyond our property.

It wasn’t just a far out dream – it was what I thought was a very real dream.  My father had bought a two and a half acre spread in Bergvliet and the very first thing he promised was that we would one day get our very own horses.

I was 6 when we moved to that property and every time my birthday or Christmas came around, I hoped beyond hope that this would be the time that my dreams would be realized.

I remember waking early on one of my birthdays in my teens. Both of my parents were out, which was very unusual I thought.  Maybe they had gone to get my horse.  I peered out of the large sash window, into the green and rather unkept garden below, in the hope of seeing my horse grazing there.

But unfortunately it was not and that dream just never came to pass.  I don’t believe that my dad never had an intention of getting us horses .  I just think we couldn’t afford it.  He had completely over-extended himself buying the property and although it may have even been a dream for him to give us horses, every cent was spent on fixing up and renovating the home.  Yet it never did reach its beautiful completion – not even after 30 years.

My father in heaven however never forgot my dream.  And just this past weekend, it finally come to reality, not in the way that I had dreamed it to be, but in the kindest most loving way that only our father in heaven can give.

In my 46th year of life, I am now leasing a horse in Tokai and on Sunday, the day of the Cape Town Cycle tour, I rode down from Swaanzvyk to the Tokai forest to meet my husband and kiddies who were watching the cyclists. As I cantered through the forest, I suddenly realized that I was about to do what I had always dreamed of doing – canter along the beautiful green meadows at the bottom of Tokai.

My reality was actually even better than my dream because I was able to give each of my twin daughters a little canter on the horse with me.

Isn’t it amazing how our Father in heaven so beautifully gives us the desires of our hearts, not in our timing but in His timing.  Looking at it now, the fact that it was 40 years later is completely insignificant because this was my blessing and reality for this moment.  It is what I needed right here and right now and I feel blessed beyond measure.  And it was God’s way of giving me a blessing from heaven to make up for a gift I never received on earth.  I feel that the Lord is saying to me “See, I know the desires of your heart and I will bring them to fruition, each and every one, in my perfect time”.

This small dream realized is a wonderful reminder to all of us, that we need to trust in the Lord – completely.  His plans for us are good and His timing is always perfect.

Proverbs 16:9 Expanded Bible (EXB)