Hope Rising: Stories from the Ranch of Rescued Dreams,   ISBN:9781590522691

Customer Rating: 

I haven't been able to get through the whole book yet. It is a thought provoking, heart grabbing book. I thank God for the ministry of this ranch and the lives that are touched as wounds are healed.

Customer Rating: 

What would anyone want with a 3 acre cinder pit? Kim and Troy Meeder, with a vision and not enough money to buy anything else, did purchase such a property. Friends and family shook their heads in dismay. Undaunted, Troy, a landscaper by profession, visited neighboring ranches, collecting manure, straw, and wood shavings. This provided a media for growth. That accomplished, he brought home every broken, twisted tree or bush, and many blisters later, transformed the cinder pit into a beautiful ranch where abused horses and broken children could find a haven for healing.

This book cannot be read without the reader's emotions being deeply stirred. Kim Meeder, the author, tells the story of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch in beautifully written prose.

This ranch operates on faith, hope, and love! Like an overflowing artesian well, compassion springs up from Kim's and Troy's hearts. There is no charge for the services available to children of all ages. The ranch survives on gifts, donations, and prayer.

Along with their faith, hope, and love, they have a large reservoir of trust in God. Miracle, after miracle of horses and children rescued, and their bruised souls restored, fill the pages of HOPE RISING.

However, this is no Polyanna story! Death and disaster try to destroy Kim and Troy's hope and faith. Each story does not always end happily ever after!

A friend gave me the author's two books. After reading them and crying through them, I quickly bought copies for myself and also copies for my great grandchildren.

Betty L. Sheldon, author of OMNIPIECE

Customer Rating: 

I read Hope Rising on the plane and during quiet moments at the Write to Publish conference last week. And in many ways, it changed my perspective on my own life. Crawling into Kim Meeder's heart felt like jumping into an adventurer.

The story? Kim and her husband bought some over-used over-mined land in Oregon with a dream. What eventually unfolded was Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch, a place where the Meeders rescued, nurtured, and brought back to life battered horses and ponies. And in the process, they've invited battered and broken children to help them.

As the children help the horses heal, their own lives intersect that healing, and they emerge more whole, more healed.

The book is a series of vignettes, chronicling many stories of horses and children in need of renewal. I cried several times during this book, touched by the beauty of redemption and God's surprising way He chooses to do His redeeming.

But what struck me most was Kim's spirit. How she viewed life as an amazing adventure, how she burst with empathy for anyone or any beast that suffered. Her spirit, her love for Jesus, her determination to bless others oozes out of this book in an invitational way. Reading her words made me want to see life through her adventure-eyes, not passing up daily moments of eternal significance, but stopping, then reveling in them. I want to be more of a people noticer, an observer of those in pain, one who prays.

So if these are qualities you admire and would like to cultivate, I suggest you read this book. It's winsome, beautiful, and full of hope--that even the most abused can emerge whole.

Customer Rating: 

I love this book, and I give it away as often as I can. It is uplifting and encourages me to do what I can when I know I can't change the world. Change what you can, love while you can, is the message. I recommend it to everyone.

Customer Rating: 

This is a great book for anyone who loves horses or has a heart for children with special needs...incredibly sensitive stories!