Small Beginnings
Small Beginnings: The Story of Take Heart
by Meagan Good, MA, LPC; Founder of Take Heart
December 19, 2023
Did you know Charley was MY therapist growing up?
While there’s some contention in the horse world about the accuracy of calling a horse a therapist… for better or worse, it’s truly the role he played in my teenage years. Long before I knew the steady presence of Jesus, Charley showed me that I had worth. He challenged me in every way to grow into who I am today. He was the most steady part of my life through all the drama of adolescence. Even now, while I know better than to put the weight of the world on his strong shoulders, Charley is always there for me.
My experience growing up with Charley is what inspired me to found Take Heart. To combine the powerful healing presence of a horse, with Jesus, and evidence-based psychology, to help people heal their own wounds. I was newly married, sitting in my townhouse on my day off from waitressing and studying at a local community college, reading Hope Rising by Kim Meeder of Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch. I finished the book in tears because it spoke so strongly to my own experience of healing through horses… and I heard God say clearly, “This is what you’re going to do one day, too.” Cue more tears!
Picking myself up and going about my day, I decided to go get the mail. Randomly, I received a flyer from Lancaster Bible College about their graduate counseling program. My mind began whirling… could I combine counseling with horses? A quick Google search later, and my obsession began. This was a thing! And there appeared to be a real need for the unique combination of Jesus, psychology, and horses. I enrolled the following semester, and integrated my studies to include equine therapy at every opportunity through my years in college. Each of my professors knew my goal was to do equine therapy!
At graduation, I was gifted the opportunity for me and my husband to go to Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch for their annual Similar Ministry Clinic, where they mentor others through opening their own healing ranch ministries. We had nothing but my horse Charley – no land, no business, no money (just a lot of student loans now!) – but Kim encouraged us that even if it’s only ever one horse and one kid, that’s the heart of all of this. It gave us the courage to start.
We decided to name the business Take Heart Counseling & Equine Assisted Therapy, for the verse in John 16:33 where Jesus says “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” “Take Heart” is a battle cry to hold onto hope in spite of the trouble we face. It doesn’t glance over the trouble and ignore it – it encourages us to face trouble with strength and courage. That’s where healing can happen – when we face the trouble courageously. I see my role as a counselor as picking up my sword and fighting alongside you, sharing the skills and knowledge I have learned for the specific battle you are facing. Just like Charley was always there for me, I want people to experience that they are no longer alone in the battle.
In 2014, when we opened Take Heart, I was boarding Charley at my pastor’s dairy farm in Ephrata, PA – he is actually who originally lent me the book Hope Rising years earlier! Fully supportive, he let us use his beautiful farm and his family’s two horses, Coco and Choca. For over a year I began holding individual, family, and group sessions at the farm. But with his family expanding and the next generation taking over the farm, it was soon time for us to find a place of our own for Take Heart.
The options were few with our very limited resources, but we found a lovely little property in the woods about 20 minutes away, in Mohnton, PA. Grant’s visionary gifts and building experience were crucial as we cleared a couple acres and built fence and a barn with a tack room/office to work in. We brought home Charley, Noble, and Remy. Opportunities continued to grow Take Heart: more partnerships with our community, special events at the farm, bringing on interns and volunteers, and even teaching college courses in equine assisted therapy. But very soon, we realized again that we needed to grow.
For years we looked for something we could afford. It seemed impossible. We couldn’t scale Take Heart enough at our current location to ever save enough to purchase something bigger. We hired a realtor who found the perfect location (spoiler alert, it’s our current location in Wernersville, PA!) but there was no real way we would be able to afford it. In trying to secure a loan, several banks actually laughed at my proposed business plans. Again, the logistics and practicality of our situation made it seem impossible to grow.
But God.
Through a series of events and connections that would take me an entire novel to explain, we finally got a YES. The doors finally opened to allow us to purchase the dream farm. And it was completely God – there was so much coincidence and ridiculous detail involved in the final YES that there is just no way it happened naturally! I have come to believe that he does this often in the Take Heart story, just to remind me that this wasn’t ever really MY idea – it was HIS all along.
And then the world shut down… we had just four days’ notice that we WOULD indeed be able to close on the farm before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all banking/lending/real estate. The season between getting the YES and actually moving were difficult on so many personal and logistical levels.
So we finally got into the “promised land!” And then there were “giants” in the promised land. The tenants who leased space on the farm for their boarding business… well, we quickly realized that we were NOT going to be able to facilitate an emotionally or physically safe environment for healing while they were here. We had planned to share the property for years as they phased out of business into retirement, and we grew Take Heart slowly – but that was not going to be healthy for anyone involved. The 60 days of their eviction were the scariest and hardest of my life. I received calls from complete strangers warning me for the safety of my horses because I had now made certain enemies. New battles popped up multiple times a day. The stress Grant and I felt was indescribable. But then they were gone. Cue a big sigh of relief here! Lick and chew, horse people, lick and chew. Phew. I understood freedom now in a completely new way.
Since moving to the dream farm, we’ve learned a little history of the property. This incredible place has a legacy of healing. Colonial Americans met with Native Americans around the nearby pond to discuss peace. For decades, it was owned by a veterinarian renowned worldwide for rehabilitating racehorses. Now it is a place where hope, healing, and horses all come together.
It’s not necessarily been easy since – but the challenges we’ve faced have grown Take Heart (and me) immensely. Finding a steady team and building a barn family at Take Heart has allowed us to now fulfill our mission in all kinds of ways. We now have 18 therapy horses, and most were lovingly donated for their talent with helping people. We have a team of counselors with various specialties and offerings able to help people in many ways. We have a Partnership Program, fully funded by donations, that assist a few people a year to receive counseling services. We have a horsemanship program influencing the local horse industry with relationship-based techniques and understanding. We have a volunteer program with the most friendly and loving people. We have a handful of boarders who value and support the work we do. We have a behind-the-scenes crew of barn team and administrative team members who keep everything running, our herd happy and healthy, and our facility a safe and beautiful space for healing.
At least once a week, I hear a comment such as “this place feels holy and healing.” And it is incredibly humbling.
We named the property Three Horse Ranch to keep our humble beginnings in the forefront of our memories. God says “do not despise small beginnings.” (Zechariah 4:10) It’s how he shows his greatness – going above and beyond what would be humanly possible. He gets all the glory for it. I’ll even reveal my cheesy side because it’s about his glory – I secretly call this place the ranch of miracles. It took miracles to get here, and we get to see miracles of hope and healing happen all the time. When things get hard, I try to remember that God didn’t do all this for nothing. He’s got a plan for this place, and for each person and animal here.
And the story goes on… and I hope that it goes on long after I’m gone. I love sharing this story – because it shows God’s love for his people. If he would choose me, who was just a horse-crazy teen with no direction, to do this work – then he’s got a plan for you, too. Kim Meeder encourages us to pray, listen for God’s response, then do what he says. Pray, listen, do. I hope that the Take Heart story builds courage in you to pray, listen, and do what God is calling you to do, too – even if it seems impossible.
Nothing is impossible with God.
God bless my husband, Grant, who has never waivered in his encouragement of my calling, despite how crazy it has always looked. From the beginning, opening something like this never made logical or practical sense – it has always required a leap of faith. But it has truly become our calling together and we couldn’t do it without each other.
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