Carleigh Matz
Carleigh is originally from Myerstown, PA. She came as a first-year student in our School of Discipleship program in 2023 and graduated from the 2nd year program in August of 2025. Carleigh serves in the equine department. She is an instructor in both the Discipleship program and Summer Camp. Carleigh also trains Ranch horses, assists during retreats, and serves in the role of an advisor in our Discipleship program.
Carleigh’s Newsletter
Hello dear friends and family,
It has been about four months now that I have been working up here at Miracle Mountain Ranch. So many things have happened and I have had so many wonderful opportunities to serve and help those around me. It took a little bit of adjusting to being staff and no longer a student but I have been loving it.
September was a fun month of learning what my job is and my role as a staff member. I learned so much and was challenged in so many ways. One of those ways was learning to think for myself a little bit more to make decisions. I was challenged to be confident in what I know and take ownership of my job to learn the things that I should know to do my job to the best of my ability. One of the fun things that happened in this month was getting to move into my little house that I share with one of the other single staff ladies (well it is more of a little apartment situation 🙂 but it has been so fun to make it my home and put my plants everywhere! I also was able to bring my horse Rocky up to the ranch (it is a picture of him after a bath) and start to work with him. I brought him up to the Ranch in September, and I have been so blessed to see how God has provided and blessed me with this horse when I least expected it.
October and November were also wonderful months of growing more and learning. I continued to work and train horses and get to know the students. We have advisor meetings every week with our two students, Autumn and Alison, (they are in the picture on the next page, Autumn, front, Alison, right) and it has been challenging me to know the best way to help them whether that is with encouragement or with challenging them on something. I never realized or was fully grateful for how much God had taught me throughout the hard life experiences and wonderful blessings in my life. That is until they started talking about the things they are going through in their lives. It has been so amazing to see God work in their lives and grow them. And I am so grateful and blessed to be used by the Lord. November also brought with it the cold and the snow… so much snow 🙂
December was a month filled with snow, and more snow! But it was also a month of seeing the students become closer to each other and to the Lord. It is so wonderful to see how the Lord is at work in each person’s life. A lesson I learned this month, well probably the previous months as well, was to be gracious and firm when needed. It is by no means my job to change the students’ lives, but I pray that the Lord will use me to help disciple them. And this month specifically I was challenged with helping them to start taking what they know and are learning and take ownership of it. It was challenging though because at points letting them learn from their mistakes and figure things out is where they are going to learn the most but also not being harsh and never helping them is not the answer either. But with the help of the Lord I am trying my best 🙂 I also got to go home for about a week over Christmas which was wonderful. It was a blast to spend time with my brothers and friends and family. I am so very grateful for the support and people that I have surrounding me.
Thinking about this past year and I guess these past couple months I have felt a lot like Job. As I am sure most of you know he lost everything but then God blessed him with so much. (A very summarized version 🙂 ) I did not lose everything but I definitely lost a lot, and when I think about how God has provided so many things that I did not expect to happen this year, like this job, my horse, and so many other things, I am in awe of my Heavenly Father. I have seen him answer so many prayers and provide in so many ways.
Job 26:14,
“Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Thank you so very much for supporting me financially or with prayers.
Carleigh Matz