Welcome to this week's edition of the Redeeming the Dirt Newsletter!

Redeeming the Dirt is the ministry of Noah Sanders and his family and is committed to helping encourage Christians to live for Jesus, excel in agriculture, and make disciples.

This week:

• Ministry and family updates
• Thoughts on being thankful when things are hard on the farm
• Mentorship opportunity for Americans serving though agriculture overseas
• And an invitation to follow my new posts on social media (at your own risk)

Well, my goal of sending out a weekly newsletter update hasn’t really worked so far.

Have you ever struggled with adjusting life seasons and trying to establish new habits? It is a place of humility (meaning humiliation!) where I am discovering that crawling at the feet of Jesus is often better for me than walking by His side.

I want to be the best soldier possible as part of Jesus’ rescue team in this broken world. But I must learn to appreciate the training required and know I have to be willing to be bad at things before He can help me to become good at them.

So, thanks for your patience!

What Have We Been Up To?

Last month (October) was busy as we hosted our Faith and Farming Conference and a 5-day Foundations for Farming Trainers Training.

The conference was so encouraging. We had families and individuals from all over the country come together for a time of seeking the Lord, learning from each other, and hearing about ways God is using agriculture to make disciples all over the world.

We had representatives from Foundations for Farming, Farming God’s Way, Equipping Farmers International, and New Water Farms present to share about their different agricultural discipleship ministries.

My friend David the Good also joined us and shared from his wealth of homesteading knowledge and passion for God.

Our 5-day Trainers Training followed the conference, and we had 13 students who received in-depth training in using a Well-Watered Vegetable Garden to serve their communities and share Jesus with others. Four of the attendees work with the Navigators discipleship ministry.

I continue to work with helping develop and implement a regenerative ag program for Alabama’s virtual and on-site after school program using the Well-Watered Garden curriculum for community audiences. Please pray as I train and support the teachers in this program as they roll out the program for K-8th grades this spring.

Our family is well. We are enjoying/struggling/persevering in establishing a good routine of homeschooling, homesteading, home projects, and community/church involvement after a busy summer.

I am so SO grateful for my wife and her amazing support and work as a wife, mother, and friend, and for the work I see God doing in my kids' lives and hearts. I love being a dad, and I am so grateful that my kid’s futures aren’t dependent on my ability to parent, but on God’s mercy to both them and me.

Thoughts on Thankfulness for Hard Things

With thanksgiving this week I have been thinking about gratitude.

We had a family get-together with my family this past weekend and will be leaving tomorrow to visit with my wife’s family over ACTUAL Thanksgiving Day.

In this season of remembering all we have to be grateful for, I am reminded of the challenge of being thankful at times as a farmer/homesteader.

This past week the two, eighteen-month-old steers we were raising for meat for our family died.

I have had cows for years. But I wouldn’t consider myself a skilled cattle guy.

Cattle is one of those lower maintenance operations on our farm where I have a lot of good management practices I know and intend to implement (like a better rotation system) but haven’t gotten to on the list because I am trying to do too many things at once.

These steers had been looking great all year, but I failed to notice when they started getting weak recently (likely from parasites due to my management) until it was too late and despite all our efforts and the help of experienced neighbors, they ended up dying. I don’t want to even think about all the potential meals we lost, let alone consider the monetary value of the cows.

So, can I be thankful . . . even when my cow dies?

Well, what does the Bible say? Here is one passage that comes to mind.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1:2-5

Honestly, when it looked like the second steer was not going to make it I didn’t feel thankful, I felt like pounding the barn wall with my fist (by God’s grace I didn’t. I don’t believe venting is helpful or reflective of self-control).

But according to this verse I am to consider it a joy. . . a blessing to give thanks for . . . when I face trials of many kinds, including losing farm animals due to my poor management.

Why?

Because God loves me enough to want me to grow in my ability to reflect and serve him as a farmer. He wants to increase my faith in trusting Him even when he doesn’t show the mercy I would pray for every time. And he wants me to see my need to keep learning from Him, seeking Him for wisdom, knowing that he is waiting to give me unlimited consultations as the Master Farmer of all creation.

In choosing to give thanks for hard things, I begin to realize how much God loves me. How much I need him. And how much mercy he shows me all the time.

If God blessed me with healthy cows despite my bad management, it would be as detrimental for me as government welfare is to a lazy person.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons . . . no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:7,11

Do you want a harvest of righteousness and peace in your life? On your farm and in your family? Then add to the list of blessings you are giving thanks for this season the hard things as well as the easy things.

What is something hard that you can give thanks for? Reply to this email and let me know.

Are you an American family who is serving or planning to serve through agriculture internationally?

We are looking for people who would be interested in being part of a mentorship and support group specifically for people that have this calling. I have some good friends who are retired from serving 30 years in Africa who have a heart to start something like this especially for younger families and couples. We are hoping to do a small trial cohort in 2026 to see if we can develop something that would help those who are often facing overwhelm, loneliness and discouragement as they serve cross-culturally. Let me know if you or someone you know might be interested. Space is limited.

I have generally steered away from social media but recently felt God leading me to share more of our life and my thoughts through several platforms.

If you don’t use social media, good for you! But if you feel called to steward relationships in that mission field and want to follow our family and ministry, below are some links.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/redeemingthedirt/​

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/noah.sanders.967/​

I love a quote shared by friend of mine, Isaac French, in a recent newsletter.​

“Social media is an invitation to real relationship. Not a substitute for it.”

I would add it can be a good way to stay connected when you already have real relationships with people.

But it is a bit like playing with nuclear energy. So be careful. We will have to give an account to God of what we did or did not do with our access to technology in our age. Let's take our task of stewarding technology and communication seriously, in addition to stewarding the land.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Your Fellow Steward of the Land (and other things),

Noah Sanders

​Redeeming the Dirt​

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