Small Yes, Big God
How God Uses Broken Pieces for Purpose
What if the end of your dream was only the beginning of something greater?
Available in paperback, hardcover and Kindle.
When it looks over, God is still at work
When Doug and Betsy faced heartbreak, it seemed their dream was over. Instead, it became the foundation for a life-changing ministry. At Abundant Life Ranch, their journey from brokenness to restoration now inspires others as they offer hope, healing, and growth to individuals, couples, and families.
This book is about more than horses and ranching. Drawing on insights learned while saying “yes” to God’s plan, Doug and Betsy invite you into the valleys and mountaintops of their lives—where the dust, manure, and hard conversations become places where God’s miracles show up.
Whether you’re facing your own challenges or just hungry to see what God can do with ordinary people, these pages will remind you that hope is always possible. Are you ready to see how God can redeem your story, too?
Stories of small yeses and a very big God
This isn’t a “how-to” manual as much as it is a trail ride through real life—storms, surprises, and the quiet ways God shows up when we keep saying “yes.”
Small Yes, Big God will encourage you to:
- Move from doubt to unexpected grace
- Follow paths shaped by God’s miracles
- Realize that no situation is beyond redemption
- See how faith can turn even the deepest wounds into a legacy of impact
- Find purpose in the midst of pain
- Understand that God weaves every struggle into a greater calling.
You’ll walk through marriage struggles, ministry growing pains, and ranch stories where a horse, a tractor, or a quiet gelding named Coco becomes the lens for seeing God’s heart more clearly.
Is this book for you?
Small Yes, Big God is especially for:
- Christian couples, including those serving in ministry or juggling parenting and calling.
- People longing for purpose and renewal after disappointment, burnout, or big transitions.
- Believers hungry to see real-life stories of God’s faithfulness, not just theories.
- Individuals who know God is good, but need fresh reminders that He’s still writing their story.
If you’ve ever wondered, “Did I miss God?” or “Is this the end of what I hoped for?”, Doug and Betsy’s journey will help you see how even a shaky, small “yes” can become the start of something you never imagined.
Book Excerpts
From garden tractors to quiet geldings
Reynaldo and the garden tractor
One 13-year-old boy who came with Big Brothers/Big Sisters stood out to us. Reynaldo spoke English as his second language. This may have partly explained his poor performance in school despite demonstrating high intelligence working with our horses. As the day went on, our team noticed how quickly Reynaldo picked up on any kind of work with his hands, whether grooming a horse or learning a craft.
Doug fired up our old garden tractor with a rototiller and gave a brief demonstration. When he got off, he looked at Reynaldo and asked if he wanted to give it a try. The boy broke into a big grin. We watched with amazement at how fast he developed a feel for handling the levers and guiding the tractor along the garden rows. With every pass, his smile grew wider.
That day at the ranch, a boy walked away knowing he wasn’t slow, he has learning skills for hands-on work, and he doesn’t have to accept an idea of himself as less capable than others.
Nicole, Hoss, and Coco
In the fall of 2020, a lady named Nicole came with a group overseen by the Fresno Rescue Mission. Nicole brought an intimidating presence, having a sturdy build, tattoos from the neck down, and an attitude reflecting her status in a street gang. On her first morning, after I led the group to an area with chickens and pigs, I told the ladies we were going to feed the animals. Nicole gave a “harrumph,” folded her arms, and announced, “I’m not feeding any animals.”
Despite her general attitude of noncompliance, Nicole showed interest in Hoss, our biggest horse, a thick-chested, gentle-eyed gelding who wanted to be everyone’s best friend. As the day went on, she showed signs of building a good partnership with Coco. We could see in her body language she was more relaxed, and a smile teased at the corners of her mouth.
When I asked what she thought about her time at the ranch, she said, “When I think about the difference between Hoss and Coco, I realize this is how I pick my men: tall, strong, and handsome. Then I try hiding it when they mistreat me. Now here I am with Coco, and he’s not one I would typically be drawn to, but the peace I feel when I work with him is so different. It’s a better relationship.”
“If I ever have another man in my life, I need him to be like Coco.”
What others are saying
Carl Dambman:
“Small Yes, Big God provides a compelling reminder of how the Christian life is not a cakewalk, but a cross-bearing journey of perseverance through deep valleys and times of apparent silence after many prayers. But, always, even if it is sometimes just a stroke before midnight, God comes through for those who keep saying ‘yes’ to His calling.
As a former heavyweight wrestler (Olympic alternate) and 50-year missionary (30 years overseas), both my wife and I know the sacrifices often required in the journey of faith for the Gospel. Doug and Betsy’s testimony encourages and instructs, and one of the storylines that spoke strongly to me was how God resurrected their broken marriage and built their relationship in ways more rich and fruitful than they could have imagined. I also experienced amazement at their use of horses to demonstrate insights on growth in our relationship with God and with others.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for encouragement to persevere and trust that God is connecting all the dots. He will not disappoint those who offer their lives to Him.”
— Carl Dambman, Athletes In Action missionary, 1977 Pan American gold medalist and author of In God’s Grip.
Therapist:
“I don’t know the science behind why horses are so therapeutic, but they are. As someone who is clearly not a ‘horse person,’ I cannot deny the magic that happens, and the change I begin to see immediately, in my clients after only one visit to the ranch.”
Micki, group home therapist:
“I really believe this [Abundant Life Ranch] is divine. It’s just, I think, the power of unity, and it’s the power of God. Because what’s so amazing is that some of the things that we’re working on in the house [the group home] or some of the things we may be working with the girls individually, we may not even have talked about it. But, the amazing thing is, God knows, and so when we get here, everything that you [Betsy] say and you talk to the girls about, you’re actually just confirming everything that we’ve been talking about with the girls before we even have gotten here.
And so when they [girls from the group home] walk away from this program, they’re gonna be able to realize that they did something that they have never done before, and they were successful in doing it, and they met God on the mountain top.”
About the authors
Betsy Cockrell
Doug Cockrell
Doug and Betsy Cockrell are the co-founders of Abundant Life Ranch, a ministry in California’s Central Valley that uses the ranching lifestyle to build relational health through communication, trust, and respect. Over the years, they’ve watched God take their own broken dreams and a little patch of ranch land and turn it into a place where kids, couples, and families encounter hope and healing.
They don’t write or speak as people who have everything figured out. They write as two imperfect people who kept saying small “yeses” to a very big God. Through heartbreak, pandemic uncertainty, and moments when it looked like the Ranch might have to close. Small Yes, Big God is their way of putting those stories on paper so you can see how God might be at work in your own story too.
Learn more about Abundant Life Ranch
Contact the Author: betsycockrellbooks@ipmail.us
Ready to see what God can do with your “yes”?
If you’re standing at a crossroads, wondering how God could possibly use the broken pieces you’re holding, we wrote this book for you. Our prayer is that as you read, you’ll see your own life on these pages and hear God inviting you to trust Him with your small yes.
