No Cabin for a Bed

"And she brought forth her firstborn SON, and wrapped HIM in swaddling cloths, and laid HIM in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:7


Dear Friends,

Last week, Hannah Beth and I were blessed to spend the week up in Gatlinburg. Our friends, the Hembree's, invited our family to stay in the amazingly beautiful 3 story cabin they were renting. I know some of you must be thinking, every time you read these emails I'm in Gatlinburg...well, I have been blessed to go several times this fall, that's for sure. We ate at several really scrumptious restaurants we haven't eaten at before...and getting on the scales to weigh this morning reflected that...ugh, and we went to several shows we'd never seen like "The Miracle," a show about the life of JESUS, the Blackwood Brothers and "the Black Bear Jamboree." Hannah Beth ice skated with our friends up at Ober Gatlinburg and went to "Wonder Works," a "souped up" hands on science museum that had laser tag, rock climbing, and a bunch of other neat stuff. I made it to Dollywood, in my long johns, and warm clothes, and a rain coat, to see the beautiful CHRISTmas lights (the old white church decorated with hanging greens and white CHRISTmas lights was my favorite), ride the train through the cold, dark mountain, and shop a little, for an hour and a half before they closed due to ice and snow moving in. We shopped in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg where the streets were decorated with snowflakes going up and down the poles, and all decked out in ribbon and lights for CHRISTmas. We went in art stores I've never been in, but I sure was blessed by the artwork of JESUS and scenes from the Bible and nature scene. We hit a bunch of shops I've never been...honestly, they hit a bunch of stores, and i waited outside most of them, i had had my chemical fill from the cabin, and was trying to survive. We did manage to squeeze in a trip to Greenbrier Thursday morning in the rain. Greenbrier is one of the most peaceful and picturesque areas of the Smokies, with it's beautiful waterfalls, the highest one in the park is there, and I've never had the opportunity to hike up to it yet, hiking trails with the rhodenderon and mountain laurels blooming in the spring, and the Little Pigeon River running through it. Riding through there, getting out on the walking bridge and setting foot on the Ramsey Cascades trail, gave me my nature fix. It was just the therapy i needed...I'm not a shopper by nature, and was longing to get out in the woods all week. We saw kayakers taking advantage of the rapids in the Little Pigeon River and I sure did envy them playing in the water. We watched as the water billowed over the huge rocks like I've never seen before due to the torrential rain the LORD was blessing us with most of the week. The rain was a great blessing from the LORD, a couple of years ago we were there and the rivers were almost dried up due to the drought.

Before anyone might be tempted to get envious... I wanted to show you a side of my traveling that is not so glamorous, but it does draw me closer to the LORD, and causes me to lean on HIM while HE takes us to these wonderful places, and we get to be with dear friends. I was a bit apprehensive about this trip because when we travel, we usually stay where it's "semi-safe" for me if we can. What i mean by that is GOD has allowed my body to have a "detox" system that is missing a few genes, or they're damaged, and I don't process chemicals too well. We usually try to stay at a place that is not too smelly with fragrances, or not too new-formaldehyde, paints, etc, etc. etc...but that doesn't always happen and sometimes i just end up sleeping in the car, on the balcony, on the deck, porch, I've done them all. On this trip, our friends were gracious enough to invite us to stay in the beautiful, 3 story cabin that slept 36, on the ridge of a mountain just outside of Gatlinburg they rented for the week. It was absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful cabin we've ever stayed in and I immediately thought of the different "LODGE's of LOVE" that I've been writing about the past few weeks as soon as we saw the place....wow.

When we walked inside the spacious living area with the huge fireplace (it had 3) and large kitchen and dining area on the first floor, i knew that i was in trouble...I could smell "new." I thought it was formaldehyde, but Mr. Hembree said he smelled the varnish on the logs, and they sure were shiny...and they were all over the place. They showed us around the cabin, which sure was more like a "Lodge" instead of "Little House on the Prairie." They took us downstairs where mine and HB's bedroom was...it had two large bunk beds made out of logs, and a double or queen size bed, and a love seat all in the bedroom. Our bathroom adjoined Emily Hembree's bathroom and it was really nice...but i knew i was going to have trouble staying in there. At first i thought i might try staying in Emily's room, they were so gracious to offer whatever i needed. Her room had a door to the outside, but i knew i wasn't going to be able to stay in there to sleep...it was just to "new." We got settled in and i opened a window in the bedroom and that really helped a ton. When it got to be bedtime, I did what I've often done on our "road trips," and i left the family inside, and bedded down in my sleeping bag in my car. It was very comfortable, on my middle seat, and thankfully it wasn't cold...that's what i was afraid of. One year we stayed in Gatlinburg during Dec. celebrating Hannah Beth's 13 birthday and we were staying in our camper that we no longer have:). I couldn't sleep inside the camper, (the heater was putting out a bunch of dust), and I slept outside in the van in 15 degree weather...and about froze to death. Thankfully, i slept pretty well that first night, and enjoyed the coziness of my car and spending time with the LORD reading my Bible and praying early the next morning. After getting up and getting ready for the day, we hung out inside the den are...with the door opened, and visited, and the kids played their guitars, and i pecked around on my mandolin, while Linda Hembree played the keyboard...they all are the true musicians while i struggle to play simply by ear. It was a lot of fun playing "Away in a Manger," "How Deep the Father's Love for Us," and some other tunes...but it wasn't too wise on my part to hang out inside. Later on, we went to eat lunch,seems like we were always eating or going to eat, and then walked around a little shopping area and looked at the really neat artwork I told you about earlier. That evening is when we went to see the show "The Miracle." We had a little bit of trouble managing our time...and were only 30 minutes late, after eating pizza up in Gatlinburg...we just missed the live animals for the nativity scene...no big deal:). It was really a good show, and i highly recommend it, and all the shows we went to...JESUS was truly lifted up in each one.

After the show, it was getting late, 10:00p.m. their time, I decided to go and sauna ( to get the chemicals out of me) where i usually do when we stay in Gatlinburg, and Hannah Beth rode home with the Hembree's. Where i sauna is on the mountain behind the main drag in Gatlinburg and you drive up Ski Mountain Rd to get there. Pretty curvy, but not too bad of a drive. I sauna at Highland Condominium's inside by their pool and the view of the mountains is gorgeous from there. They gave me permission years ago, so i just go in do my thing, and I'm out of there... it's really nice during the day, with the beautiful view, but this night it was dark, it was late, after 11:00 a.m. and when i got through saunaing and taking a shower, it was beginning to rain. I called HB to let her know i was leaving cause i didn't want them to be worried. Her voice mail answered and i left a message. As i started driving back down the mountain, it started dawning on me that i wasn't exactly sure how to get back to the cabin we were staying in...i had only driven there once or twice before, once at night, and once that day, and i was always following someone else. As i drove through the streets of Gatlinburg, and headed out Hwy 321 toward the cabin, i started praying, " LORD please help me find the little road sign that showed me where to turn off," and thankfully HE did. That was one hurdle...the cabin we were staying in was about a mile and a quarter up the mountain, and it sure was dark and curvy and i was driving slowly through the misting rain. I did pretty well until i got further on up, and it started looking unfamiliar. I backed up and decided to turn up "Antler Ridge Road" or something like that and it didn't look familiar in the dark...but it did look narrow, and it did look curvy, and it did look high up on the edge of that ridge. My "fear of heights," started kicking in and i started getting a little panicky. I was praying, "Hannah Beth, please answer the phone, cause i was lost, it was dark, and i had no way of finding them if she didn't answer her phone except to hunt and peck...and pray. I dialed her number and thank the LORD, she answered! Five minutes before that, Linda Hembree had suggested to Hannah Beth to keep her phone nearby just in case i called and thank the LORD HE was taking care of me. HE always does, sometimes i just have a little doubt:). HB put Josh, the Hembree's son, on the phone, and he started trying to tell me what to do...though he wasn't sure where i was, it was just comforting to hear their voices on the other end. As Josh held on and i got turned around off that narrow mountain road, and started easing back down, the phone started beeping and the battery was running out..for a brief moment i thought, "Oh no," and about that time, i turned on the road that led to our cabin, and it wasn't long before i was pulling into that big "LODGE of LOVE." I have never been so glad to be back to a "new" smelly place with familiar faces in my life. It was really scary out there in the dark, rainy night, on a mountain ridge by myself-well, me and the LORD:)...and i was so thankful to be back. The kids were up watching a movie with Josh's grandparent's, and it was past midnight when i got home. I was so glad to see them all...and I told Hannah Beth not to ever repeat that dumb thing her Mom had just done staying out that late and not knowing the way back. I was so thankful to be back, even if it was for a brief time, and i returned to my car, very gratefully to sleep for the night. That night it rained, and it rained, and it rained hard (i was so thankful it wasn't raining that hard when i was lost) and the wind blew hard. I could just see the cabin, and then my car just washing right off the side of the mountain. Thankfully it didn't, and the next morning i asked if they'd heard the wind blowing and the rain falling during the night. They didn't hear it inside the warm and cozy cabin where they all slept , but i sure had outside in my car. That's okay, it was GOD's place for me, and HE had kept me safe, inside my car, where HE dwelt with me.

As i thought about the events of last week, and what i was going to write this week, i started thinking about Mary and Joseph and there being no room in the inn for Mary to birth our Savior...and they had to manage outside in a dirty, smelly stable...I'm sure there was probably cow manure and all that good stuff that goes with animals...don't ever see that in the CHRISTmas stories. I wonder if Mary and Joseph ever felt sorry for themselves...i don't know. I kind of felt sorry for myself not being able to sleep inside that wonderful cabin and hang out more with the Hembree's and their parents and my daughter. But GOD had a different place for me at night and in the early morning,to be alone with HIM as HE, my "LODGE of LOVE," dwells inside of me. HE and i sure had some sweet time alone in that car, sitting in front of that big old cabin, with the rain pouring down. In fact, as I've shared before, my car has become a refuge for me, HE is our Refuge, from things that make me sick, so my body can rest from the chemicals and i can be recharged for the next day...sort of:). It's also a time that as much as I'd like to be fellowshipping with the folks inside, JESUS calls me aside to be alone with HIM and spend time with HIM in the quietness of my car.

As i was thinking about what to write, my favorite CHRISTmas story that I used to read to my kids when they weren't 17 and almost 19, came to mind, called "The Crippled Lamb." I've always loved that little made up story about the Crippled Lamb who couldn't keep up with other sheep when they followed the shepherd to greener pastures, and had to stay behind at the stable. He felt sorry for himself because he had to stay behind, but that very night, Baby JESUS was born in the stable, and the "Crippled Lamb" kept baby JESUS warm by snuggling up to HIM. Yes, it's a made up story, don't recall that being in Scripture, but the thought of it has been very true for my life as well as countless others. I am the "Crippled Lamb," and i often am not able to keep up and do the things that other folks do, like staying inside new cabins, shopping a bunch, or even hanging out in the wilderness for long periods of time, because of my "thorn." But, as CHRIST as shown me time and time again, including when i slept in the car in Gatlinburg, this is the time, that I can snuggle up to HIM, and HE to me, and I get to know HIM more dearly. I wouldn't trade that for being able to stay inside a "new" cabin or anything else. I had some really sweet time with the LORD out there in my car in the mornings as i waited for the rest of the family to arise, and even during the middle of the night when i couldn't sleep. One night the LORD woke me up, and there was the moon, not completely full, peeking down at me through the window of my car. Granted it wasn't too glamorous staying in the car when i had to get up and go "potty" with it pouring down rain, twice in the same night, but then i don't imagine the CHRISTmas story was as glamorous as we make it out to be either when we sing "Away in a Manger," or act out the CHRISTmas story such as in the play "The Miracle."

As i was thinking about what to write, and i thought about this long and hard...i hated being lost out in the dark rainy night, on a narrow curvy road, with the thought of not being able to communicate with anyone...not a good feeling. What a blessing it was when Hannah Beth answered that phone, and even though she couldn't tell me how to get back( Josh could have if i had to start all over), it was so comforting to have someone on the other end of that phone to talk to...it was scary being lost, and not knowing which way to go. I was so relieved when GOD brought that huge cabin in my view...it truly was like a "city set on a hillside for all to see," and i was so thankful to be brought safely home to the "Lodge of Love." Matthew 5:14 says, "You are the light of the world, a city set on a hillside cannot be hid." You know, i thought once again, about those who are outside of CHRIST, our "Lodge of Love," and they are walking around, driving around in the dark, "running a 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction," and they are lost, dying, and on their way to an eternity in Hell. You and I are the "city set on a hillside," to share CHRIST's love with them, and tell them the good news that CHRIST came into the world, died for our sins and rose from the dead and "Whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life"John 3:16. And the very next verse is, "For GOD did not send HIS SON into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through HIM might be saved." We have the privilege of being used by CHRIST to point others to HIM, the LODGE of LOVE, and bring them safely in from the danger of the dark, lonely, and cold night of sin.

We also have the privilege of encouraging our brothers and sisters in CHRIST, who are in the "dark night of their soul," and just be there for them...like Josh and Hannah Beth were for me. We may not have the perfect words to say, but just being there and showing others that we love them, care for them, and are praying for them, helps them walk through those dark, curvy mountain roads, and make it safely to the "Lodge of Love," CHRIST HIMSELF, who alone can comfort, and give peace and be their "All in All."

I know I've shared some of these same things just recently but CHRIST keeps taking me back to the "Lodge of Love." Even as i lay inside my car and thought of that huge "Lodge of Love" right there in front of me, and all of those rooms filled with all that a person could ask for to make them comfortable and i couldn't enjoy them:), i thought of those rooms in our "LODGE of LOVE," CHRIST JESUS, and how they are filled with the treasures of HIMSELF, "WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE of PEACE," - everything and more we will ever need or want for now and all of eternity. I can enjoy HIM wherever i am, whether it's in my car, a luxurious mountain cabin, or a hot sauna late at night on a curvy mountain road... but HE's not just for me to enjoy or use or have a relationship with HIM, He wants to use me and you to share HIM with others, through the gospel and through HIS love, that others might believe in HIM, repent of their sins, and JESUS CHRIST might come and dwell inside their hearts.

A dear friend of mind sent me a video earlier this week of a young man that is definitely crippled from birth, but CHRIST is shining through his weakness, and dwells in that young man's heart. I'm sure his "thorn" has been the very thing GOD has used to draw that young man closer to HIMSELF and reveal HIMself to him and through him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY


After watching it, i started thinking about the story of the Crippled Lamb. We all have something that GOD uses to draw us closer to HIM and with me it just happens to be my health issues, with you it may be something else...it may be the loss of a dear loved one, a broken relationship, the loss of your job, loss of health, loss of your home, struggling in your marriage, issues with family members or co-workers. Whatever it is...CHRIST wants to use it in our lives to draw us to HIM, to actually help us "Come Let Us Adore HIM," in a way that we can't when we have no struggles. HE who comes to "dwell in us," "the HOPE of GLORY", uses our adversity, our difficult times to show HIS dear love to us and reveal HIMself through us- these "weak vessels," "clay pots," to lead others to HIM...the SAVIOR of the WORLD.

You may have some things in your life like i do mine, that aren't "picture" perfect this CHRISTmas, but so did JESUS and his parents. I can relate to that line in "Away in a Manger," where it says, "no crib for a bed." I had "no cabin for a bed," but i sure am thankful for a car where i was able to sleep comfortably. Not what most folks picture when they go to Gatlinburg to spend a cozy time in the mountains. GOD is teaching me to be thankful for the places HE leads me, dwells in me, and reveals HIMself to me... places that this Crippled Lamb can snuggle up to my JESUS and experience HIS wonderful love to me, any time and any place.

The last night of our trip to Gatlinburg, it snowed up on the mountain, and from the pictures our friends sent us, it was beautiful up there at the cabin. HB and I missed the snow, my body had stood all it would from the beautiful "new" cabin, and we stayed in a "safer" motel for me the last night down in Pigeon Forge. Oh well, another picture of things not being so perfect, but i sure was thankful to get a good night's rest, with the balcony door opened in my room. Poor HB, I about froze her to death...i accidentally turned the heat off, and with the door open and temps in the low 30's, she got really cold. We hated we missed the snow up on the mountain, but the next morning, we enjoyed our tradition of eating at the Pancake Pantry there in Gatlinburg where i enjoy eating the buckwheat pancakes, and HB had an omelet i believe. After a quick breakfast, we had to get back that afternoon for HB's dance recital practice, we drove home through the mountains, along the rolling, cascading river, and saw the beautiful snow in the trees and higher elevations along the winding road that leads to Townsend. GOD is sooo good!

You, my dear friends and family, who take time out of your busy lives to read these emails and so often encourage me are such a blessing to my heart. I thank GOD for you all this CHRISTmas season. Thank you for honoring me, for encouraging me, and praying for me and my family ...and i do pray these emails will be a blessing to you in some way. I love you and pray that you and your dear family will have a wonderful CHRISTmas celebrating our dear SAVIOR's birth and love for us.

Merry CHRISTmas,
mitzi



"Away in a Manger"

The video below is not "picture perfect"- there are several pauses. But if you'll stay with this video of Kelly Nelon, her daughter, Amber, and the Bill Gaither Homecoming choir, JESUS CHRIST, our "HOPE of GLORY," will shine through the "imperfections," just as HE does in our lives. I hope and pray you heart will be blessed as mine was as i watched the video of "Away in a Manger."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL6cn97LEhs&feature=related


" The manger is a symbol of what can happen when JESUS CHRIST resides inside us. The ordinary suddenly becomes extraordinary."
-Billy Hybels

JESUS CHRIST our LODGE of LOVE

"He satifies the longing soul and the hungry soul HE fills with good things." " I am the BREAD of LIFE, whoever comes to ME shall not hunger and whoever believes in ME shall not thirst." Psalm 107:9, John 6:35

Dear Friends,

Earlier this week, I decided to decorate for CHRISTmas...it was a picture perfect night like you read about in a storybook. My husband was at work, Hannah Beth was busy talking on the phone, emailing her friends, folding clothes and feeling sick...she went to bed at 8:00 p.m. My son was studying for finals in his bedroom, working on a project for school, and me, well, I was in the mood to decorate for CHRISTmas after supper. I went out to the garage and started bringing in the large plastic bins that store our decorations. We used to store them in the attic, but I kept getting really mad when we decorated. I caught on that the insulation on the decorations was making me really irritable and was really "dampening" our CHRISTmas spirit when I yelled at folks. So we store them in the garage now in plastic bins and that seems to work much better...no more yelling while decorating for CHRISTmas:). I put on some music, not CHRISTmas music, but Kim Greene Hopper's new CD I got last week, "I Just Want YOU to Know" on HB's CD player...and started putting out CHRISTmas decorations. I got our little tree out of the box that lights up, it's one of those fiber optic trees that we've been using for years now, about 2 1/2 feet tall. I'm allergic to the real ones and newer ones (one CHRISTmas we had to put our decorated tree was out on the back porch where we looked at it through the window. Another year, we had a live one on the front porch in a big five gallon bucket with big colored lights wrapped around it-the family loved that one:). I cleared off the round glass coffee table, trying to figure out what to do with all the stuff that usually stays on it, put a pretty off white table cloth over it, and set up the "Snow Babies" ice rink my Mother-in-law gave us several years ago. It still works, though it was a little slow getting going. The little Eskimo kayaking figurine (my favorite piece) started "paddling" on the "frozen pond-bet that's some tough paddling through the ice:). The pond is actually plastic with a magnet underneath going round and round, and alongside the kayaker were some other little skaters going around the "pond." I set up the collection of snow babies around the ice rink, and put out a large white ceramic church on the wooden antique table against the wall. After that, I decided to go back and look in our cedar closet in our bedroom for the CHRISTmas ornaments. We don't store them in the garage because they might melt. Ughh what a mess that closet was with gifts and gift wrapping paper, bows, boxes, and other stuff all over the place. I had to pull all that out before I could get to the box of ornaments in the back of the closet...and that mess took a while to clean up. While I was in the closet, I saw two of my favorite CHRISTmas pictures that we put up every year...one was a picture of a church out in the country, all lit up, with snow all around, and the folks walking up to it and coming in sleds. I always think of "Oh Come All Ye Faithful," when I see that picture...such a "perfect "CHRISTmas scene. We've had that picture every since Johnny's seminary days, and we lived in Ft. Worth... It was given to us at a CHRISTmas party one night at the little church Johnny was serving in at the time, and brings back really good memories. This was before I got sick and life suddenly became less than perfect...in fact, it became downright very difficult at times,for long periods of times. The other picture is a picture of the manger scene, with Mary, Joseph, Baby JESUS, the cows, hay, donkey, and the wise men (not completely accurate since JESUS was older by the time the wise men brought gifts to HIM) bringing gifts to the baby JESUS. I got that picture out from the back of the closet, climbed over the mess on the floor and put it up on the wall. That was about it for my decorating that evening. By the time I got through cleaning the closet out...it was bedtime. Like I said a "picture perfect" night of CHRISTmas decorating:).

Last week, I told you about my friend Bebe Williams', "Lodge of Love." It was an extremely nice and big house, on a mountain, filled with the love of CHRIST that flowed through Bebe and her husband Larry. I wrote about how that big home filled with love reminded me of HEAVEN and how heaven is a "Lodge of Love." Those who have accepted CHRIST as their LORD and SAVIOR will spend eternity in the loving presence of our LORD JESUS and with our loved ones and folks we don't love now but will who have gone on before us. I also wrote about how CHRIST wants our hearts to be a "Lodge of Love," that He can flow through to reach others for HIM and love one another deeply. The next day after I wrote that, it's like a light bulb went off inside me as I was having my morning devotions and JESUS whispered to me, "I am YOUR LODGE OF LOVE." I thought, ooh, that is so true, and I felt like I had gotten the cart before the horse writing about the other "Lodge's of Love," last week. But GOD's timing is perfect, and HE takes our imperfections, and mess ups and works them for good. As I looked at that picture of the manger scene this morning during my prayer time, I thought about JESUS CHRIST being our LODGE of LOVE, and how very imperfect the LODGE was that HE came to be born in...some type of shelter for the animals and it may have even been a cave...not the "picture perfect," CHRISTmas we try to create each year.

I have written about this before at CHRISTmas, how thankful I am that the perfect JESUS did not come in perfect circumstances, to a perfect "Lodge," but in fact HE left HIS glorious "LODGE" in heaven, and was born to two very poor parents, in a really poor "lodge," a place where the animals were kept. I've been around a lot of stables and barns and they are usually pretty darn stinky. When Mary and Joseph went to sacrifice at the temple they offered the sacrifice of the poor... pigeons or turtledoves. Isn't it amazing that JESUS CHRIST, the KING of KINGS, and LORD of LORDs, who could have been born anywhere, to anyone, in the design of GOD's plan chose to "LODGE" in that stinky place, in their poor home? HIS Love brings me, exceeding joy as I think, of how JESUS HIMSELF, the LODGE OF LOVE, chooses to come and "Lodge" in my stinky heart, filthy with sin, cleanse me with HIS precious blood, and make it HIS dwelling place...that is amazing love. It is amazing love, that HE left HIS "LODGE OF LOVE" to come and be born in a simple "Lodge of Love," a stable, to common, poverty parents, live a common life and die a most humiliating death,falsely accused, beaten to a pulp, hung naked on a wooden cross, and drove stakes through HIS hands and feet for you and me. HE did all this because, "GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS only begotten SON that whosoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

You know, my life, like yours is not perfect, and there are some very difficult trials along the way. The older I get, the more I realize and understand what a dear gift is ours in our "LODGE of LOVE" our LORD JESUS CHRIST. HE has brought me through so many difficult health issues through the years, and how I thank HIM and praise HIM, my GREAT PHYSICIAN for teaching me to learn to trust HIM through my health problems...and teaching me to love HIM. It has been a gradual process, learning to realize how much CHRIST my "LODGE of LOVE," loves me. I can look back and see it has been through the very difficult times, that HE has revealed HIMSELF so tenderly to me. and been that "LODGE of LOVE" to me in every circumstance. In HIS "LODGE," HE has sheltered me in HIS arms through every storm, HE has enriched me with knowledge, blessed me with friendship, provided all my needs and most especially, blessed me with HIMself, as my 'LODGE of Love " in the dark nights of my soul.
Even in the death of our dear loved ones, CHRIST our 'LODGE of LOVE," binds our soul with theirs, ours as we dwell in HIM here, and them as they dwell with HIM there...we continued to be bound together by HIS sweet love. The longer HE walks with me and I with HIM, the more I realize that this KING who has "stolen my heart," and come to "LODGE" in me, truly is my "LODGE of LOVE," both now and forever.

"E'en for the dead I will not bind my soul to grief;
Death cannot long divide,
For is it not as thought the rose that climbed my garden wall
Has blossomed on the other side?
Death doth hide, but not divide
Thou art but on CHRIST's other side!
Thou art with CHRIST, and CHRIST with me;
In CHRIST united still are we.
-Streams in the Desert, Dec. 3

Earlier this year, I shared about a broken heart that I incurred through a relationship that I very much desired, but GOD shut the door. In the course of my broken heartedness, I have never known the love of CHRIST in the intensity that I did right after that happened. HE ran to me in the Scripture that I read, the hymns I sang, the friends and family that showered me with HIS love and encouraged me. HE truly showed me what a comfort HE is and how my heart was gradually healed in HIS "LODGE of LOVE." Although the pain was very real and hurt very deeply, it makes me not afraid to suffer the next time, because of the preciousness of HIS presence HE poured out on me during that time...and how thankful I am to say, that HE is giving me my heart's desire and growing that relationship that my heart so very much longed for...HE is our Promise Keeper..."Delight yourself in the LORD, and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

HE is teaching me that HE is my 'LODGE of LOVE," each and every day, not just when the trials come, but in all times. Every day HE is my HUSBAND, the Lover of my Soul, my "Bread of Life," and HE feeds me with HIS Word, leads and guides and teaches me with HIS HOLY SPIRIT, and provides all my needs in CHRIST JESUS. HE is my Bright and Morning Star and brightens my path, HE is my Counselor, and a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. HE is my Deliverer, Rock, Refuge and Strong Tower, and what a comfort that is when the enemy assails us, and falsely accuses us. Our LODGE of LOVE runs to us, to rescue us and deliver us. HE is Emmanuel, GOD with us, and how I thank HIM for choosing to "Lodge" in our hearts, the Eternal Lodge of Love. He is a Friend of Sinners, and how thankful I am of that...that HE loves me in my imperfections and sin, and puts up with "my silly heart and bad manners," as Charles Spurgeon puts it. HE is my GOOD SHEPHERD, and HE leads and guides me, ever providing HIS "LODGE of LOVE" to surround me with HIS grace. HE is the great, "I Am," everything that we need HIM to be in every situation...HE is our LAMB, LIGHT of the WORLD, LIVING BREAD and MESSIAH, our GREAT PHYSICIAN, PRINCE of PEACE, ROCK, TEACHER, TRUTH, WAY, WONDERFUL and WORD, and in HIS LODGE "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." JESUS CHRIST, our "LODGE of LOVE," who chooses to "Lodge" in the hearts of all those who accept HIM as LORD and SAVIOR is all this and more...what a "LODGE OF LOVE," is ours in CHRIST JESUS our LORD!

There is that matter of making room in our hearts and accepting CHRIST as our LORD and SAVIOR before JESUS can become our LODGE of LOVE. JESUS cannot come and dwell in a heart that is full of itself. We must be empty of our pride and our independence and our "good works," and confess our sins before HIM, before HE can give us a new heart and a new spirit and come and "Lodge" inside us. Oswald Chambers shared in his Nov. 28th writing "The Bounty of the Destitute:"






THE BOUNTY OF THE DESTITUTE



"Being justified freely by His grace. . ." Romans 3:24

The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.

We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is made effectual in us by the Holy Spirit, He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, which puts "the beyond" within, and immediately "the beyond" has come within, it rises up to "the above," and we are lifted into the domain where Jesus lives. (John 3:5.)



Truly, our LODGE of LOVE, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, offers a "bountiful supply" for those who are destitute and empty of themselves...and through HIS LODGE of LOVE, "... has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in CHRIST. For HE chose us in HIM before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in HIS sight. In love, HE predestined us to be adopted as HIS sons through JESUS CHRIST, in accordance with HIS pleasure and will-to the praise of HIS glorious grace, which HE has freely given us in the One he loves. In HIM we have redemption through HIS blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of GOD's grace that HE lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And HE made known to us the mystery of HIS will according to HIS good pleasure, which HE purposed in CHRIST."Ephesians 1:3-9

On that new not CHRISTmas CD I mentioned up above, Kim Greene Hopper (sister to Tim and Tony Greene) sings a beautiful song of praise to our "LODGE of LOVE" telling HIM how much she loves HIM. HE yearns for us to return HIS love, and come and abide in HIS "LODGE OF LOVE," enjoying the warmth and comfort and peace of all HIS abounding gifts. which HE lavishes upon HIS children. HE teaches us to love HIM, in HIS LODGE, and tells us to diligently teach our children to love HIM, and new believers to love HIM, "with all of our hearts, all our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength."

Well, Hannah Beth and I put the ornaments on the tree last night, and put the wreath above the mantle with the little white lights on it, between texting and phone calls, and face book (it's a lot different decorating with teenagers than when they were little, and I did my share of emailing too while we were decorating:)... with Amy Grant singing Christmas music. We still haven't finished decorating, the plastics bins are outside the door on the porch, but as I put the old Advent ornaments on the little CHRISTmas tree in our "Joy" room, I was reminded again of JESUS being my "LODGE of LOVE." We made those ornaments when the kids were little out of red felt, gold glue, and different pictures on them for the names of JESUS. As I put those ornaments on that little tree going round and round, there was a little picture of a gift, for JESUS being the Greatest Gift, and a picture of Mary, for the Virgin Birth, a Shepherd's Crook, for HE is our Shepherd, a picture of the stars and universe- HE is our Creator, and the Creator of the Universe, a picture of a Candle, for HE is the LIGHT of the WORLD, and I picture of a Lamb, the Lamb of GOD, who takes away the sin of the world, and my sin. Truly, HE is our LODGE of LOVE, and in HIS LODGE are many rooms, filled with the fullness of HIS love. In each room, in HIS LODGE, we find CHRIST for whatever our needs may be. I am learning things rarely go "picture perfect" in our lives...just at those little simple ornaments aren't perfect, and neither are our decorating skills. But I am so thankful that our CHRISTmas decorations and gifts are not what CHRISTmas is all about...but it is about JESUS CHRIST, our "LODGE of LOVE," being the greatest and perfect GIFT of all. "Thanks be to GOD for HIS indescribable GIFT 2 Cor. 9:15...our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Kim Hopper shares it best when she sings, "My love for You is overflowing JESUS...and I just wanted You to know."

With all HIS love,

mitzi



"I Just Wanted YOU to Know" by Kyla Rowland

Where there is fear, LORD You will hide me
When winds of danger around me blow
I feel Your arms of grace surround me
And I just wanted You to know

There's strength in knowing You are near me
And peace that You alone bestow
I love you more today than ever
And I just wanted You to know.

You make dry ground where once were oceans
Where once were mountains You make them low
Where there were stones now there is water
You satisfy my thirsty soul.

There's strength in knowing You are near me
And peace that You alone bestow
I love you more today than ever
And I just wanted You to know.

For all the time, I've seen Your glory
And watched You conquer my every foe,
My love for You is overflowing,
And I just wanted,
Oh LORD I needed
My heart is longing for You to know.

"Lodge of Love"

"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart having been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible..." 1 Peter 1:22-23


Dear Friends,

This past Saturday afternoon, our family was invited to a get together. Do you remember the friend who helped me walk up the ramp to the "Top of Old Smoky?" That's the friend who invited us...Bebe and her husband were having a get together for the staff and some of the volunteers who helped out with the Parker campaign. Maybe we got invited cause she felt sorry for me that I couldn't walk up the ramp to Clingman's Dome by myself:). Bebe gave me the directions earlier in the week how to get to her house, telling me she lived in a green lodge looking house which was up on a mountain in southeast Huntsville, about 45 minutes from where I live...if you take the direct route. Hannah Beth and I left our house plenty early cause we had a few errands to run( Dollar Tree, Target, Family CHRISTian Bookstore), before we got there. After we finished our errands, we found ourselves winding along up the mountain road that leads up to the top of the mountain. Right away I turned left when we reached the top, when I should have turned right...and I had just got through calling Bebe and asking directions again cause I left mine at home. Hannah Beth saw a sign that pointed us in the right direction so we turned around and got on the right road. As we drove past the Nature Trail, and kept going and going, down the mountain, I thought, "I think we've gone too far and we had." I called Bebe again, and she gave me directions again, and told me to be careful to make the hairpin curve to the left before I got to her house or I'd run off the mountain. Wow, she was right about that...it was a hairpin turn that led you straight off the mountain! There were no guard rails there either to keep you from going over. There just across from the curve was this beautiful green, lodge of a mountain home on the side of the mountain. I was expecting a smaller green lodge looking house, but this really looked like a lodge! Dangling from the rails of the deck on the second story were white CHRISTmas lights to brighten up the cloudy and cold afternoon. Bebe and her husband had been on the deck making preparations for their guest when we arrived and came to greet us at the front door with a very warm and friendly greeting. Wow, was all I could say, what a beautiful home. Bebe invited us in and introduced us to her granddaughter who had been helping her grandmother and granddaddy get ready for the gathering that evening.

Hannah Beth and I arrived earlier than the others because we had talked about going hiking if Bebe was where she could go, but she was still getting ready, so we stayed there to help out. We ditched the hike on the mountain(and I will look forward to that another time), and hiked over thru their "lodge" of a home. I love rustic outdoor woodsy stuff so this was right down my alley. Our bedroom at home is kind of decorated like a room in a lodge with hickory wood floors, a quilt that has canoes, bears, and mountains on it, and decor on the walls with a mountain scene, bears, canoes, etc. We have a stand in the corner of our room with rod and reels. Bebe's house was right down my alley. No wonder me and Bebe hit it off:). Her kitchen was huge, with oak cabinets lining 4 walls, a sink by the window and another sink on a large table in the middle of the kitchen for preparing food. There was lots and lots of counter space and it was amazingly clean...I said that because my counters at home don't stay amazingly clean, but amazingly cluttered. In the large dining area was a huge wooden table that would seat close to two dozen folks or more. Bebe told us someone in their church, I think, made it for them, along with the beautiful oak mantels that were above their fireplaces, one inside the den and the other fireplace outside on the deck. The ceilings inside were really tall with large wide beams, with a loft overlooking the den. As we walked out on the deck which gave a great view of that hairpin turn overlooking the mountain, BeBe and her husband were working on getting a roaring fire going in the fireplace. Later on we roasted marshmallows out there. While we waited for the others to arrive, Bebe's husband offered to show us his "ManCave"- his corner of the world in their house. He led us downstairs and took we looked around the "cave" which had a full kitchen, recreational area with pool table, TV and lounge chair, and workshop. Then he showed us his TV room and large wrap around couch-pretty nice for a "CAVE." After the tour of the "cave," we went upstairs and toured the rest of the "lodge." In one bedroom were three beds, a big one, medium one, and little one...reminding me of Goldilocks and the three bears. Adjoining it was a room that used to be Bebe and her husband's Master bedroom, but I later learned that their Minister of Music and his family drives up from Birmingham and stays with them on the weekends...so Bebe and her husband have moved upstairs. Wow, that is love, giving up your bedroom. Bebe's granddaughter took over and finished our tour of the spacious home as Bebe's husband had to get back to grilling hotdogs and hamburgers. She showed us the large tile showers and I honestly lost the girls at one point, because the house was so big. Up over the garage is a bonus room, a large room with at least 9 beds, maybe more. The night before, Bebe's granddaughter had several of her friends over to spend the night, and Bebe said her granddaughter has friends over often to spend the night. This past week, Bebe was expecting 30 or so of her family to come and stay for Thanksgiving...down from 50 that are usually there.

During our tour, the guests started arriving with their yummy dishes to go with the burgers, like cheesy clam chowder soup, pineapple casserole, green bean casserole, all kinds of appetizers with shrimp, spinach dip, chips, and salads. Then there were delicious looking desserts including cherry cheesecake. We mingled around visiting with folks we had gotten to know during the campaign,and were glad to be reacquainted with old friends that we met from the first campaign back in 1994. What a sweet time of fellowship it was and a great opportunity to catch up with folks we hadn't seen in a few weeks, or several years. It's amazing to be going full speed working on a campaign, and all of the sudden just like that, you stop. It leaves a huge hole in your life and heart, and you miss those folks you've been working with so hard. Wayne and Lisa and their kids were there and what a blessing to get to visit with them, and thank them for running this race. This dear family had been called out by GOD , and they had laid down their lives and given it their all for the past several months. How thankful we were for their willingness to be on the "front lines," in this battle for good, and for all the sacrifices their family had made in so many ways. After John Eyster asked the blessing, we tried to get Wayne and Lisa to go first, and Wayne would not do it, preferring the women to go first. I think I saw him eventually at the back of the line...that's the kind of guy Wayne is because of CHRIST in him, laying down his life for the brethren, and putting others first. Hannah Beth and I found our way to the large wooden table that I mentioned earlier. We visited with a retired couple that Hannah Beth had worked with at the headquarters doing mailouts. While they talked, I moseyed back to the kitchen and visited with Bebe, Wayne and some others who were standing around. After supper was over, Hannah Beth and I walked out on the decked and hovered around the fire where some where roasting marshmallows. While we were there, one of the staff members the state republican party who had worked so hard on the campaign came out and we started talking. I told him I thought we were going to win this one and he said he did too. He shared how they teach them in school where he majored in Southern Politics at Mississippi St. that they aren't supposed to get close to who they're working for. I guess they're supposed to stay emotionally detached, but he said, try as he might, he had let himself get close to Wayne and this had been a really hard defeat for him personally because of the kind of who Wayne is...humble, honest, a man of integrity that loves CHRIST and people. We talked awhile longer and he was very kind telling how much the Student Project had been such a huge help and encouragement to the staff. While we talked with him, another dear person came out and before that night i had never really talked to her much though she has played a very vital role in all 3 campaigns. As she shared her heart about some struggles she was having, and her walk with CHRIST in the midst of it, I was so blessed by her conversation. Here she has had the opportunity to work with some of the most influential people in the world, through her job in Washington D.C. working for another Congressman, and she was just as down to earth as could be. Our hearts were drawn closer together through our love for CHRIST and sharing our weaknesses and HIS faithfulness to help us along this journey. It got pretty cold on that deck, even with the warm fellowship we were having and the fire burning in the fireplace. As it got colder, Hannah Beth and I went inside to say our goodbyes, and began our journey home. It was hard to leave cause I don't know when we will ever see some of these folks again this side of heaven. Some we had met in previous campaigns and the campaign is what GOD has used to bring our paths together, three of them now.

Earlier this week, I was reflecting on our wonderful evening of fellowship at Bebe's "Lodge." The Williams' home is definitely a "Lodge of Love," a place where love abounds and is shared with all those who enter its doors. Bebe and her husband had this house built with love in mind. With three grown kids that all have families of their own, they are at a season in life they could have downscaled...instead they built a home designed to accommodate large groups of people. From my experience Saturday night, the LORD is using Bebe and her husband, and their home to love on a lot of folks. Our particular bunch was still healing from a defeat a few weeks before...a defeat that really hurt. We hurt for our friends, Wayne and Lisa Parker, who seem so deserving to serve our district in Congress, but GOD has a different plan. Everyone in that house just about knew that in our head, 'It was GOD's will," but we were still working on getting that into our hearts. It was a good time just to be with everyone and talk, and let GOD continue to love on us through each other and continue to heal those wounds.

As I thought about that "Lodge of Love," it reminded me of what heaven's going to be like where JESUS is making preparations for HIS chosen ones. In fact, I started to name this email, "A Taste of Heaven," because our fellowship and surroundings that night was a little bit of heaven on earth for me. 'Lodge of Love" popped in my mind and I felt like that's what the HOLY SPIRIT wanted me to call it instead. JESUS told his disciples in John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled (our hearts were troubled by the outcome of the elections); believe in GOD, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." That "Lodge of Love," in heaven, is a place HE is preparing right now, for HIS children, to dwell in forever and ever. "... You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living GOD. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven," Hebrews 12: 22-23. Our "Lodge of Love" in heaven is a place where we will be with our LORD and SAVIOR face to face, no more walking by faith as we have had to do on earth. We will understand all those mysteries when we get there like why did GOD lead Wayne Parker to run three times and he didn't win? GOD will have all the answers...and show us HIS plans and purposes. This is the time we have to trust HIM, WHO is so trustworthy, and we can't always understand the reason "why," this side of heaven. There will be no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow or suffering and we will enjoy the perfect fellowship of our brother's and sister in CHRIST who have gone on before us. "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,"Now the dwelling of GOD is with men, and HE will live with them. They will be HIS people, and GOD HIMself will be with them and be their GOD. HE will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,for the old order of things has passed away" Rev. 21:3-4. What a sweet, sweet time of fellowshipping that will be...forever and ever. We will be singing praises to GOD our FATHER who loves us "with an everlasting love,"Jer.31:3 and Who sent HIS Son to earth to die on a wooden cross so that shall not p"whosoever believes in HIM perish but have everlasting life," John 3:16. I am looking forward to that "Lodge of Love" in heaven and being with CHRIST and my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and friends who are ones already there enjoying their reward in heaven. And there will be a feast up there, the marriage supper of the LAMB, with all kinds of scrumptious food, and we'll probably sit around a big table like we did at the "Lodge of Love." "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" Rev. 19:9. My thorn in the flesh here has served me well to help keep me uncomfortable enough in this world, that the "Lodge of Love" above looks wonderful. The older I get, the more dear the love that CHRIST has for me and has shed abroad that love in our hearts for one another becomes more dear to me. I can't imagine how glorious that love is going to be in heaven when we have perfect love for each other. There'll be no more misunderstandings, unforgiviness, arguments, or hurt feelings, just pure love for one another, truly a "Lodge of Love."

A couple of nights ago, Bebe emailed me and she was told me she hoped I didn't forget the way to her house cause she wanted us to get together for that hike we missed Saturday evening. I emailed her back and told her I wouldn't forget how to get back to her house..well, on second thought, maybe I shouldn't have spoken so confidently:). As I thought about getting lost on the way to her "Lodge of Love," it put sadness in my heart, as I thought of those who are lost or lonely, separated in this world from CHRIST, because of their sins. They don't know the way to the eternal "Lodge of Love," CHRIST and HIS heaven. Some have never heard how to get their name in the Lamb's Book of Life that is required for our entrance to heaven, like my friend last week, Michelle. GOD used HIS Word in a bad movie to lead her on a desperate search to find her way to CHRIST. As she read HIS WORD, and went to a Bible study, she learned she had to believe that CHRIST died for her, rose from the dead, and repent of her sins. Since JESUS came into her life many years ago, when she knelt in her home and prayed to receive HIM, she has been a beacon of CHRIST's light, showing the lost the way to "The Lodge of Love." In John 14:6 JESUS says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes to the FATHER except through Me." JESUS, our Creator, the Lover of our Souls, our dear Savior who poured HIS life out to death for you and me, WHO was resurrected on the third day, and was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses, is the ONLY WAY, to the FATHER, there is no other road to this "LODGE of LOVE." "...CHRIST died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that HE was buried, that HE was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that HE appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, HE appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time," I Cor. 15:3-6. All other roads lead to Hell, and fiery flames that burn the souls of those outside of CHRIST forever and ever..."where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. CHRIST has left each one of HIS chosen ones here to be a "Lodge of Love," through CHRIST living in our hearts, to share HIS love with others and show the way to HIM. Oftentimes, GOD enlarges our "Lodge of Love," by allowing sufferings in our lives. Those difficult sufferings HE uses to enlarge our capacity to experience HIS wonderful love more, and allow HIM to love others more deeply through us. I felt that deep love Saturday night in the beautiful mountain lodge home of our friends who love CHRIST and share HIS love with all who enter their "Lodge." Truly the Williams home, as well as their hearts, is a "Lodge of Love."

Earlier this week my friend Sheila Heil shared with me a story called John 3:16, and it reminded me of the "Lodge of Love," that CHRIST uses to draw others to HIM.
John 3:16

A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner, the people were in and out of the cold.

The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying to sell many papers. He walked up to a policeman and said, "Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you? You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and down the alley and it's awful cold in there for tonight. Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "you go down the street to that big white house and you knock on the door.

When they come out the door you just say John 3:16, and they will let you in."

So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the door, and a lady answered. He looked up and said, "John 3:16.." The lady said, "Come on in, Son." She took him in and she sat him down in a split bottom rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went off. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself: John 3:16...I don't understand it, but it sure makes a cold boy warm.

Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry?" He said, "Well, just a little. I haven't eaten in a couple of days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food," The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat any more...Then he thought to himself: John 3:16...Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16... I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out. The lady came in and got him.. She took him to a room, tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out the lights. As he lay in the darkness and looked out the window at the snow coming down on that cold night, he thought to himself: John 3:16...I don't understand it but it sure makes a tired boy rested.

The next morning the lady came back up and took him down again to that same big table full of food. After he ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up a big old Bible.

She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face. "Do you understand John 3:16?" she asked gently. He replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it was last night when the policeman told me to use it," She opened the Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace, he gave his heart and life to Jesus.

He sat there and thought: John 3:16......don't understand it, but it sure makes a lost boy feel safe.

You know, I have to confess I don't understand it either, how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how Jesus would agree to do such a thing. I don't understand the agony of the Father and every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die. I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end. I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

When we share HIS blessings and love with others, GOD supernaturally uses that love to draw others to HIM, whether it be those who don't know CHRIST or those of who do, ..."love never fails," I Cor.13:8. Often times it takes more than just sharing a Bible verse with someone to lead someone to CHRIST...it takes food, a warm bed, a warm touch, a caring smile, and the laying down of our lives in a plethora of ways to build a bridge from their heart to HIS. It takes "JESUS with flesh on"...and we are "JESUS with flesh on" to everyone we meet. Week after week, our pastor and his wife and family, open their home up on Friday nights to our young people, not only in our church, but anyone who will come. They cook for them, provide them a place to hang out, teach them the Word of GOD, and love on them. The love that they show our young folks is bearing fruit in our church family, as each week it seems more and more young couples and singles are coming to our church, coming to know CHRIST, growing in HIM through a loving church family, and being a witness for CHRIST during the week...and I am very thankful to their ministry to my own children.

I know my heart has been refreshed and encouraged by the love we experienced at the Williams "Lodge of Love," last week. ..encouraged to love others with love in action, not just words, love that feeds others, for the physical body and spiritually, provides their needs( the Williams had a huge closet full of blankets, sheets, and pillows, just for their guests comfort) and makes them feel loved. Love that takes time to listen to others, encourage them, pray with those who are hurting, and share GOD's Word to give them hope. I desire GOD to use my heart, our home and our family more to be a "Lodge of Love," to show others the way to CHRIST. We don't have to have a huge house ...but we do have to have yielded hearts and a heart full of CHRIST's love. CHRIST can use our hearts to be a "Lodge of Love" to reach out and share HIS love to those who are "searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me."

Casting Crowns sings a song called, "Does Anybody Hear Her," that reminds me of those who are lost and don't know CHRIST, those who are "searching for the hope that's tucked away in you and me." I was like that before I knew CHRIST ,"running a 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction," when GOD used my college basketball coach to love me and cause me to "thirst" for what she had...what she had was a personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST that flowed out into everything she did...the way she coached, lived her life, and loved her players. She opened up her heart her home, her "Lodge of Love," and her life to us players and shared GOD's love with us. GOD eventually drew me in...and saved my soul. You can see the video to "Does Anybody Hear Her," by clicking on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhOJW4Uwy3c .



At our wedding, 25 years ago, we had a song sung as a prayer, called "Take Our Love, LORD". I don't remember who wrote the words, but the song fits perfectly with CHRIST taking our love, our hearts and our homes and making them a "Lodge of Love." This song, this prayer was a desire that GOD put in our hearts from the beginning of our marriage. HE has answered this prayer and desire through the years in our lives to share HIS love with others,not always in the ways we thought HE would, but in the ways that HE knew best. We have often fallen short and missed many opportunities, but HE continues to work in our lives to answer our prayers, and our hearts desires...to be a "Lodge of Love." We are a work in progress, a "Lodge" still very much under construction:)...that desires to share HIS love with those around us. Thank you, Bebe and Larry for sharing your "Lodge of Love," with us and warming our hearts with CHRIST's love on a cold night.

With all HIS love and a Thankful Heart,

mitzi



"Take our Love LORD, make it YOURS"

Take our love LORD, make it YOUR love
Take our love LORD, make it YOUR love
Take our love LORD, make it YOUR love
Take it all LORD, make it YOURS.

Take our heart LORD, make it YOUR heart
Take our heart LORD, make it YOUR heart
Take our heart LORD, make it YOUR heart
Take it all LORD make it YOURS.

Take our home LORD, make it YOUR home
Take our home LORD, make it YOUR home
Take our home LORD, make it YOUR home
Take it all LORD, make it YOURS.

"O soul of mine, be extravagant in love of JESUS!" -Springs in the Valley, Nov.27

"On Top of Old Smoky" Part 2

"You did not choose ME but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the FATHER in MY name, HE may give to you." John 15:16

Dear Friends

All that the believer has must come from CHRIST, but it comes solely through the channel of the Spirit of grace. Moreover, as all blessings thus flow to you through the HOLY SPIRIT, so also no good thing can come out of you in holy thought, devout worship, or gracious actions, apart from the sanctifying operation of the same SPIRIT.-Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Nov. 21


When I was a little girl and teenager growing up in the United Methodist church, we used to sing the song, "I have decided to follow JESUS, I have decided to follow JESUS, I have decided to follow JESUS, no turning back, no turning back" When I was around 8 years old, I remember stirrings in my heart during our church services that yearned for something more in my life that just a church service but I didn't know exactly what that yearning was at that time. I now realize, even at that tender age, GOD had put a hole in my heart, that only HE could fill, so that I would yearn for HIM. When I was about 10 years old, our neighbors invited us to their Vacation Bible School, and at the pastor's urging at the end of the little sermon he gave, I went up the aisle to "accept JESUS" as my LORD and SAVIOR. When I was 12, I was "confirmed" in the Methodist church. Several of my friends and I went through a "doctrine class" for several weeks." At the end of that time, we all went up to the altar and got "confirmed"...and to be honest I'm not sure what that means. I know there was no change in my life at that point. During my teenage years there were various crusades around our area, and I made the rounds at those too, going up at the altar calls, trying to make sure I was "in CHRIST." It wasn't until many years later when GOD really did save me, and change me, and give me a new heart, that I have come to realize that I wasn't "a new creature" in CHRIST until I was almost 20 years old. As I shared last week, nothing was changed the next day after all these times of "deciding to follow JESUS" until GOD chose me, at HIS appointed time, to become HIS child. That appointed time was at the age of 19, at a Youth Revival at Central Baptist Church in Decatur, Al. The "call" that I responded to, was not even for salvation...it was a challenge to "marry only a CHRISTian, date only a CHRISTian, and save my body for marriage." That was what I thought I was responding to, when JESUS CHRIST changed me forever. I remember as the preacher invited anyone who wanted to do that to come down front and make it public. I was grasping to the back of the pew in front of me. I wanted to do that, make these commitments to honor CHRIST in my body, dating life and future marriage, although I had already failed miserably at the first two commitments, but I was still wrestling.in my pew. Finally, the HOLY SPIRIT took me up front, just me and HIM, and that's when CHRIST gave me a new heart, gave me HIS HOLY SPIRIT, a new direction, a new place to spend eternity, and cleansed me from all my sins through HIS blood that HE shed for me on the cross. I knew all those answers since I was old enough to know about JESUS since our parents were faithful to raise us in church, but I didn't know HIM personally until then. I felt so cleansed and pure, and a joy that I had never, ever known before. This was the beginning of a new journey for me, the journey "to the TOP," and the HOLY SPIRIT immediately began teaching me through helping me understand GOD's WORD like i never had before, and bringing people into my life to help me learn and grow as a CHRISTian. Without HIS help to progress in this journey, daily, I would turn around and could do nothing.

I wrote last week about "Clingman's Dome," and how the LORD sent me a helper, to assist me to the "Top of Old Smoky." A dear friend from here, that "happened" to be walking up the ramp, as I was coming down after making it halfway and turning around, assisted me to the "Top of Old Smoky." I have been thinking so much about the HOLY SPIRIT's help in my life to help me on my journey "to the Top," including how HE brings us to CHRIST, as I shared above, and how HE helps us once we are "in CHRIST." Last week, I shared a few ways the HOLY SPIRIT helps us and now it seems that each time I read my Bible HE shows me more and more ways that HE helps me.

Holy Spirit Draws us to CHRIST
The reason I started out with that song and that testimony of me "deciding to follow JESUS," over and over as a child, and young person, is because it's become very clear to me, the older I get as a CHRISTian, that I've come to realize, I didn't "decide to follow JESUS," on this journey "to the Top." HE chose me, and the HOLY SPIRIT drew me to HIM. "No one can come to ME, unless the FATHER who sent ME draws him," JESUS says, in John 6:44. "Blessed be the GOD and FATHER our LORD JESUS CHRIST, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in CHRIST, just as HE chose us in HIM before the foundation of the world..." says Paul in Ephesians 1:3,4. JESUS said to his disciples in John 15 :16, "You did not choose me, I chose you...to go and bear fruit..."

HOLY SPIRIT Bears Fruit
Bearing fruit is another way the HOLY SPIRIT helps us in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 says "The fruit of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Do you know how we can know that the HOLY SPIRIT is truly living inside of us? By examining the fruit that our lives bear through HIS SPIRIT...Is my life characterized by love...joy...peace...patience...kindness...goodness...faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? I can tell you, I stumble in these different areas daily...but the HOLY SPIRIT is ever producing this fruit, in increasing amounts in the lives of true children of GOD. Through the HOLY SPIRIT in us, and the gifts HE gives us, HE uses us to encourage and help others along their journey "to the top," by discipling, encouraging, and helping those CHRIST brings into our lives.

HOLY Spirit Bears Witness We are Children of GOD
Last week I shared with you one of the amazing things about the Spirit is how when you can meet a stranger, and feel like you know that person and have a common bond with them within minutes because you both have the HOLY SPIRIT living inside you...."The Spirit HIMSELF bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of GOD, and if children heirs -heirs of GOD and joint heirs with CHRIST." Romans 8:16,17. As I read in the Springs in the Valley this week, I am reminded as heirs of GOD, the privilege that is ours as HIS son's and daughter's to come and ask of HIM, our dear "Abba, FATHER..." which literally means..."Daddy, Daddy." "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will have give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?...If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly FATHER give the HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask HIM? Luke 11:11-13. I mentioned last week that the HOLY SPIRIT helps us pray when we don't know what we ought to pray...Romans 8:26, "...The SPIRIT himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

JESUS uses HIS HOLY SPIRIT to convict us of our sins, and helps us to forgive those who sin against us. "And when HE (the HOLY SPIRIT) has come, HE will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness and judgment." John 16:8. I know that I was convicted by the HOLY SPIRIT of my sins much before CHRIST invaded my life and changed me...and thankfully, as HIS child on the road "to the Top," HIS HOLY SPIRIT inside me continues to convict me of my sin daily. I am convicted by the HOLY SPIRIT that as a young CHRISTian, I was more sensitive to sin in some areas than I am now. Neglecting GOD's Word will make us callous to sin that we once were very sensitive to and makes it easy for bitterness to creep into our lives. The HOLY SPIRIT helps keep our hearts tender, as we obey CHRIST's Word. He gives us the strength to forgive others when they have sinned against us, the way CHRIST forgives us when we sin against HIM. Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your FATHER will not forgive your sins." Psalm 119:9 says, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to YOUR Word." John MacArthur shares in his One Year Bible that the Holy Spirit purifies our lives by means of the WORD of GOD and is a picture of the New Covenant, "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD," I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their GOD and they shall be MY people,"Jeremiah 31:33. "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." Ezekiel 25-27. If you have ever been confused what the New Covenant is like I was until recently...that's it in the above passages. It is CHRIST giving us a new heart, in exchange for our heart's of stone, and putting HIS SPIRIT in us and causing us to walk in HIS statutes. HE is our GOD and we are HIS people, the sheep of HIS pasture...hum, does that sound like, "I have decided to follow JESUS?" IT is so comforting to me to know "GOD has set HIS love on us and HE chooses us. In Deut. 7:7, it states," The LORD did not set HIS love upon you and choose you, because you were more in number than any other people...but because the LORD loves you." What a wonderful assurance to know this for ourselves and bask in HIS love for us.
These passages give me peace that when I have been obedient and shared CHRIST with someone, it's not up to me for them to come to know CHRIST, that is the role of the HOLY SPIRIT. Only HE can draw them, and choose them, and give them a new heart. I can pray with them the "sinner's prayer," a jillion times, but unless the HOLY SPIRIT is drawing them, they aren't going to be "reborn" when they finish praying. I can give them a false sense of security that they are "reborn", when really they aren't. My role is to be obedient and tell others about JESUS...and invite them to CHRIST. But if HE has not prepared the soil of their hearts to receive HIM at that time, that frees me up to love them and sometimes this involves a great cost to us. Paul who knew the price of bringing others to CHRIST when he said, " I will very gladly spend and be expended for your souls," 2 Cor 12:15. What price I am willing to pay for others to come to know CHRIST? JESUS paid the ultimate price for me and calls me to "follow in HIS steps." He calls us to pray for them, and accept them right where they are walking and patiently "wait on the LORD" to work in their life as HE has been patient with me in my life.

In last week's email, I shared it wouldn't matter if I "chickened out," and didn't make it "to the Top of Old Smoky," which I didn't without Bebe's help. But it does matter, very much, if in this life of faith, this journey to "Heaven," if I grieve the HOLY SPIRIT and turn around, becoming involved in sin, or loose faith, and discourage those around me...it matters tremendously. Earlier this week, in our family devotions, we read of how our faith in CHRIST will influence future generations. John MacArthur shared how he was blessed with a wonderful CHRISTian heritage, and he shared examples from the Bible of Abraham. Though Sarah became impatient and Abraham disobeyed GOD, Abraham believed that GOD would keep HIS promise and GOD honored Abraham's faith by giving him Isaac and descendants too numerous to count. John MacArthur shared that one man's faith, Abraham's, literally changed the world and that the faith we use today will influence others tomorrow. He encouraged me, that even despite our failures, GOD, "is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us," Ephesians 3:20. And that power, is the HOLY SPIRIT. I was convicted by HIM of some areas that I used to be more diligent in guard my heart and how I grieve the HOLY SPIRIT, and quench the HOLY SPIRIT, when I ignore HIS promptings and willfully sin. Eph. 4:30 says, "Do not grieve (to give or cause sorrow) the Holy Spirit with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption," and I Thes. 5:19 says, "Do not quench the Holy Spirit." I have also been convicted this week of some areas of my life that I used to be more zealous for serving CHRIST. As the years have gone by, I have become "sleepy," in some areas like those guys in Pilgrim's Progress that laid down by the side of the road and went to sleep on their journey to heaven. The HOLY SPIRIT warns me to "wake up," and GOD uses HIS HOLY SPIRIT in me, and in you, to encourage us, and keep pressing on. Last week's email was convicting to me, and continues to be, as I desire to get back that "FIRST LOVE" for CHRIST that I used to have...when telling folks that I met about JESUS was foremost in my mind, instead of on the backburner, when leaving a tract at a restaurant or wherever we might be was a way of life for me, instead of forgetting about leaving them at all.

Sometimes, it's easy for us to become discouraged on our journey "to the Top," and forget that the HOLY SPIRIT is helping us. CHRIST loves us so much and has sent HIS HOLY SPIRIT to help us...If you think you're not doing a great job at witnessing just read what GOD used to lead my friend, Michelle Pavlik, to CHRIST many years ago.

I talked with a friend, earlier this week, and her zeal to share CHRIST, through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, is so very evident. Michelle teaches drama through our homeschool covering at church, and as we visited at our pastor's daughter's bridal shower, Tuesday night, she was bubbling over telling me about their recent play and how CHRIST was shared through it. Michelle and her husband, mother, sister, and friend, that she and her husband witnessed to many years ago and came to know CHRIST, all attend our church. As she and I talked she said, "We waste so much time talking about things that don't matter, and we never know if that person that GOD brought across our paths may not live the next few moments." As she shared her testimony with me,(and she gave me permission to share it with you) she told me how she and her husband were raised Catholic, and didn't know that CHRIST had died on the cross to save them for their sins...they didn't know they were in danger of burning in hell forever for their sins. One night she and her husband took their two young daughter's to see a movie, "The Omen." She said she thought the movie was about animals. The HOLY SPIRIT used a scene from that movie, where the priest read a passage from Revelation which started her on a frantic search..."and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life"...she had to know how to get her name in that book. Only the HOLY SPIRIT could put that desire in her that intense. She went home and found her Mother's huge Bible and read 22 chapters in it searching how to get her name in the Lamb's Book of Life. When she did learn more about what CHRIST had done for her to give her eternal life, at a Bible study her brother was having (she had never been invited because they just thought she was too "bad" and it was useless to invite her), her heart was gripped with conviction. She went home and accepted CHRIST in her bedroom, and her husband did the same thing in another room. Now I don't recommend using "The Omen," for a witnessing tool:), but the point is, GOD can use what HE will to save someone...and HE used HIS WORD, through the HOLY SPIRT, in that movie to start her searching for HIM.

Isn't it amazing how GOD can take a movie like that, and use it for good (HIS WORD in it) to bring not only her and her husband to CHRIST, but their family members, and their kids, grandkids, and all the tons of other folks they have had the opportunity to share CHRIST and HIS redeeming love with through the years. "In this the love of GOD was made manifest among us, that GOD sent HIS only Son into the world, so that we might live through HIM. In this is love, not that we have loved GOD but that HE loved us and sent HIS SON to be the propitiation for our sins...So we have come to know and to believe the love that GOD has for us. GOD is love." ! John 4:9,10,16. My friend was telling me that at the time she and her husband were saved, they were working in a bar in Chicago. She would be telling people in the bar they were going to hell if they didn't accept CHRIST, and serving them drinks:). Isn't GOD so gracious and good to us... to use us as baby CHRISTians, wherever we are...HE doesn't clean us up before HE saves us...HE loves us "Just as I Am." They were so on fire for CHRIST, and still are, they witnessed on the streets up there, they had a ministry to priests and nuns telling them that they were going to hell if they didn't accept JESUS CHRIST as their LORD and SAVIOR. Their family, who used to didn't want to be around them for her bad mouth before she was saved, now didn't want to be around them because at their Italian Catholic gatherings, all she wanted to talk about was JESUS, and witness to them! When JESUS gets a hold of you and changes you, look out....a true believer cannot not share CHRIST with others. Nowadays, Michelle, and her husband conduct Bible studies in their home on Sat. night, she encourages and disciples women in their upward journey in CHRIST, just as the JESUS commanded us too in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the FATHER and of the SON and of the HOLY SPIRIT, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." She told me about a website that teaches us how to effectively share CHRIST with those the LORD brings into our lives that Kirk Cameron narrates and John MacArthur endorses, called www.thewayofthemaster.com.

This Thanksgiving, I am so very thankful for each one of you and the way the HOLY SPIRIT loves me through you and uses you in so many different ways to bear fruit for HIM. I am thankful for the gift of HIS dear HOLY SPIRIT, to help each one of us in so many ways in our upward "journey to the Top." As I think about what it cost my FATHER to give us this GIFT through the death of HIS SON, on Calvary, I am humbled, and cannot take it all in. "How Deep the FATHER's Love for Us,"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjD0lv8hx5o, is a beautiful song that shares how much our FATHER loves us and what it costs HIM to give us this GIFT of HIS HOLY SPIRIT and the gift of forgiveness for our sins. I cannot begin to comprehend the depth of HIS love for me and you. But I know this, I will praise HIM and thank HIM, through the gift of HIS HOLY SPIRIT, for HIS forgiveness for my sins, and HIS wonderful love to me, as long as I have life and breath. Happy Thanksgiving!

With all HIS love,
mitzi




How Deep the FATHER's LOVE for Us by Stuart Townsend


How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

"On Top of Old Smokey"

"I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do-it is my one aspiration: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which GOD in CHRIST JESUS is calling us upward." Philippians 3:13-14

"But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the FATHER will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall-will remind you of, bring to your remembrance, everything that I have told you." John 14:26 Amplified

Dear Friends,

A couple of weekends ago, right before the election, the LORD opened up the opportunity for my husband and me to go to the Smoky Mountains together...just the two of us. The kids were involved in the Student Project for the Parker campaign, and our dear friends, the Greene's, were singing at Dollywood for the last two days of the Gospel Music Festival. It was one of those desires that I had tucked away in my heart for months, but didn't know if we'd be able to do it or not. The LORD was gracious, and after a very busy week for both of us, my husband and I took off on Friday morning for the beautiful trip up to the mountains. It takes us about 4 hours to get there, and we made it in time for me to see the Greene's sing for the last show for the day at Dollywood. What a dear blessing to see our friends and hear them sing encouragement to my heart through their songs of the LORD. That night we rode up to Gatlinburg and ate at "Bubba Gump's" restaurant. The streets were packed for Halloween, families and young folks mingling up and down the streets in their costumes, trick or treating at the stores along the way who were giving away candy.

The next morning I was up bright and early, and decided to go for a walk while I was waiting on my husband to get ready. Instead of taking the sidewalks in front of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Cracker Barrel, and tons of other eating joints nearby, I decided to climb a steep hill behind our motel. I haven't done that in a long, long time, and skidded downward a few times, but I made it to the top breathing pretty heavily. I walked through the woods at the top of the hill and found a beautiful cove right behind where we were staying. There were several large pastures where cows were grazing, and trees surrounding them...it was so peaceful right behind that strip where all the traffic and stores were located. I walked over to some backroads and made a big square, eventually ending up walking back past the Pancake House, which we hit on Sunday morning, Krispy Kreme, which I've never been to up there, and Cracker Barrel. When I got back from exploring, Johnny was up and getting ready to make the Greene's morning and noon show. Taranda sang Johnny's favorite, "My Redeemer," by Nicole C. Mullen,and mine, "GOD is Singing over Me." Tony sang a song that has become so real to me the older and slower I get, "I Can't Even Walk Without YOU Holding My Hand." Belle, their four year old, sang, 'You Are My Sunshine," and "Their Ain't No Bugs Crawling on Me," and did such a sweet job with that...I gave her a big hug afterwards and checked to make sure she didn't have any bugs crawling on her:).

After visiting a few minutes with the Greene's afterwards, and getting goodbye hugs, we decided to head up Newfound Gap Road out of Gatlinburg and ride through the mountains. The leaves were absolutely gorgeous up there, and the call of the wild was luring me away from Dollywood to the beautiful mountains. We had to make a quick stop by the room, and as we did, we decided to take a nap first. Auburn was playing football on TV, so I told Johnny when we woke up that I didn't mind riding up to the mountains if he wanted to stay there and rest and watch the game. He was very kind and planned to go with me, but I knew that just as I would enjoy the leaves, he would enjoy resting that afternoon. So, away I went, not having a clue where I was going, I just was planning to drive up the mountains...me and forty cajillion other folks that day. I have never been up there when it's been so packed on the Newfound Gap Road that leads up to the top of the Smoky Mountains out of Gatlinburg. There were a lot of folks who wanted to see the beautiful leaves, and folks were out hiking, and pulled off on the sides of the road where there were overlooks, taking pictures of themselves and the leaves and mountains. I'm sorry i didn't have our normal camera with us, HB had it with her, and couldn't find the other camera (it was under the seat in the car so you'll just have to use your imagination). As I got about 2/3 up the mountain, all of the sudden the red, yellow and orange leaves looked like they had already all fallen to the ground. Later I realized that those trees that I thought the leaves had fallen off were dead. These trees, spruce firs, are dying due to being attacked by the Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, a small aphidlike insect that the park has been battling for years up there, and acid rain. Up near the top of the mountain, there was snow on the ground from the snowfall a few days before, and kids were making snowballs and throwing them at each other as I eased up the mountain. The diverse scenery from the autumn leaves to the snowfall was so pretty. All of the sudden in just a matter of minutes and miles I had gone from fall to winter. The ice sickles hanging down from the side of the rocks on the mountains were beautiful too.

As I got near the top, I decided to drive up to Clingman's Dome, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clingmans_Dome , the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at 6,641 feet. I had never been there before, but I had seen pictures of the Dome in books. >From the pictures ( you can click on the web site for a picture of it ) I knew that it would be a challenge for me to actually make it to the top of the Dome...not from the aspect of hiking, but overcoming my "fear of heights." I drove the narrow winding mountain road seven more miles, and when I arrived at the top, many other folks had the same idea that gorgeous day. After parking, I began walking up the pretty steep 1/2 mile paved path to Clingman's Dome. There were several places to stop and rest, which folks were doing, but I trudged slowly on and finally made it to Clingman's Dome. I stood at the bottom and looked at the tall tower that had a ramp winding up it to the top. This "ramp" was my weakness. With nothing underneath it, the higher I got the more panicky I would get. I looked at it, and since I was by myself, I thought, why don't I go ahead and try it. It won't matter if I chicken out, nobody is here to see me anyway. So I began to walk up the ramp, and got about half way up,when that old familiar feeling started setting in...panic. I slowed down and after wrestling with myself a few minutes, I decided to turn back around. As I was walking back down the ramp, suddenly I saw Bebe Williams, my dear friend I made through the Parker campaign! I knew Bebe was up in the mountains that week but the miracle of GOD leading our paths together for that moment in time was just amazing to the both of us. I told Bebe about my attempted climb to the top and she immediately grabbed my arm and said "Come on, I'll help you get there." That's the kind of dear person Bebe is...whether it was the Parker campaign where Bebe was the Volunteer Coordinator for the 3rd campaign and whose administrative, organizing skills and love for people just supernaturally flowed through her, or spending time with her husband and son's family in the mountains, she is a person whose desire is to "help you make it to the top." Now I was on Bebe's arm, and she was instructing me to look down at the pavement as we walked. She began telling me about the time that she was a firefighter and she had a rappelling maneuver as part of the requirements of her job. For three years she couldn't do it because she was afraid of the heights, and then one day she decided to try it at a lower height, 25 feet. After conquering that, she was able to go on and make the requirement for the rappelling part of her job. While she talked, we walked up the ramp, I looked down, and before you know it, we had made it to the top. Once up there, I was fine, my fear had left me...it was just that ramp on the way up that was my "Achilles heel." Wow, what an absolute blessing and feeling of accomplishment! I had made it to the top of the Smokies, and was looking out over those beautiful mountains! Once up there, I met Bebe's husband and son and family and took pictures of them with their camera. After a little while of looking out over those beautiful Smoky Mountains, Bebe told her family to go on down and she would join them in a few minutes...she stayed behind so she and I could pray for the Parker campaign. It was hard for both of us to be away from all "battlefield" that weekend of the campaign, but we could bring it and the Parkers before the LORD together right there on "top of Old Smoky" and that's what we did. After Bebe prayed, we walked down the ramp together, and thankfully I had no problems whatsoever going down. I was so thankful that GOD had sent this dear friend along to help me "make it to the top of Old Smoky." I hadn't thought about that song in years until just now. I looked it up and didn't think the lyrics fit too well with this:), but Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Top_Of_Old_Smokey, said the song could be referring to "Clingman's Dome."

Later on, as i have reflected on this amazing encounter with Bebe to help me to the "Top of Old Smoky," a lot of thoughts have gone threw my head...the amazing direction of the LORD to lead our paths together that day was a "coincidence" that we knew was not a coincidence (in fact I don't believe in coincidences) but a powerful testimony to us of the LORD's divine direction in our lives and how HE leads our paths when we don't even realize it..."The mind of man plans his ways, but the LORD directs our steps." Proverbs 16:9. We both were very much reminded of this that day as we met in a the huge Smoky Mountains National Park, on a ramp, at a place I'd never been, for a time that certainly sealed our friendship as she helped me to the top of the Smokies. After we came down, and Bebe walked on down the hill with her family, I walked about 100 yards on the Appalachian Trail, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail, where it was at it's highest point along the 2100 mile trail, just to say I had been on it. Now I have only 2, 174 miles and a few feet left to walk the whole trail:). When I saw the "High Level of Bear Activity" sign (3 miles ahead) and I had left my bear spray in the room, I thought that was a good place to turn around...Johnny has invested a lot of money in me for me to get eaten by a bear on "Top of Old Smoky:). Bebe has hiked 140 miles of the Appalachian Trail and wants me to join her sometimes, but I don't know about those bears:)...actually it's not the bears that I'm worried about...it's my allergies to the woods that would get me first:).

As i thought about Bebe helping me "to the top of Old Smoky", it occurred to me how this was a picture of the CHRISTian life. GOD uses us in each others lives to help us "make it to the top,"- Heaven, to encourage one another along this often difficult and rugged trail. I've written about that over and over in my emails, how GOD has used you and others along my journey to help me so very much, and how I love HIM and you and appreciate you so much for helping me and my family.

CHRIST also reminded me of another HELPER, HIMSELF, through the HOLY SPIRIT, that HE sends to indwell in us when saves us from our sins. Before we can even began to be on the trail to the top, the first step of the journey in faith is believing in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, that GOD sent HIM to die for your sins and mine, and that HE rose from the grave 3 days later. The amazing part about this is that before we come to know CHRIST we are dead spiritually. Unless the LORD draws us to HIM by HIS love and grace and gives us the faith to believe, we can't be saved. "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of GOD, not as a result of works that no one should boast."Ephesians 2:8-9. At the same time, HE tells us, "And you will seek ME and find ME when you search from Me with all of your heart, I will be found by you, says the LORD..."Jeremiah 29:13-14. It is a supernatural work of the HOLY SPIRIT to come into our lives, and make us a new creature. In Ezekiel 11:19-20 GOD says, "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they might walk in My statutes and keep MY judgments and do them; and they shall be MY people, and I will be their GOD."
It is a mystery, and a "Miracle in Me," as the HOLY SPIRIT comes and dwells in us, making us a new creature in CHRIST, changing us from our old fleshly desires, giving us new ones that glorify GOD, and helping us in our journey upward to make it "to the top." JESUS spoke often of HIS HELPER HE was sending to HIS disciples and to those of us who would come after them that HE chose to be HIS children.

In John 14:16 HE assured them, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever."

JESUS told His disciples in John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."

In John 16:7 He said, "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. "

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." John 16:13
As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. I John 2:27

"When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me." John 15:26



I remember when CHRIST gave me a new heart at 19. I had tried to change before from my sinful life...went to church, and was even the President of the Fellowship of CHRISTian Athletes at our college. But I couldn't change myself, no matter how much I willed to, I couldn't make myself a CHRISTian and stop doing the things I was doing. By this time in my life, I had walked the aisle many, many times at church, at revivals, and crusades and the next day I was always the same person. But not anymore...after CHRIST changed me that night I walked down the aisle at Central Baptist, I had a joy I had never known and felt like I had been cleansed in the River of Life, and I had! I had a new desire for everything that concerned the LORD...I didn't realize at the time this included everything in my life. Even though I had read my Bible through the years and even had daily devotions, it was just something I did. Now I wanted to read the Bible, and it was like the words came alive to me for the first time...and they did because the Holy Spirit, my HELPER, was helping me to understand GOD's WORD like I never had before. HE was living inside of me and teaching me. It was amazing. Suddenly it was as if the scales had fallen from my eyes, and they had.... As John Newton's beautiful hymn says: "I was blind but now I see,"and I could not get enough of the WORD in my life.

I remember before my husband became a CHRISTian, we were weren't married then, the HOLY SPIRIT taught me that I needed to separate myself from my boyfriend because he wasn't a CHRISTian and I didn't need to be around him. I don't know if I knew the verse yet in 2 Cor. 6:14 about not being bound with unbelievers, but the HOLY SPIRIT was teaching me that lesson from the beginning. Then HE threw a curve ball at me. My boyfriend (husband now), called me a month later and told me HE had accepted JESUS CHRIST in his basement reading the Bible. I was skeptical to say the least, and thought this was just a ploy to get me to go back to him (which I had done in the past over and over). But when I eventually saw him again, and when I talked to him, I could tell this was not the same guy that I had been dating for the past 4 years. Something radically different had change about him. The first thing the HOLY SPIRIT helped him do outwardly was clean up his mouth...wow, that was amazing, amazing grace...cause he had a really foul mouth after growing up "in jail,"-his Dad was the Sheriff and Johnny's playmates were the prisoners. He changed Johnny's heart, he was so much more gentle and patient, and just different. He looked different and he talked different. His priorities like mine changed immediately...He went from working out all the time, and being with friends who were bad influences,( course he was a bad influence on them too), to spending time at Dee and Sandy Bryan's house, new friends he met at First Baptist, who took him under their wing, and loved Johnny and taught him how to grow as a CHRISTian. He lost most of his old friends, cause they didn't want to hang around him anymore when he tried to witness to them and didn't do the things they did anymore. As a young CHRISTian, the HOLY SPIRIT taught him that he didn't need to be spending so much time with them, he needed to be getting stronger in the LORD and spending more time with CHRISTians at this point.
I remember being amazed at some of the things Johnny just seemed to know even though he had only been a CHRISTian for a short time. From the start, the HOLY SPIRIT has helped Johnny to be very discerning and most of the time very accurate about people's character. We were sitting in church one Sunday morning after we had been married for a short time, and he said something about someone that I didn't think nice or true at all. A few years down the road, even though that person was active in church at that time and seemed to be really growing in the LORD, he returned to the world of drugs and later died from drug abuse. The discernment the Holy SPIRIT gave to Johnny as a young CHRISTian proved to be true.
Another occasion I remember the HOLY SPIRIT teaching Johnny was about Halloween. I remember while I was a student at the University of Montevallo, Johnny telling me about the evils of Halloween for the first time. We weren't married then, or dating, but when he told me about the origins of Halloween and what goes on among witches during that time of the year, I doubted him and didn't see anything wrong with celebrating Halloween...I had done that all my life. The HOLY SPIRIT was teaching Johnny about all these things as a new CHRISTian and he was soaking them up...and trying to pass them on to me. As you can see, i have been a bit "stubborn and rebellious" in my upward journey, and sometimes, have had to learn lessons the hard way...through pain and suffering.

As an older CHRISTian in the LORD now, i am becoming more and more aware of how the HOLY SPIRIT leads and directs my paths, as HE did leading Bebe and i together that day. As I'm getting older, I am realizing more and more how I have to depend on the HOLY SPIRIT to help me in everything...and that's a good thing. The song I mentioned Tony Greene singing, "I Can't Even Walk without YOU Holding My Hand," reminds me of Bebe leading me, with my arm in hers, up that ramp to the" top of Old Smoky." The chorus says, "I can't even walk without YOU holding my hand, the mountains too high and the valley's too wide, Down on my knees is where I've learned to stand, LORD I can't even walk, without YOU holding my hand." The HOLY SPIRIT leads me by the hand on my upward journey. The LORD wants us to depend on HIM...not to be self sufficient and independent, like a child who thinks " i can do this all by myself," when in reality they depend on their parents to help them so very much. Believe me, that's sure the way I am turned naturally and HE has spent a lifetime teaching me to depend on HIM and not myself. I don't think as well as I used to or move as fast and I am comforted that the HOLY SPIRIT teaches me and leads me in what and where I need to be, and where my kids need to be. Wow, I'm glad we're nearing the end of our homeschool years...for their sake. But when I think about it, I had a bunch of struggles when they were little, and all along the way...that's why I praise the LORD and HIS HOLY SPIRIT for HIS help in our lives all through the years. HE has been so very faithful to be strong in my weaknesses.

Lately, I've been thinking about how the HOLY SPIRIT helps me by interceding for me, when i don't know what to pray for others. Romans 8:26 says,"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." What a comfort this is to my heart...i sure don't know how to pray accurately for myself or others, but i can trust the HOLY SPIRIT intercedes perfectly.

An amazing thing that has meant more and more to me through the years is the work of the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives to bear witness to one another that we are the children of GOD. Isn't it amazing how you can meet a complete stranger and talk with them a short time and feel like you've known them all your life...all because the HOLY Spirit living inside you bears witness with their Spirit that you both are children of GOD and you belong to the same family. "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." Romans 8:16
I don't began to understand all the many unique and countless ways the HOLY SPIRIT helps us on our journey "to the Top"...I do know this and I am ashamed to admit it. I often forget the HOLY SPIRIT's role in my life and take what HE does for me for granted, and for others. As I have been led to think about the HOLY SPIRIT being my Helper on this journey, it has made me stop and think about how I am empowered by HIM to climb higher and help others do the same. I think about Peter and the other disciples in the New Testament and how afraid they were during the time of JESUS' crucifixion. We know that Peter denied JESUS three times before he died and most of the others fled when JESUS was taken away to be crucified. The disciples were hiding on the morning of HIS resurrection. But when JESUS empowered them with the HOLY SPIRIT on the day of Pentecost, they were changed forever, and went out boldly proclaiming CHRIST as the SAVIOR of the WORLD. Most of them were killed for their faith, as they boldly shared their faith throughout the Roman empire, but they didn't back down. The HOLY SPIRIT helped them to be bold and courageous...even unto death.

We are living in a day and time, when it is becoming more and more difficult to share CHRIST publicly and live for HIM without fear of persecution. We too are going to have to rely on our HELPER, the HOLY SPIRIT to empower us to be bold, strong, and courageous, and help us to walk faithfully to the end. There's a lot bigger challenges in this life than "fear of heights," but just as GOD used my friend to help me face and overcome that fear, HE uses HIS HOLY SPIRIT and each other to help us through this journey called LIFE. 2 Tim.1:7 says, "For GOD has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." As I write this, I am thinking of the importance more and more in our day and time of helping each "other to the Top," and relying on the HOLY SPIRIT in all situations...for HIS power, HIS love, and a sound mind to speak and think as we need to act as CHRISTIANS.

I don't know if you've ever had the privilege to read Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. It was written while he was a prisoner in Bedford, England for 12 years for preaching the gospel of JESUS CHRIST. He had a choice if he promised to quit preaching about JESUS he could be let out of jail. Though he had a dear wife, and blind daughter at home that he dearly loved, he could not stop telling others about the good news of JESUS CHRIST. GOD used his imprisonment to give us one of the greatest encouragement's of all time... the book Pilgrim's Progress, second only in it's popularity to the Bible. This story is all about the CHRISTian pilgrimage, the "journey to the Top," and the warfare, the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of JESUS CHRIST, and the dear encouragement of our fellow believers in JESUS CHRIST. I believe in my heart that we are facing some unprecedented days that we have seen in America as far as CHRISTian persecution goes, and more than ever we need to encourage and help one another to the "make it to the top." It is a time to be "'strong and courageous, not to be afraid, for the LORD your GOD will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

I bet you thought i was going to use a Greene's song this week, well, guess what I did too. But the HOLY SPIRIT has redirected a lot of what I was going to write about this week, so I'm not surprised about the song too. As I was writing the paragraph about GOD not giving us a spirit of fear, these lyrics started running through my mind, "This is no time for fear,.... I thought, what song is that from and the HOLY SPIRIT reminded me. If you knew how i struggle with my thinking at times...and this week has been one of those times, you would realize how very much I do have to depend on the HOLY SPIRIT to bring to my mind the thoughts HE wants me to share with you. So, "GOD is in Control" by Twila Paris is the song, and on this "journey to the Top" HE has not left us alone, but left us a HELPER, to guide us into all truth, to teach us, to strengthen us, comfort us, and encourage us along the way.

I love you, very much, and how grateful I am for the wonderful help and encouragement the HOLY SPIRIT gives me through your dear lives. Through HIS HELPER, the HOLY SPIRIT, we can make it together "to the Top." When we get there, one by one, we will be able to see our dear SAVIOR JESUS face to face, and our loved ones, who are already waiting for us up there!



With all HIS love,

mitzi



GOD is in Control by Twila Paris

This is no time for fear
This is a time for faith and determination
Don't lose the vision here
Carried away by emotion
Hold on to all that you hide in your heart
There is one thing that has always been true
It holds the world together

God is in control
We believe that His children will not be forsaken
God is in control
We will choose to remember and never be shaken
There is no power above or beside Him, we know
God is in control, oh God is in control

History marches on
There is a bottom line drawn across the ages
Culture can make its plan
Oh, but the line never changes
No matter how the deception may fly
There is one thing that has always been true
It will be true forever

He has never let you down
Why start to worry now?
He is still the Lord of all we see
And He is still the loving Father
Watching over you and me

watching over you...watching over me..
watching over every things..
watching over you..watching over me..
every little sparrow..every little things...