"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...