"The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go"

http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/ramsay.htm

"Delight yourself in the LORD and HE will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Last week, my dear brother Joe and I had a long time desire of our heart fulfilled by going to the Smoky Mountains together...just the two of us to hike, enjoy some good eating at "Bubba Gump's," "The Old Mill Restaurant," and "The Pancake Pantry," listen to some good hammered dulcimer music and enjoy some precious fellowship with one another. Joe is my oldest brother and i am the baby of five siblings...three boys and two girls. When i was in first grade, Joe was a senior in high school. I was very afraid when i had to leave my Mother and i would go and look for him everyday at the band room to comfort me. I never remember him getting impatient with me for doing that. Joe left for college the next year to attend the University of Alabama where he played the drums for the "Million Dollar Band," during the days when Paul "Bear" Bryant was the football coach. Some of my fond childhood memories are our family being so excited and waiting outside our house on Hwy 31 for the band bus to pass by when they were on the way to Nashville to play Vandy or other away games. Joe would wave to us out the window as they went roaring by. Those were the years before the Interstate, so all the traffic from B'ham to Nashville ran right in front of our house. My brother and i had a great time time on our trip reminiscing about our growing up years and we shared our hearts about joys and sorrows to us now. I got to ask him about when he got saved, i knew that he was, i just never had asked that i remembered. He told me he was 19, like i was, and he was at an EJ Daniels crusade when the HOLY SPIRIT drew him give his life to the LORD JESUS CHRIST. It was such a blessing to see my brother reading his Bible each morning in our motel room, and starting his day spending time with the LORD. What an example to his little sis. I know where my brother gets his strength and his sweet spirit...from the time he spends saturating his mind in GOD's WORD. He spends a lot of time praying for folks, i heard him mention often praying for members of his family on our trip, and i am so grateful for all his prayers for me and my family through the years. What a blessing to have a brother who prays for you and your family.
Joe and I left early on Tuesday morning for the Smokies and his sweet wife Marilyn had him all packed up with sandwiches to go. We made the four hour trip through Chattanooga without any problems, except me turning off on an exit later on and having to drive miles before turning around to get back on the Interstate to find a restroom at the next exit. When we got to exit 81 i believe, i started getting excited...well, i started getting excited the night before when i was looking through my hiking books of the Smokies. I love going in through Townsend and taking the winding mountain road along the Little River into Gatlinburg. My brother and i stopped off at "Metcalf Bottoms," picnic area and ate our sandwiches beside the river. Afterwards, we drove up to Little Greenbriar School not far away. This old wooden school was the center of the community back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. We walked around the old cemetery and inside the old schoolhouse where a few others were inside sitting at the old wooden desks. The old blackboard was still up front, along with several of the old schoolbooks. After we walked around the schoolhouse, we decided to walk the mile up the trail to the "Walker Sister's Homestead." The sisters lived in the park with their family after the Smokies became a national park and shared their way of living until the last sister died in 1964. When we got there there was an old spring house on the left where they stored their butter and milk and other cold things in the spring. We walked up to the old house which had a large front porch with a covering over the porch and walked around the inside rooms. We heard thunder in the distance, and saw storm clouds gathering suddenly to the wess. Before long, the bottom fell out and a lightening storm was upon us. We were so thankful to be in the house instead of on the trail! We sat out on the covered porch on a wooden bench until the lightening hit nearby. We went inside the house and prayed for the LORD to protect us. It wasn't long before we heard some voices outside and here came 3 boys running through the rain to the house for refuge. Not far behind were their parents...they had been caught on the trail in the storm. Thankfully, they arrived safely and took shelter along with us from the storm. Soon, the storm moved on and we were on our way back to the schoolhouse.
That evening, my brother and I ate some delicious seafood at "Bubba Gumps," in Gatlinburg...i did wonder what sea it came from. I had sea bass, and my brother had trout. Both dishes were scrumptous. After we ate, we walked along the streets, going to my favorite store, P Graham Dunn, http://www.pgrahamdunn.com/, where they have the most beautifully engraved Scripture on wood. We came along two men playing the hammered dulcimer and guitar. My brother had read about them on the internet and GOD led us right to them...another desire of my brother's heart fulfilled. We enjoyed listening to their music for a while as did others who walked along the streets as they played "Rocky Top," "Amazing Grace," "Scarborough Fair," and many other familiar songs. The hammered dulcimer just may be my next instrument to learn to play...that guy really inspired me with his beautiful playing!
We arrived at the "Norma Dan" Motel in Pigeon Forge about 10:30 p.m. that night shortly before the office closed. We got settled into our room and i got settled into the back of my car. We both got a good night's rest before our much anticipated hike up to "Ramsey Cascades," http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/ramsay.htm the highest and most beautiful waterfall in the park, according to the books. I had wanted to do this hike a long time ever since i heard about it. The trail was located in my favorite part of the Smokies at Greenbriar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenbrier_(Great_Smoky_Mountains)which , which is right off of Hwy 321 five miles east of Gatlinburg. I had hiked maybe a half a mile or more up the trail a couple of times before, and had longed to one day do the whole hike.
The next morning as we got ready for the hike, my brother and I prayed for strength to do the hike. Before we left to drive to Greenbriar, the LORD had a little lesson in faith to teach us. I got behind the steering wheel and the car wouldn't crank. We went to the desk at the motel and there was no one there who could jump us off. So we started walking towards my car, and about that time a man rounded the corner. I stopped him and asked him if he had any jumper cables. He introduced himself as "Dan," of the "Norma Dan," motel and he went to get his truck and came back and had us on our way in a short time. My brother and i were so thankful for GOD providing our need through Mr. Dan who has owned the "Norma Dan," motel, http://www.normadanmotel.com/, in Pigeon Forge for 53 years. After we got on our way, we stopped at the Auto Parts store right on the way and picked up some jumper cables, just in case we needed them.
As we drove down the gravel road along the Little Pigeon River in Greenbrier, I gave Joe the option to do an easier hike, Porter's Creek Trail, http://www.hikinginthesmokys.com/porters.htm, which i have done before with my family. I was a little anxious about "Ramsey Cascades," because it was labeled as strenuous and it wasn't too late to back out. If you've followed these emails any at all you will know why i was apprehensive with my health issues. Going uphill over rocks and roots, over two footbridges made out of a log with a wire cable to hold on to over the cascading water below, was just some of the terrain we encountered along the way. As my brother said, the first mile or so is a tease compared to the rest of the trail which gets much more difficult. Thankfully, the bridges weren't too high over the water, maybe 10 to 20 feet, and my fear of heights didn't kick in. I was really proud of my brother. Joe got his pack on and set off on the trail determined to make it to the top. He led us most of the way, especially as we neared the top, and i was sucking wind in places. It was steep at times, with lots of rocks to climb up and the nearer we got to the top, the more we rested and drank the bottled water we brought along. Thankfully, there were places along the way that were easier walking to give us a break, and as always these trails, no matter how easy or how difficult they are, are a picture of the CHRISTian walk to me. More about that later. Finally, after about 2 hours and 45 minutes, and talking with someone who had fallen on her journey to the top crossing the river and hurt her arm, we reached the top of the trail to our destination, "Ramsey Cascades." There was a sign there warning hikers not to try and get to close to the Cascades, 4 people had lost their lives there. There were a few other triumphant hikers at the top to greet us. I couldn't really soak it in much until after i voraciously ate the turkey sandwich, apple, and peanut butter and crackers in my back pack. After that, it was great relaxing on the big rock and feeling the cool mist in the mountain air from the cascades billowing over the rocks. I actually got cold though my back was wringing wet from sweat. As a few others trickled up to the top, we would greet them and cheer for them...it was quiet an accomplishment to make it that far along that difficult trail. We lingered at the top for about 30 minutes and then began our descent downward. We had hoped to beat the storms coming in, but that didn't happen. Thankfully, the lightening was not near as close as the day before on our hike, and the rain was refreshing as it cooled things off. We just had to walk carefully because the rain made the trail even more treacherous going downhill. I had looked forward to heading back down the trail when we were hiking up it, thinking it would be easier. As we were going down, my legs, knees, feet and back hurt in a different way. It was a relief when we had to go uphill at times! Finally, after many steps back down the mountain over slippery rocks the LORD kept us from sliding on, and roots that made my feet feel like they've been through a meat grinder, we made it back to the footbridge at the beginning of the trail. I was sooooo thankful we had made it and GOD had given me the desires of my heart to conquer this trail. I took a picture of us at the end and i looked like a drowned rat, but i was a happy rat! You can see this picture and some other's from our trip at http://mitzi-hisgraceissufficient.blogspot.com/.
I would like to tell you that I didn't have any issues with my allergies after hiking over 5 hours in the woods. I did, and wish that i had saunaed afterwards. But I made it in GOD's strength, and i praise HIM for that accomplishment in my life and for giving me the desire of my heart. I also took an Aleve shortly afterwards as the muscles that i forgot i had started aching. Thankfully, i wasn't near as sore as i thought i'd be the second day.
The LORD has blessed me many times to come with my family and others to these beautiful mountains. Every time i hike up there, whether it's the paved streets of Dollywood, or the beautiful trails out in the woods, GOD has something new to teach me or show me about HIS love for us and HIS ways in our lives. There are so many analogies to our lives with hiking a difficult trail and mountains in our lives that HE wants to conquer through our faith in HIM. He leads us on trails that our Shepherd has designed just for us. HE leads us on them as my brother led me. Those uphill trails that made me long for the downhill trails...well, they became "comfortable to me," once i was on the downhill trail and hurting in a different way. As i look at my CHRISTian life, i realize that all the good things the LORD has taught me has come through the discipline of the "hard uphill trails," HE has allowed me and my family to walk on together. I praise HIM for the uphill roads that have caused me to draw so near my SHEPHERD and to learn to lean hard upon HIM. And i do grow "comfortable," in those places as HE adjusts me to them and gives me the grace to walk there.
As we were sloshing along the trail going down the mountain, my brother and i talked about how the top was like entering into heaven...after a long hard climb on this earth. JESUS and our brothers and sisters in CHRIST are there waiting to welcome us into our eternal rest. The eternal rest that is our in CHRIST JESUS alone, who gave HIMself on the Cross, that we might recieve forgiveness of all our sins to all who receive HIM. "But as many as received HIM to them HE gave the right to become children of GOD." John 1:12. Hebrews 12:1 tells us: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.: " We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, witnesses that see the good and bad things we do...cheering and exhorting us on in this walk of faith. Sometimes the journey gets very, very difficult, but when the LORD brings us out on the other side, oh what a joy and peace and enrichment of our lives we have received as a result of climbing the steep and difficult places with our dear LORD JESUS carrying us at times, when we no longer have the strength to walk. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11.
I have shared this before, but when i got sick from the pesticides in our house many years ago, i could no longer walk to the mailbox. There reached a point where i couldn't walk without having an IV every few days my legs would cramp so badly. We used to pass by the track in front of Athens High School on the way to church and i would wonder to myself, "Will I ever be able to walk around that track?" One morning as i was at my wit's end, i was walking the best i could, and i remember the LORD whispering to me, "Mitzi, you need to humble yourself and put yourself on the church prayer list." I did and it was a few short months later, after years of searching for answers,when the LORD showed me the clinic in Texas where I was diagnosed and able to get help for my baffling problems. In fact, when i came home from there after spending six and a half weeks, i ran around the track at the high school. I didn't do it too long, because my knees hurt me so badly, but i continued to be able to walk, and how i praise the LORD HE continues to help me and strengthen me through the help i've received in Texas, and now through some allergy treatments here.
I know what it is like to feel hopeless and not be able to see the way down the path when that mountain is looming straight ahead and there seems to be no way...we encountered times like that on the trail, and just kept on walking where the trail would open up after the next curve. I KNOW my GOD has given me grace upon grace to restore my health gradually, and I know that HE used the hard difficult trails to instill things in my family's and my life that couldn't have gotten there any other way...even things like learning to eat healthier, much healthier than if I had not had to to restore my health. Believe me, i have not stuck to the straight and narrow always, but GOD keeps bringing us back to the path through the circumstances HE engineers for us.
The morning after our hike to Ramsey Cascades, my brother and I rode our bicycles to the Old Mill Restaurant store where i had bought a T shirt the night before and I needed to swap it for a larger size after trying it on. The baby blue shirt has a picture of the Smokies on it. Above the picture is the caption: "The Mountains are calling and I must Go," John Muir. My brother said that T shirt is me, so he talked me into it buying it. When my brother and i got back from our ride and got the bicycles loaded onto the car and were just about ready to leave, here comes "Mr. Dan," around the corner in his car. We thanked him for the help from the day before and we jokingly said something about cranking the car to make sure it would crank. I got in confident that it would, and guess what? It wouldn't start!!! GOD had sent "Mr. Dan," again to be our angel and we were both amazed and in awe at GOD's lovingkindness to provide our needs right when we needed it.
I heard a song earlier this week that really spoke to me...there is a line in it that says, "We are the broken, HE is the healer," and how i have lived to see HIS healing of broken things over and over in my own life, as a broken sinner at 19 when HE called me to be HIS own, and as one whose health has been broken, HE is the healer of my body. I read a quote on FB recently by Audrey Hepburn that jumped out at me and sums up the essence of why our dear FATHER sent HIS SON to die on the cross for us:
"People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed, never throw out anyone."
Oh what a SAVIOR we have to redeem our lives from destruction, and set our feet upon the ROCK, JESUS CHRIST.
"Bless the LORD O my soul, and all that is within me, bless HIS holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not HIS benefits: who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies." Psalm 103:1-4
GOD's paths lead us along many difficult mountain trails to restore us, renew us, revive us, reclaim us as HIS own, and bring us to redemption. I pray as you listen to these beautiful words that magnify our LORD you will think how HE has worked to redeem you, to heal the brokenness in your lives and the lives of those you love. Praise HIM, worship HIM, our Redeemer, as you listen and meditate on our GOD who loves us so much that HE gave HIS only SON that we could be redeemed from our sins, HE was broken that we might be healed....and our lives here on earth restored and renewed. JESUS said: "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10..."http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbYCx8FeUrE&feature=related Robin Mark, "Be Unto Your Name."
Lyrics:
We are a moment, You are forever
Lord of the Ages, God before time
We are a vapor, You are eternal
Love everlasting, reigning on high

Chorus:
Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain
Highest praises, honor and glory
Be unto Your name, be unto Your name

We are the broken, You are the healer
Jesus, Redeemer, mighty to save
You are the love song we'll sing forever
Bowing before You, blessing Your name


My brother and I had a wonderful trip together to the Smokey Mountains and I praise the LORD for HIS lovingkindness and tender mercies in our lives. The next morning we road up Newfound Gap Road to the Tennessee/North Carolina border and looked out with tons of other folks over the beautiful mountains that GOD created. We even walked about 25 yards on the Appalachian Trail just to say we'd been on the trail. We've started planning our next hike up there...maybe in the fall. We've already hiked 25 yards on the AP trail... only 1,075 miles to go! Just kidding, definitely looking at an easier hike i hope, next time. As long as GOD continues to call me to the mountains, I must Go... and learn more of HIS unfathomable love for us.
With all HIS love,
mitzi

"GOD trains HIS soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. HE makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers and climb mountains, and walk many a weary mile with heavy knapsacks on their backs." C.H. Spurgeon

Prayer and Praises:
We praise GOD for the healing in Josie's life...please continue to remember her and her dear family. Praise the LORD for the mountains HE has moved in her life!
Please remember Mary Kathryn Carroll, a 20 year old girl in our community who is facing the mountain of cancer. She is enduring her fourth round of chemo...http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marykathryncarroll/journal?jid=5703401

Governor Riley declares Day of Prayer for the State of Alabama, Sunday June 27, 2010...
Following is an Associated Press report issued June 24:
Gov. Bob Riley has declared Sunday as an oil spill day of prayer and he is encouraging Alabamians to pray for the well-being of people who have been impacted by the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, the governor's office said in a news release this afternoon.
"Citizens of Alabama are urged to pray for the well-being of our fellow citizens and our state, to pray for all those in other states who are hurt by this disaster, to pray for those who are working to respond to this crisis, and to pray that a solution that stops the oil leak is completed soon," states the governor's proclamation declaring Sunday a day of prayer.
Said Riley: "Throughout our history, Alabamians have humbly turned to God to ask for His blessings and to hold us steady during times of struggle. This is certainly one of those times."
Here follows the text of the governor's proclamation:
WHEREAS, Alabama is suffering from an unprecedented disaster caused by the explosion and sinking of the BP Deepwater Horizon and its aftermath, a disaster that threatens the livelihoods of our fellow citizens, the environmental beauty of our coast, and our quality of life; and
WHEREAS, throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty; and
WHEREAS, citizens of Alabama are urged to pray for the well-being of our fellow citizens and our State, to pray for all those in other states who are hurt by this disaster, to pray for those who are working to respond to this crisis, and to pray that a solution that stops the oil leak is completed soon:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bob Riley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby declare Sunday, June 27, 2010, as a Day of Prayer in Alabama and encourage individuals to pray on their own or with others, according to their own faith, in an expression of faith and hope.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that citizens of Alabama are also encouraged to give personal thanks to God for the blessings we have received and for God's continued guidance during these difficult times.









--
"Faith is not believing that GOD can...it is knowing that HE will."

"Have faith that whatever you ask for in prayer is already granted you, and you will find that it will be." Mark 11:24

Jesus told them. "I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible." Matthew 17:20

"Places Where Grace Is..." Part II

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Hebrews 12:15
"And great grace was upon them all." Acts 4:33


Dear Praying Friends and Family,
This past Thursday, my Mother-in-law invited me to go with her to the First United Methodist's Women's Garden Luncheon. Me at a garden luncheon...isn't that amazing? It is a great fund raiser for their Knitting Ministry, which makes baby blankets, shawls, and other items to share with those in the hospital or have new babies, and need a warm touch of GOD's love and grace. Literally, hundreds and hundreds of lives have been blessed through the grace of the "knitting ministry," in times of great trial, including Baby Josie's Mom, my dear friend Mrs. Betty Eudy when she broke her hip, and my dear friend Shirley Wenzel when she also fell and broke her hip last fall. What a sweet touch of GOD's grace, in a very trying time. I have been touched by the knitting ministry's generosity and grace to my friends. I know my friends all appreciated their knitted gifts very much. Sherri Bassham, the pastor's wife at First Methodist, and my dear loving neighbor, explained to us at the luncheon that each and every blanket, and shawl they knit is prayed over as they are being knitted with alacrity (that word's for you Betty Dean:), and before they are given away. What a loving and warm way to extend GOD's grace to those who are going through a difficult time. The luncheon itself was a blast, and was a success through the hardworking efforts of the knitting ministry at First Methodist...including my Mother-in-law's next door neighbor Hilda Waldrop who cooked all week that we might have delicious broccoli and chicken salad, peach cobbler with cool whip on top, and rolls. She also was responsible for many of the unique decorations, including the beach scene with the oil spill...which came about after she accidentally spilled some sand. Instead of cleaning it up, GOD gave her the idea to use a torn up black trash bag and make it look like an oil spill through the sand. Isn't that just like GOD...when we make a mess, HE redeems it. Thank you, Hilda for your tireless work. The guest speaker for the luncheon was Dorothy McDaniel(http://www.dorothymcdaniel.com/home.html) a florist in Birmingham for 29 years who began her business out of an old Mountain Dew cooler literally. Hers is an amazing story of GOD's grace after a broken marriage and HE redirected her life from working on her doctorate at the University of Alabama to arranging flowers. What a "Master" flower arranger she is...as her florist has done hundreds of the large weddings and functions in the Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa area, and she travels all over the United States teaching her flower arranging techniques. She took cut flowers and arranged them so in vase after vase as she told stories...making it look really easy and turning cut flowers into beautiful arrangements that bring joy and beauty to a home. Dorothy had a couple of interesting hobbies...she likes to hunt quail with her 12 guage double barrel shotgun, and fly fish when she's not arranging flowers.

As i thought about the Garden Luncheon on Thursday, and the wonderful time that it was, i thought about how it fit into what I have been thinking about the past few weeks and GOD's grace...how HE takes something and "cuts," it like those flowers, and then arranges our lives and the lives of those we love into something beautiful that brings HIM glory and gives us the desire of our hearts.


I hope you got an opportunity to read last Sunday's "Friday" email entitled "Places Where GOD's grace Is." If you didn't get the time to read it, which i understand very much, i hope that you took time to listen to the powerful song sung by Selah called, "Unredeemed." This song has really spoke to my heart as i have listened to it over and over and thought about the words..."Places where grace is...soon to be so amazing." This week, i'm putting the song at the beginning so if you don't read any farther...i want you to hear this song and think about how GOD has redeemed the broken places in your life or the lives of the people you know. "Unredeemed" sung by Selah... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZqqCSoXZtQ

"Unredeemed"
The cruelest word, the coldest heart,
the deepest wound,the endless dark,
the lonely ache, the burning tears,
the bitter night, the wasted years.
Life breaks and falls apart
but we know these are
places where grace is soon to be so amazing
They may be unfilled, they may be unrestored,
but when anything is shattered and laid before the LORD
Just watch and see it will not go unredeemed
For every choice that led to shame and all the love that never came
For every vow that someone broke, and every life that gave up hope,
We live in the shadow of the fall,
the cross says these are all
Places where grace is soon to be so amazing.
It may be unfulfilled, it may be unrestored,
but when anything that shatters is laid before the LORD
just watch and see it will not be unredeemed.
He will wipe every tear...
Places where grace is soon to be so amazing.
It may be unfulfilled, it may be unrestored,
but you'll never know the miracle the FATHER has in store.
Just watch and see it will not be unredeemed.


Why does this song mean so much to me? Because I have lived long enough now to look back in wonder at the ways GOD has redeemed my broken life over and over and over from sin, through the blood of HIS precious Son, from being a sick wife and mother trying to raise her family, and our life's calling as foreign missionaries being crushed through my sickness... these are"places where grace is soon to be so amazing."
When i was very sick, and my children were 2 years and 6 months, I can remember lying in the floor of our rental house we moved into after we left the pastorate. We actually didn't have to pay rent, my brother in law let us stay there for free (more of GOD's grace). I had pain literally all over my body, and GOD led me to read a book by Elisabeth Elliot called A Path Through Suffering." The message of the book is about what the words to the song, "Unredeemed," says..."When anything is shattered is laid before the LORD just watch and see, it will not be unredeemed." Elisabeth Elliot challenged me through the pages of the book, to offer up to the LORD my brokenness and that HE would be faithful to redeem it. As a young Mom...with not a whole lot of experience with suffering up until that time, all i could do, was believe in faith what GOD was trying to teach me through this older woman...to offer up to HIM, my shattered life, for HIM to do with it what HE would. Believe me, this proud woman was broken...in my health, in my spirit, and GOD gave me the grace to trust HIM minute by minute through the pain that engulfed our lives...my sickness, HB almost dying, loosing our identity of being the pastor and his wife...moving back home when we wanted to live away...GOD stripped us and it hurt.

But the amazing thing is....GOD did drop buckets load of HIS grace upon us. There were two little girls that lived down the street from us who loved to come and play with my kids and helped to care for them. April McMullins, a girl from our FBC family came two or three nights a week when Johnny was at work to help with the children and make bottles, give baths, etc. Our church family brought meals to help out. In November of 1992, after being so very sick, GOD led me through a friend at church, to a doctor in Birmingham who gave me great relief from my health issues for about 3 years. That was such a blessing...then i had four more very difficult years after our house was sprayed for insects. In 1999 GOD led me to Dallas, Texas for more help when i was about at the point i couldn't walk, and was a basket case, mentally. GOD used Dr. William Rea to help me a great deal those first few years, and then he ran out of answers for me. Just as i was about ready to go elsewhere to look for answers, GOD led me to the hardest working, patient, gifted doctor i have ever met. For four long years she has worked with me ever so patiently, ever so diligently, to correct the myriad of problems in my body. "Places where grace is...soon to be so amazing." When she left the clinic suddenly last year, GOD amazingly in HIS divine plan, allowed me to be out in Dallas right at that time. HE used the termites in our house to get me out there the day she left the clinic...amazing to me, and how very grateful i am to HIM for those termites. The termite bait in our house that made me sick and i needed to get away from, was "GOD's grace," to get me to Dallas and see my beloved doctor. It had been two years since i had seen her last, as she does most of my care through email, and phone appts. Now, she not only continues to help me, but GOD is using her to help my husband also with some health issues he is having..."places where grace is...soon to be so amazing." How very thankful i am for her and for all grace GOD has poured out upon us through our journey.

A couple of weeks ago when i was cutting the grass with my new Honda pushmower my dear husband got me for Mother's Day (we do have a riding lawnmower, i just prefer to push and what an indescribable blessing it is to me to be able to cut our yard again after all these years of sickness..."Places where grace is...soon to be so amazing!) I was looking out over all the clover in the yard. It's like the LORD spoke to me and said, "That clover is like the grace that i give you to go through this journey called life." It's there, it's all over the place...you just have to look for it. Well, i thought about that and it's true...GOD's grace is all over the place in our lives if we will but look for it...Hebrews tells us to "look diligently" for HIS grace so we don't miss it.
I have to be honest there are parts of me that wish that clover wasn't there so the yard would look all uniform and green like some of our neighbors. I even put out some corn meal gluten a few weeks ago to kill the weeds including the clover. As soon as i did I was grief stricken and i thought, "I've killed the "grace" in my yard!" Thankfully, i didn't, the clover is still alive and well, interspersed throughout our front yard:). We can "kill the grace in our lives and miss HIS grace by grumbling and complaining about our circumstances and other people. Being ungrateful and not "looking diligently" for GOD's hand in our circumstances causes us to miss HIS grace in our lives and the lives of those around us.
Being thankful in everything that happens to us and believing that it is GOD's will for us to be in the place HE has us, no matter how very painful, is one of the keys to GOD opening our eyes us to HIS marvelous grace.

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of GOD in CHRIST JESUS concerning you." I Thess. 5:17

And just as being grateful opens our hearts to seeing GOD's grace, being ungrateful and grumbling and complaining, produces a spirit of bitterness in us, and not only do we "miss GOD's grace," but we defile those around us.

"Do everything without grumbling and complaining that you may be blameless and pure children of GOD without fault in a crooked and perverse generation in which you shine like stars in the universe." Phil. 2:14,15

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." Hebrews 12:15

Yesterday, our family attended the funeral of my Mother-in-law's dear friend Pat Martin, who died earlier this week after suffering with cancer. They had a wonderful friendship which began in the 5th grade as gradeschool children, and paused this week, temporarily,after Pat developed pneumonia and died suddenly. Pat had been struggling with cancer for many months and undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. I had to go out of the church during the service because of the paint fumes inside. They must have painted the white railings and pews recently at First Methodist because the church had a strong paint smell and everything looked shiny white. I eased outside while the pastor was speaking and sat on the steps in the warm sunshine. It sure did feel good. I got out my little Bible Promise Book for Women that i carry with me just about everywhere i go and on a card inside i had written these words down a few weeks ago, that really spoke to me about what i'm trying to share with you today. The words are from the great CHRISTian allegory, Hinds Feet on High Places," by Hannah Hurnard:


"Humble yourself, and you will find that LOVE is spreading a carpet of flowers beneath your feet."


As i thought about that "carpet of clover," in my yard,I began to understand more about GOD's grace in a way i hadn't before. As i read Phil. 2:3-11, i realized another key to experiencing GOD's grace in our lives is humbling ourselves. And i have to admit, i have had absolutely no success in my life when i try to do it myself...the LORD has always had to "help" me be humble and HE graciously does that through my life circumstances...which i often want to kick and scream at first instead of being thankful. JESUS gave us the supreme example of humbling ourselves when HE left HIS home in heaven and came to die on the cross of Calvary for your sins and mine. The apostle Paul writes about this in Philippians 2:3-11:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of CHRIST JESUS: Who being in the very nature GOD, did not consider equality with GOD something to be grasped, but made HIMself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, HE humbled HIMself and became obedient to death-even death on a cross! Therefore GOD exalted HIM to the highest place and gave HIM the name that is above every name, that at the name of JESUS every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST is LORD to the glory of GOD the FATHER."

The story of Elisabeth Elliot's husband getting killed along with four other missionaries in 1956 illustrates the kind of humility that CHRIST had to lay down HIS life for us. Those men and their wives knew what they were risking and were willing to lay down their lives that these savage Indians might come to know CHRIST. They were trying to make friends with them when they were attacked and killed by spears on the beach. GOD's grace was upon the lives of those missionary wives and GOD was faithful to redeem the broken places by bringing salvation to the Auca Indians, including each man who killed the missionaries and inspiring hundreds and thousands through their story to serve the LORD JESUS on the mission field. I think if Elisabeth Elliot and the other missionary wives had "missed the grace of GOD," and became bitter when their husbands were killed by the Auca Indians what a different ending this story which continues and will for all eternity would have.
What about our lives...what story is GOD weaving through our lives for all eternity? Is GOD's grace having HIS way freely through us as we are thankful, and humbling ourselves and forgiving others when they trespass against us? Or are we missing the grace of GOD by grumbling and complaining and not forgiving those who have offended us? I confess I have struggled with this in some areas in recent weeks. I don't want to "kill the grace," GOD has put in my yard, by unforgiveness and grumbling and complaining about HIS ways in my life. I want HIM as my Master to be able to arrange the "cut"flowers in my life in the beautiful way that HE desires to bring much glory and honor to HIM...but i know that requires a humble and gentle spirit that usually on comes through suffering. Pray for me as i pray for you that we will abide in our LORD JESUS CHRIST and that in the cracked and broken places of our lives we will "look diligently," for HIS grace. Pray that HIS love and grace will fill us and flow through us to reach those around us with the love and salvation of our LORD JESUS to those around us... to be "places where GOD's grace is...is soon to be so amazing..."
"Unredeemed..." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZqqCSoXZtQ

"Now unto HIM that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Ephesians 3:20

"We are uncertain of the next step, but we are certain of GOD. This is an expression of breathless expectation. When we are rightly related to GOD, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy." Oswald Chambers.

With all HIS love,
mitzi




Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our friend Tony Greene whose body is trying to reject the kidney he received from his wife Taranda last August.
Yesterday's Update on Tony from Taranda's FB page: Tony has taken 2 of the 6 treatments they are giving him to reverse the rejection. He just returned from having a port placed in his neck for the treatments to go directly to the kidney. Praying for positive comments. I believe in praying specifically, so I'm asking you all to pray with me that the meds will work. I know God is able & faithful in all things.





--
"In one thousand trials it is not five hundred of them that work for the believer's good, but nine hundred and ninety-nine of them, and one beside."

"AND WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD." ROMANS 8:28

"Places Where Grace Is..."

...soon to be so amazing." from the song, "Unredeemed," sung by Selah

"But now, this is what the LORD says-
HE who created you, O Jacob,
HE who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name, you are MINE.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the LORD, your GOD, the HOLY ONE of Israel, your SAVIOR...
...You are precious and honored in MY sight,and I love you."
Isaiah 43:1-5

Dear Praying Friends and Family,
As i sit on the wooden rocker on my front porch, there is a cool breeze blowing, and "Troy," our Maltipoo is laying by my side on the porch where i am sitting. I finally have felt able to write you after these past two weeks which have been very, very full, and exhausting to me physically and mentally at times. Just as i began to write, my neighbor cranked up his riding lawnmower across the street and began cutting his lawn:)...oh well, so much for a perfect setting for writing! Life is not perfect is it...
I have eagerly desired to write you these past couple of weeks but each time the HOLY SPIRIT used my circumstances to prevent me....either i was busy, or too tired after being busy:). Don't get me wrong, i'm so very thankful to be able to work hard and be our "lawn boy," and clean house. In the meantime i have been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on what to share with you. A lot has happened since i last wrote you. Last weekend was a monumental weekend of celebrating GOD's wonderful grace in our family's life: Johnny and I celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary on Friday. We actually didn't celebrate until Sunday evening, when Johnny took me to see a "Letters to Juliet," a "chick-flick," as he calls it. I though it was romantic, and it was fun to get away together and watch a movie together as we often did when we were dating. We had planned to get a bite to eat afterwards, but he had a bail bond call to answer, and while he was in the jail, i went sound to sleep in the car. When he finished his call, i told him i thought i'd just like to have a "chocolate covered dip cone from "Kreme Delight," so he took me there to get one, and i fixed him something to eat when we got home. Maybe not the most romantic celebration ever, but considering our weekend last week, it was a miracle we were able to celebrate at all. I completely forgot to get him a card til the day of our anniversary. GOD's wonderful grace and goodness in our marriage is a story in itself, having dated for four years when neither of us were CHRISTIANs, and living in sin. GOD reached down and drew us to HIMself, and in 1982, a month a part from one another we both experienced the grace of GOD to save us from our sin. "For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of GOD, not as a result of works that no man should boast. " Eph. 2:8-9. I praise GOD for redeeming Johnny and me through the precious blood of HIS SON JESUS CHRIST and bringing us together to be one in HIM, 27 years ago, May 28th, 1983. "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of CHRIST, a LAMB without blemish or defect." I Peter 1:18,19.
On the other end of the weekend, Memorial Day, our baby girl graduated from high school. What a wonderful time we had with our dear family and friends who came to support us and celebrate this wonderful time of GOD's grace in all of our lives. And we do appreciate so very much, you taking time out of your holiday weekend to come and love us with your presence. Thank you for all of you who worked so very hard making the graduation and reception so very special. Your labor of love is so greatly appreciated. We appreciate so many of you who couldn't be there but supporting us with your prayers and thoughts. GOD bless you, dear ones!
You have heard me share many times in these emails how Hannah Beth almost died twice as an infant from a growth across her windpipe. Because she was on high doses of steroids, we were very concerned about the long term effects to her health. At the same time Hannah Beth was sick, i was going through literally, a "firestorm," of my own health issues. Shortly after Hannah Beth was born, i had a severe allergic reaction to Macrodantin, and was instructed by the emergency room doctors to take Prednisone. My body was beseeched with seering firey pain for months afterwards, along with other very painful issues going on. In the midst of this "firestorm," my husband and i decided we had to move back home so i could have help with our two young children. HB was 2 months and JM was 2 years. So, Johnny left the pastorate for what we thought a short period of time, and moved back home and began working for his family in the restaurant business, of which GOD has kept us here. There were many, many, many times i wondered if I would make it to see my children grown, and when GOD put the desire in our hearts to homeschool our children, I wondered how in the world i could ever do it. But I will tell you how GOD did it through a very weak vessel: "HE said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you for MY power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will gladly boast in my weaknesses that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me." II Corinthians 12:9-10.
Each one of you reading this letter is and has been GOD's grace and power to us along our homeschooling journey. You have prayed for us, you have encouraged us when we were going through the hottest fires of our health issues, and sudden changes in our life's direction. You have helped us through your example, your family's example, you have taught us how to be parents, and discipled us as CHRISTians. You have loved our kid's and cared for them when i was away in Texas for medical treatment, or other times when i so desperately needed help. You have kept our school records and encouraged us and done all the paperwork that overwhelmed me concerning homeschooling. You have patiently perserved with me to help me with my medical issues, and ten thousand other ways that would fill the pages of many, many books to list them all. I am especially grateful to the LORD for my dear husband who has loved me and worked so hard to provide for our family so that i could be home to be with our children. We are so extremely grateful for our parents on both sides who have loved us and supported us on this journey when i know you had your doubts about us homeschooling in those early years. Thank you for all your love and support we could not have done this without you. GOD gave us grace by putting in our children a great desire to learn, and figure out things. HIS grace has made it easy in that regard to be a homeschool Mom. You guys have been the two best students a Mom could ever have...and what a scatter-brained Mom you have had to deal with! We've butt heads, and continue to at times, but how thankful i am for your quick forgiving spirits you both have for the weaknesses in your Mom and Dad. (Now our neighbor is weed eating:..."My grace is sufficient for you, Mitzi, to write even when the weed eater is running. Paul wrote in much more difficult circumstances...My power is perfected in your weakness to be irritated and distracted. I love my neighbor's very much...just wish he hadn't picked this time to cut and weedeat his yard. Well, LORD you put this in his heart to do it now, thank you. LORD, please help him to finish quickly!). How i thank the LORD for each of you, for the part you have played in HIS grace in our lives to help our family reach this place where our homeschooling journey is "officially," completed. "I thank my GOD upon every remembrance of you," as I reflect on this long and often times difficult journey, filled with HIS grace and mercy. "My GOD shall supply all your needs in CHRIST JESUS," and i can say a thousand times a thousand that HE has used you, our dear friends and family to do provide HIS grace and give us what we needed for the journey of homeschooling. Thank you for being GOD's grace to us...we love you and appreciate each one of you and the role you have played so very much. To GOD be the glory, great things HE has done, and truly, truly, truly, "GREAT is THY FAITHFULNESS," and truly HE has "restored and redeemed the difficult years of my health issues," a thousand fold with HIS grace and favor in our lives.
In the midst of our family celebrating GOD's grace in our marriage and Hannah Beth's graduation...our extended family had another wonderful celebration of GOD's redeeming grace last weekend. My niece, Elizabeth Jones Bennet, was married to a wonderful godly young man the LORD brought into her life about a year and a half ago, in a place Lizzie had rather not been. Let me back up a few years ago so you will get the bigger picture of GOD's grace to redeem "what the locusts have eaten," in her life. Lizzie's Daddy killed himself when Lizzie was a sophomore in college. He and my sister divorced a few years before that. HE had been a pastor, and was presently serving as a Minister of Music and on staff teaching religion at a college in Tuscaloosa. Needless to say, the divorce, and Neil's death was very devastating to our whole family. We've not experienced divorce before in our family, and truly, "the children are the broken pieces when a home falls apart." We saw and experienced the difficulties that my sister and her children and my brother in law encountered, along with his extended family. To this day, we don't know where my nephew is...he is still estranged from our family and has been since shortly after his Daddy's death. Upon her Daddy's death, Lizzie not only lost her Daddy and brother, but her Daddy's side of the family turned away from them despite repeated efforts to reach out to them. During my niece's college years, GOD provided my sister with a very good paying job in the Mountain Brook school system as a librarian. This enabled her to help her daughter pay for her college education after her Daddy died. A few months after my niece graduated from the University of South Alabama, the LORD took away my sis's job, and gave her a wonderful husband ,instead, whose wife had died a few months before. Dennis has not only has been a soothing, stablizing provider and godly man in my sis's life, but he has been a wonderful Daddy to Lizzie, and he gave her away at the wedding. After Lizzie graduated a couple of years ago, she found it very difficult to find a job in her major of journalism. She has worked several different jobs, and after spending the summer in Washington St. a couple of summer's ago, GOD opened up a job for her to work for a newspaper in Vicksburg, Mississippi...the last place my niece wanted to be. As GOD would have it, this is where she met her husband to be and his godly family. Her career with the newspaper there was short lived, but GOD had other plans for her to go there and this past Saturday she became Mrs. Jonathon Bennett! All i could think of at the beautiful outdoor wedding, which followed a morning of thunderstorms in Alabaster, was GOD's goodness and grace in my sister and niece's lives to bring them these two godly men and their families to love and care for them. Jonathon has a very large extended family and never again will Lizzie have a lack of family to love and be loved by. Yes, it has been a very difficult road for my sister and niece, but GOD in HIS goodness and lovingkindess has redeemed those very difficult years, and I praise HIM, praise HIM, praise HIM, for HIS work in all of our lives to "redeem," the brokeness and "to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that HE may be glorified." Isaiah 61:3 This is one of my favorite verses and promises of GOD to Israel and HIS Bride, the Church. I have lived to see HIM fulfill it over and over in my life and the lives of my loved ones. As I reflect on last weekend, I see GOD's redeeming grace, in our marriage, Lizzie and my sister Jill's life, and the culmination of our homeschool years through Hannah Beth's graduation. To GOD be the glory, great things HE has done. HE is so very faithful to keep HIS promises, though at times we are baffled by GOD's ways in our lives. I love the line from the great hymn, " Praise to the LORD the Almighty.".."Hast thou not seen how thy desires have been granted in what HE ordaineth?"

This past week as I was cleaning house, mopping and dusting, cleaning commodes and all that good stuff,(By the way thank you for your prayers for our housekeeper. Hopefully she'll return in a couple of weeks after being bitten by a brown recluse spider, but if not, I am so very grateful for the health to be able to clean our house...yes, I am! Having a housekeeper that comes and cleans once a week may seem extravagant, but for me and my health issues, she has been another way of GOD providing HIS grace to our family and i am so very grateful to HIM for her ministry to us), I heard a song on my computer that i've never heard before. It stopped me when i heard the words and i began playing it over and over and GOD began showing me what HE wanted me to share about our family's lives and how HE has worked to "redeem," the very difficult and hard times in our lives. It is called, "Unredeemed," and Selah is the group that sings this beautiful, true, and most powerful song of our Savior's love and power to redeem the broken places in our lives. I pray that the LORD will use it to minster His love and grace, encouragement and comfort to your heart in the difficult places you may be walking at this time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZqqCSoXZtQ.
Well, the mowers have ceased, along with the weed eater and blower:). After the gentle rain shower that fell as i was writing this, it is very, very peaceful. HIS grace was and is sufficient to help me write just like our lives...GOD brings the rain, and supplies the grace to walk through it...and then comes the sunshine. "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5. You are GOD's grace to me, and how I thank GOD for each one of you. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read these reflections of my heart of HIS lovingkindness and faithfulness...." places where grace is soon to be so amazing."
With all HIS love,
mitzi



"There is no reason why we should not ask for large things; and without doubt we shall get large things if we ask in faith, and have the courage to wait with patient perseverance upon HIM, meantime doing those things which lie in our power to do." Streams in the Desert, June 4

"Make thy petition deep." Isaiah 7:11