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.
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"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
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