Family | Real Life on Rocky Top

Hiding in the Cleft of the Rock!

Aug 18 2016

I’m sitting on the back porch up on Rocky Top on a hot, humid August day. School is back in session. Vacations are just a memory now. My Day Planner (yes, I’m old school) is covered up in blue and black ink. Basically, I’m overwhelmed and I have just been back from vacation for two weeks.

Between cheering on the USA Olympians, looking at my “to-do-List”, listening to the flooding reports in a state that I love, and watching the political wrangling on TV, life just seems fragile and complicated.

How do I navigate all this? My mind quickly returned to one day on our vacation while we were out exploring. Preacher and I were out in the middle of nowhere. A huge storm began to roll in. There was no way we would be able to make it to a man-made shelter before the storm hit. We saw huge rocks in the distance and began to run toward them while the rain began pelting us. As we approached the rocks, there was a “cleft” in the rocks. We sat down on dry ground in that cleft and watched as the storm rolled thru. We were in awe that the Lord had provided such a beautiful place for us to take refuge. We knew we couldn’t let this precious moment go to waste. So as we sat in the cleft of that rock, being sheltered by the storm, we did 3 things which have taken us through every imaginal storm in life in the last 36 years of our marriage.

We remembered His faithfulness!

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. Deuteronomy 7:9

Talk with your family, your husband or just a friend about the times in your past that you have seen God’s hand in your life or times when you have felt His presence or heard His word.

We practiced thankfulness.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

Spend time verbalizing out loud answered prayers, people, things, or circumstances you are thankful for. His gifts are all around. Thank Him for them!

We prayed!

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Share with someone what you struggle with and ask them to pray for you. Stand in His righteousness knowing that He hears you when you pray. Prayer is the most effective tool we have in life. Yet, I do believe it is the most under-utilized and under estimated tool we have available to us as believers. We must realize that we are in a battle. There are battles raging all around us. Some are in a battle for their marriage, some for their children, some for their churches and some for their very lives. We must fight this battle with His weapon of warfare: PRAYER!

As I finish writing this, it is thundering in the distance. Another storm is approaching. This time I’m not on a beautiful beach hiding in the cleft of a rock as the storm approaches. I’m back home on Rocky Top. There will always be another storm because that is just life. But I’m so thankful that My God is the ROCK in which I can stand on and He hides me and protects me. I am confident in MY ROCK!!!

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliver; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the strength of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. “ Psalm 18:2-3

The Summer of No Regrets!

Jun 08 2016

It is summer up here on Rocky Top! For many families that means VACATION!!!

Our family is no exception to that! We just returned from our first extended family vacation in four years! Between a move from the Bayou state, two grandbabies being born, a wedding, graduations, unexpected deaths, elderly parents, new jobs and just life, it has just been hard to get away. We have gotten together several times a year up here on Rocky Top, but it is different when four separate families choose to take off work and drive and/or fly to a separate location to spend a week together. Coordinating everyone’s schedule is almost an impossible task.

As I sat under a canopy on a beautiful white sandy beach watching my two adorable grandchildren creating sand castles, my son attempting paddle boarding, my husband casting his rod in hopes of a fish, I realized all the work to get here was worth it. However, it wasn’t just about having fun together as a family, there were some other lessons the Lord taught me this past week about the importance of a family vacation.

Laughter……..nothing like laughing together and sometimes even at the expense of one another to bond you together as a family. Most nights after small children were in bed we played games. We won’t talk about the night we played Catch Phrase and my job was to describe “Skip to My Lou”. I jumped up from my chair to act out skipping. Bad idea. My knee decided not to cooperate and I almost fell on the floor. My mind and body were in two different places. We all laughed until we cried. Proverbs 17:22
Memories……..things happen on these trips that are forever etched in our minds and bind us together. One night a storm was raging at 5 am. I looked out the window to see our rented tandem kayak floating in the ocean. I ran up and down the hall screaming “Wake up! Everyone go help dad rescue the kayak.” The son and the son-in-loves all threw on clothes and rushed out to the beach while lightening was striking the shore to rescue the kayak and whatever could be salvaged. Of course the night before, it was “the mom” who suggested a storm was coming and it might be best to take down the canopy and move the kayak up even closer to the house. But who is remembering??? Philippians 1:3
Grace……….spending a week together with four families at various stages of life, various personalities, various strengths and weaknesses gives us all a chance to give grace to one another. Some of us are neat freaks; some leave all their belongings everywhere; some drink coconut water; some eat one gallon of ice cream daily; some take long walks; some like to just sit and read; some are competitive and some just don’t care about winning or losing. Many people want their vacations to just be all about themselves. Yet, what better way to learn grace than by practicing it by accepting each other’s differences. Taking a multi-generation vacation is such a great way to not only build bonds but to learn how to extend grace to one another. II Timothy 2:1
Prayer.……..of course there was prayer at every meal together. BUT this is not what I am referring to. Toward the end of our time together, we gathered in the big family room after the children were put to bed. John (Preacher), Dad, or Papa John as those in our family call him, asked all of us to be prepared to share toward the end of the week the answers to the following questions: What is your family thankful for this year? What in the coming year will require your dependence on the Lord? How can we as a family pray for your family? As we shared the answers to these questions, some of us were a bit emotional (me, in particular). Doing family this way was foreign to me growing up. This time of family prayer was so special to me personally. James 5:13-16
Intentionality…………none of the above just happened, the week didn’t just happen, our family didn’t just happen. It was all “intentional”! Many years ago, an older women challenged me to live my life without regrets. Don’t just live your life. Live your life on purpose. Decide what is important to you, to your family and do “it”! Whatever “it” is, do it! Preacher and I decided years ago when the children were young that we might not drive fancy cars, own a fancy house, jewelry or the latest designer clothes, but we wanted to use what money we did have to build our family by taking vacations. In the early years, it was simply driving 20+ hours to spend time with his family at the beach. One year we had a garage sale to raise funds to go to Disney world together. A vacation for your family might be a few days in the mountains or exploring a new city. The point is to get away from your normal routine and spend uninterrupted time together as a family! This trip happened by our family sitting together over a year ago talking about how we all needed to get away to a beach house. Dates seemed to elude us. However, my precious daughter-in-love worked on dates until we could see a possible window. It took persistent intentionality! Galatians 2:20, I Timothy 6:11-12

Sitting on the back porch of Rocky Top today soaking in the sun of the summer, my prayer for your family is to live this summer INTENTIONALLY as you laugh together, make memories together, give one another grace and pray together as a family.

May the Summer of 2016 be the Summer of NO REGRETS!

The One Thing My Mom Did

May 07 2016

This time of the year always brings mixed emotions in my heart. I see many pictures and tributes on social media of women with their moms. It just makes me sad. However, it is not because my mom isn’t here on this earth. She is alive but she isn’t. Mom has Alzheimer’s. This horrible disease has robbed her of her memory and is beginning to shut down her basic bodily functions. As I sit on the back porch of Rocky Top today, I want to be totally transparent. Even if my mom did not have this awful sickness, she was just not a good mom. Ouch, kind of cruel to say on Mother’s Day weekend. Please know my Mom is receiving flowers today, beautiful red roses in a gorgeous vase, along with a card that expresses my love to her. I will also travel this week hundreds of miles to sit with her as I listen to her tell me the same thing over and over. My hope is that as I walk in the door she will smile as she recognizes my face.

But I’m not one to play games and pretend. I have no memories of her brushing my hair, showing me how to apply makeup or giving me wise counsel concerning boys. There are no bedtime stories, songs of Jesus, or times we just acted silly in the back of my mind. She wasn’t even present at any of my children’s graduations or weddings by her own choice.

I do not share this to cause you to feel sorry for me or to dishonor my mom in anyway. I share it because there is ONE THING my mom did that changed the course of my life!

This ONE THING changed my life forever. It is a gift any mom can give her child. As I have grown older I realize how blessed I am that my mom did this ONE THING.

My mom took me to church. Notice I didn’t say she brought me to church. That would imply that she always came with me, which she didn’t. Mom took me nearly every Sunday to a church where God’s word was taught passionately, preached with authority and Jesus was worshipped as if He really was alive.

So, MOM, thank you for taking me to a place where I heard about Jesus. Every good gift I have is because of one decision you made. You might have failed at many things as a mom but at least you were wise enough to know that there was a place you could take me every week that would introduce me to the ONE who is perfect and has blessed me with a life that is above and beyond anything I could have daydreamed about as a child.

So on this Mother’s Day weekend as I reflect on being a mom, I also celebrate the three children He has blessed me with. They are all adults now, married to three wonderful spouses and I now have two grandkids and one on the way! Please know I failed my children many, many times. I was not the perfect mom. I yelled way too much and placed too much emphasis on things that really didn’t matter like perfectly cleaned rooms and perfect grades. However, I did repeat the ONE THING and hopefully improved on it a little: I BROUGHT them to church and wanted them to meet Jesus. He was and is a REAL person in our home. I see them now BRINGING their children to church and Jesus is a very REAL person in their homes.

Mom, you were not a perfect mom. I am not a perfect mom. But I did learn from you there is ONE who is perfect and HE will enable me to live the life He has called me to live. Thank you MOM for taking me to church!

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for HE who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23-25

Twenty Years

Mar 31 2016

It is a pleasure to welcome Kristi Nolan to Rocky Top’s back porch once again. She is a young woman who continues to bless me by allowing herself to be open, honest and just flat out real! Her story shouts of the grace and forgiveness we just celebrated on Easter.

It took more than 10 years for me to walk through a March 30^th without struggling with the date – and then, all of a sudden, I would find myself on April 1^st and it would hit me – I made it through! So as we celebrate Passion week, I am celebrating His love, grace and forgiveness.

It’s been 20 years since I saw a line on a stick in a Wendy’s restroom – since I sat in disbelief and wondered what it meant.

20 years since I hesitated to make a phone call to a clinic and set an appointment for a consultation.

20 years since they told me I was making the right decision.

20 years since they told me it was safer to terminate the pregnancy than to try to carry to term and deliver a baby – safer for me anyway.

20 years since they performed an ultrasound and told me I was lucky I came in when I did because it was going to cost me $250 less than it would have in another week.

20 years since they handed me a valium and sat me in a dark room with other women, wait, other girls, who sat in silence and tried not to think about what was to come.

20 years since they positioned me on a table and told me it was my last chance to change my mind.

20 years since I didn’t.

20 years since I laid upon a table and read the serenity prayer taped to the ceiling above me and pondered the irony.

20 years since the sound of life being sucked from my body brought me to the reality of what exactly it was I was doing in that moment.

20 years since I couldn’t get out fast enough to throw up in the parking lot.

20 years since the enemy began an assault on my mind that would convince me I didn’t deserve a loving husband or children.

20 years since I felt my sin was too deep for the Blood of Christ to cover it.

20 years since I took the innocent life of what was formed by the Lord in my womb.

But in those 20 years, though the enemy tried to win – he has lost.

Christ’s Blood has won.

In those 20 years I met a man who would love and cherish and serve me – who calls me his “bride” every single day.

In those 20 years God showed that the enemy had no power over my womb, but He did – He has given me three beautiful children.

In those 20 years God has replaced my guilt and shame with FORGIVENESS and JOY.

In those 20 years God has used my darkest sin for His greatest glory.

In those 20 years every time the enemy tried to whisper “you’re not worthy”, God would shout “MY GRACE IS ENOUGH”

“Not that I have already obtain all this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14

Happy New Year from Rocky Top

Jan 01 2016

It is quiet this first morning of 2016 up here on Rocky Top! The fireworks were launched without incident, the crab bites made and eaten, sparkling grape juice toasted with, loud conversations of politics, Alabama vs. Clemson, the bar and boards to be passed, and listening to Carrie Underwood sing while awaiting the clock to tick into 2016.

2015 left loudly and 2016 has begun with silence. So I listen closely for His voice.

“There remains very much land to be possessed.” Joshua 13:1 is what the Lord said to me on the last day of 2015 and this morning He said, “But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14

There is land to be possessed…….chains to be broken; dark places that need to be shattered with light, and the unloved to be loved.

In order to possess the land, I must walk forward and forget what is behind me……..the poor choices, the hurts, the sin. I can’t change the past. I must look to the future and press toward “the goal”.

Every New Year is famous for goals…….losing that weight, being in God’s word, getting out of debt, spending more time with family, keeping the house cleaner, controlling that temper, …….and the list could go on and on. These kinds of goals are not bad or wrong. However, they typically are just about trying harder and doing better. These goals will fail every time if they are not done with the ultimate goal being pursued………..the “goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

This goal is about HIM succeeding. Remember according to preacher the definition of success is “making Him famous “. The prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” is Christ being known in us and through us. It is Jesus Christ being elevated and exalted in every area of my life.

So as I sit in the quiet newness of 2016, the Lord whispers to my heart………Donna, exalt Me, pursue Me in every area of your life. Allow Me to break those chains, shine the light in the dark, love the unloved through you. It is not about trying harder and checking off each goal that you accomplish this year.

If you will set ME before you, above all; if you will hit your knees every morning and look toward me and allow me to fill you with my Holy Spirit then I will be famous and you will succeed in 2016.

The family awakens now…….stomachs to fill; a New Year’s feast to be made.

Happy New Year from Rocky Top and may HE be famous in your life and the life of your family in 2016!

Category - Family