real life | 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 Christmas Party on Rocky Top

Dec 17 2015

Eight pies made…Check! 10 dozen cookies made…Check! Gifts for 35 under the tree….Check! House cleaned…..check! House decorated……check! Red Christmas sweater on……check! Candles lit…….Check! Christmas lights……..Wait! No Christmas lights coming on??? This can’t be happening. Everything is perfect…..and a breaker blows and I have no Christmas lights. Really??? This is not how this picture perfect, successful staff Christmas party is supposed to go down!

About to have a major melt down…..and I hear a whisper in my ear? Who are you trying to make famous tonight, Donna? Is tonight about you? Or is tonight about ME? Are you checking your list off tonight for your glory? Or for MINE? OUCH!

Let’s keep it REAL up here on Rocky Top! Christmas can be a crazy time of year with our To-do lists long, little sleep, sugar induced hyped up kids, and just everyday life thrown in. It’s hard to think about wrapping 20 gifts when you have 10 loads of laundry to do!

How do we as wives and moms keep Christ in Christmas without having a major melt down?

Make Jesus famous! After all it really is HIS birthday! Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing……..whether it is baking a pie, wrapping your gifts to all color coordinate, or shopping for that perfect gift? Are you checking things off your list to make HIM famous and celebrate His birth or is to make yourself look good?
Simplify! How many gifts does each child really need? How many Christmas trees does your house really need? Does every room in the entire house need to be decorated in a Christmas theme? Does everything have to be homemade? And how many Christmas parties does one really need to go to? Sometimes a quiet night at home is the best party of all!
Worship! It is Jesus’ birthday! This is not the season to skip your time with Him because you are so busy! Make the time every day to read His word and worship Him. Attend worship services to actually worship! Your clothes don’t have to be the latest trend in Christmas attire. Little Johnny doesn’t have to be the star of the Christmas play! Again, make HIM famous!
Love on someone who is hurting. Christmas can be a really hard time for people. People who have lost loved ones; people who are sick; people who don’t have a big family; people who are financially struggling. Make Jesus famous by doing what Jesus would do……..He always looked for that hurting person to love on. Let’s do the same.

And by the way, the staff party was successful. As preacher said on Sunday during worship, success is achieved when Jesus is made famous. Jesus was made famous at that party but not because of pies, cookies, food, gifts or decorations but through hugs, smiles, shared laughter, shared joy and prayer! As a dear friend said when the lights blew, “Honey, Christmas happens on the inside…not on the outside!”

May Jesus be made famous this Christmas in your home!

“And angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ” Luke 2:9-10

Shirley Goodness and Her Husband, Mercy

Jun 23 2015

At five years old I sat on the top bunk bed of my babysitter’s home memorizing Psalm 23.

My babysitter was a middle aged woman named Mrs. Friesner, a godly woman who loved Jesus and loved me. During my “nap time/quiet time” she told me to go over the words to Psalm 23 so I could recite them back to her. I could barely read at the time. She told me if I would memorize these words, the Lord would give me peace when I was afraid. And as a five year old who lived in a very unstable home, where yelling and throwing things was the norm, I believed her. So I was intent on committing Psalm 23 to memory.

So when I came to the last verse of the passage, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” well……let’s just say living in God’s house seemed so attractive to me. And in my 5 year old mind, I would love to have this nice lady Shirley Goodness and her husband, Mercy, follow me around! They would protect me and bring me to the house of the Lord. Shirley Goodness and her husband, Mercy became imaginary people to me!

So this past week as I stood with thousands of people called Southern Baptists singing Psalm 23 led by Shane and Shane…….the images of Mrs. Shirley Goodness and Mercy came to mind.

When David wrote Psalm 23 he was living in the Valley of Elah………a pretty harsh place, mostly desert.

Just recently I had stood in the Valley of Elah with a small group of believers. My husband sang this Psalm to the Lord with his hands lifted as a prayer to the Lord. (picture above)

David wrote this psalm as he was being chased by his enemies.

We have so many enemies today……….mine are fear and anxiety. We have friends in another part of the world whose enemies are people……evil people ready to kill them in an instant, rape their daughters and wives or enslave their children.

Some may read verse 6 and say well, God is not doing a very good job lately of allowing Shirley Goodness and Mercy to follow his people. (i.e.….the senseless murders in Charleston, SC )

Yet, I believe as those precious 9 people worshipped and studied God’s word they were led by Goodness and Mercy right to the throne room of the living God and they are now dwelling in the house of the Lord forever and ever. I believe as their enemy entered that church building that a table was prepared for them and their heads were anointed with oil. If our world has any hope of a spiritual awakening we must truly believe His words and live His words. May this senseless act push all of us to show others goodness and mercy!

I truly believe when we as believers begin to show others God’s mercy and goodness, even when it is undeserved, that a movement of His Spirit will be unleashed in our world.

Who are your enemies today? Psalm 23 maybe very familiar to you, yet His words are so very, very powerful. Mrs. Shirley Goodness and Mr. Mercy…….well they do follow me……and they are continually leading me to dwell..to abide in the house of the Lord……in Him.

I challenge you to spend sometime today meditating and praying through Psalm 23. You may just meet Shirley Goodness and her husband, Mercy! And then make sure you introduce them to someone else!

Real Life on Rocky Top

Sep 16 2014

Fall is upon me. This will be the first fall of living here on Rocky Top….yep……..this Texas girl, once Georgian, then Louisianan…is now a Tennessean…..is that even a word??? And what road do we end up living on but Rocky Top… and unlike the lyrics to the famous song… there is a telephone bill, and the internet bill well let’s just say it ain’t cheap up here on old Rocky Top.

With this fall, not only are the leaves beginning to change and drop their brilliant colors onto my porch and yard but also the What if’s seemed to be crowding my mind and robbing me of “Life”.

The “What Ifs” range from the simple, almost bordering stupid to the harsh, scary reality that we live in right now.

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