"Home Team"

Six years ago, two boys and two girls became the "Home Team" 

at Story Cottage.  Though Lacy is always somewhere in the background, she is also a part of our team.  When Taylor and Trent were away - we were here at home.

A Father and a Son: Two Damons.

And a Mother and a Daughter too.

This "Home Team" has had some REMARKABLE adventures together over the last 6 years while it has just been the 4 of us at home and now our chapter here at Story Cottage 

is closing.

God is leading the 4 of us (as well as Lacy) from this East TN Valley of Knoxville to the Mountains.

The youngest team member, Trey, will soon graduate and then head in August 

to one mountain:

Lookout Mountain and Covenant College.

Lacy and the rest of the team are headed to a new home on another mountain:

Signal Mountain.

God is leading us to Signal Mountain, TN, where Damon has been called as the 

Youth and Family Pastor at Signal Mountain Bible Church.

This "Home Team" has learned SO MUCH over the 16 years in this spot with friends and family - serving and loving at Cedar Springs, Paideia Academy and the Korean Church of Knoxville.  We launch out with AWE over the richness of the relationships and prayers and nations that have been a part of our time here.  Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness and so clear on the ways that Immanuel has been WITH US every, single step.

We remember with tears and full hearts.

We anticipate with joy.

We will miss the people and the place even more than the first time we moved away from this beautiful city in 1998.  He has multiplied in countless ways here.

Only He is able to continue His transformative work in us.

WMB?  What Might Be?

Mother of the Grooms

"The history of God's people throughout all generations consists of choices made in response to him as we relate to one another in families, friendships, daily work, and the FESTIVE TIMES of which life is made.  Our lives are part of a tapestry that has been in the making long before we were born and will continue after we've gone.  God has woven each of us into a place and a role in the history of redemption.  The photographs, diaries, and scrapbooks in which we chronicle our lives become avenues for remembering God's faithfulness to us and to his plan....by looking back over our written narratives and the images we've preserved on film, we gain perspective and are reminded of the ways He has strengthened us and changed our hearts or our circumstances.  We can echo these words of the writer of Lamentations:

      'Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are  not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.'" Lamentations 3:21-23

Documenting our histories gives us reference points for remembering the details of God's sovereign and loving care.  Deuteronomy 4:9 tells us, 'Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.  Teach them to your children and to their children after them.'  Recalling the many ways God has comforted us in our troubles - tracing the evidence of his movement in our lives and his answers to our prayers aids us in giving to others the comfort and care we ourselves have received from him."

- Andi Ashworth in Real Love for Real Life

When I imagined having children one day, I never imagined this.....

I did not imagine that I would be the Mother of three sons.  But God knew from before the Creation of the Universe that I would have the rich treasure of giving birth to these three male image bearers and that He had uniquely positioned me to be a Mother of Grooms.

Shortly after Taylor was born I was working as a Wedding Director on weekends and I began to watch the "MOTG" Mother of the Groom like never before.  I began to wonder what that time might be like many years in the distance.  I believe way back then God was giving me the grace to envision the delight of releasing sons into the treasure of starting their own new family with their wives.  That day has come and passed.  What a great JOY to see our two oldest, Taylor and Trent, become husbands, to Ashley and Meg!

These three sons have changed me in innumerable ways over the last 26 years.

They have led me into adventures I would never have even known could exist.  They have led me to humbly face my inadequacies and cry out to God day after day.  They have loved me and prayed for me and laughed with me and listened to me wrestle, read stories, sing, and so much more.  They have invited me to exercise muscles of faith  - each of them from their tiniest beginnings.  I am so rich because I have been given the gift of life long friendship with these three sons!

Over the previous 25 years if someone would have told me that within a three week period of time when I was 50 years old, that I would be the Mother of not one, but two grooms, I would have been shocked and stunned!  But again, God knew this beautiful, brilliant, grace filled gift before my life even began.  "My life is in the hands of the Maker of Heaven."  Truly.  The expansive faithfulness of God has been on display as He has provided for our every need!

So this day, with a full heart and overflowing Gratitude to our Great Father who always gives good gifts and constant light and life, I look to these three sons with awe.  God has uniquely positioned them in my life. They continue to point further out beyond what I would have imagined for myself.  They continue to dance with me in the rain and play with me in the sun.  They remind me that this is not my true Home and that THE Wedding Supper of the Lamb is coming.  Our Bridegroom King will raise His glass in joyful declaration.  I am so thankful for these days where I had the great gifts of being the Mother of the Grooms.  I look out beyond the now to the day when we will be the BRIDE of Christ together.  Until then here's to "more than we can imagine" and Here's to remembering God's GREAT and UNSTOPPABLE faithfulness to this Mothers of Sons!

Let NOT Your Hearts be TROUBLED

Jesus spoke these words as teaching words John tells me in John 14:1 - here are the words of the Amplified Bible: Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.

On this Sabbath day I had thought I would be going to Windy Gap to camp with the Class of 2015 and the other leaders and students - including Damon and Trey.  I had thought I would be sharing the story of GOD'S GRACE that Pua Coffman had invited me to share months ago at the camp event.  I am very aware that today, this Sabbath day, my heart is tempted to be very agitated and troubled that I am actually NOT doing those things I had thought I would be doing.  Today I am Sabbath-ing differently than I have over the last quarter of a century and I am hearing afresh Jesus inviting me to believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on HIM.

On Monday, July 14, 2014, the Senior Leadership of our church told Damon that they were going in a direction in the high school ministry that did not include his leadership.  He was released from his position as High School Pastor.  When I filmed THIS video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObhW0qAGsQs&feature=youtu.be

I thought that the "end" I would be telling "live" at Windy Gap would mostly focusing on the death of my Father in 1985 (my senior year of high school) from Lymphoma Cancer.  But God had different plans for this story to be told.  On Wednesday, July 30, 2014, I was given the opportunity to share this story publicly on our last night at TNT and to declare that the WORD OF GOD is Living and ACTIVE and continues to speak to my heart and lead me even to current time.  I was given the gift of proclaiming the TREASURE of watching Damon shepherd the next generation over the last 25 years.

I was given the opportunity to thank the men, women and children gathered for growing alongside Damon and I and petition them to intercede for us as we ask our God to take us wherever HE is calling and to stretch our faith and trust beyond any borders.    God allowed our three sons to grieve and remember with us and all three of them have been impacted in this place over the last decades.

I do not have a human Father that is living that I can go to and cry on his shoulder or ask his counsel or hear him pray over my family and I today.  I do have a heavenly Father who is continuing to call us to believe that Psalm 78 is still ALIVE today.  WE ARE SO DUSTY and like flowers of the field we will FADE - but His WORD, His CALL, His EQUIPPING in us will bear FRUIT THAT WILL LAST.

"The Word of God is never INEFFECTIVE; it will ALWAYS PRODUCE.  When we speak God's WORDS into situations, as the Holy Spirit directs, we are sprinkling the seeds of God, which then gives HIM the ability to cause LIFE TO COME FORTH!" - Dutch Sheets in Intercessory Prayer

A Larger Generous Living! Happy Mother's Day!

"The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller." Proverbs 11:24

From the beginning you were not stingy with the waiting it took,

the reconciling with your own story and your own Mother.

You chose to be generous and persistent with your longing for those 9 years while you and Dad wondered if a baby would be in your arms.

Thank you for being generous with your heart as you welcomed me into the world in November of 1967 and received God's addition to the family of Jimmy and Anne.

Thank you for the generousity in sacrifice in ways I can now only imagine since I, too, have been a Mother for 2 decades.

Thank you for showing me what being delighted in looks like. 

Thank you for your generousity in CELEBRATING me for over 4 decades.  For party hats and candles and cakes and games and laughter and remembering and singing and being aware that every life is a gift from God and meant to be CELEBRATED - as a way to tell HIM Thank you!

Thank you for being so faithful to speak the truth that true beauty is rooted in the unseen - far below the "book's cover" - Your story is beautiful because it speaks of your God who has NEVER let go of you - and NEVER WILL!  Thank you for generously sharing your beauty with me!

Thank you for your generousity as God's vessel to carry and deliver

my incredible sister, Nikki Aurelia.

I have seen the fingerprints of GOD on her since the moment I first met her.

I long to love her more and more in ways that only eternity can contain.

I long to practice GENEROUS AGAPE

on both of you.

I long to honor the life of James Edward Johnson by practicing GENEROUS AGAPE LOVE between not just the

Mother, Anne and Daughters, Lea and Nikki -

but in the next generation of Taylor, Trent and Trey - and

those that we love and touch day in and day out.

I pray this Mother's Day your world will be multiplied as you RECEIVE ANEW the GENEROUS AGAPE LOVE and PRESENCE of the KING OF KINGS.

I am thankful YOU ARE MY MOTHER!

Happy Mother's Day 2012

Love, Lea





invisible threads

"You are to take it with you. I've fastened the end of it to the ring on your finger.' Irene took the ring.
'I can't see it there, grandmother.' she said.
'Feel - a little way from the ring - towards the cabinet,' said the old lady.
'Oh! I do feel it!' exclaimed the princess. 'But I can't SEE it,' she added, looking close to her out stretched hand.
'No. The thread is too fine for you to see it. You can only feel it.'"
- from The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald


One morning in late summer I was sitting at my desk and the Holy Spirit told me to look into the light outside the door. When I looked in just one particular way in the morning light I saw a beautiful secret strand....

I am so tempted every day to walk by sight.
I am so tempted to rage when I cannot measure with my flesh how God will guide my steps.
I come so close to missing marvels and beauty because I am not letting LIGHT frame my viewpoint.

The threads of the Creator are so fine, yet so unbreakable. His path and plans for me will NOT be thwarted.

come out.

"We can believe that God alone is our security and love is always worth the risk and there is no better investment than reaching out to someone and locking arms and unlocking your heart.
No better investment than finding the time for friendship and the courage to be real and the humility to say we’re sorry.
And distrust can cost us the very richest life of all and the price for being safe can be too expensive and friendship is the only thing that will show up at our funerals." Ann Voskamp

Lent.

"A furnace of renewal." - Buddy Odom

"Repentance is not behavior modification it is being thrown on the mercy of God." - Mike Kuhn

"Be different because I am different" - Sybil speaking of Jesus' words

"Abounding in Steadfast Love." - Nehemiah 9:17

"I trade these ashes in for beauty, and wear forgiveness like a crown." - Kathryn Scott

These are just a few of the ponderings since Ash Wednesday.

And the death of the Red Lion Amarylis.

Repentance and death and lament and crying out are hard. But they are meant to be a part of living that leads me to freedom and LIFE.

The question is posed to me, "Is my heart remote and detached from the movement of God in me?" by Buddy odom in his Lenten devotional.

I don't want my heart to be dead and detached. I want it to be ALIVE and VIBRANT and COLORFUL like I remember the Red Lion Amarylis was not so long ago.

I do not know what God has planned for this Lenten season.
I do not understand His ways that include both joy and destruction - spring and tsunamis.

But I know that I need Him. I know that He is my only HOPE. I know that his words can be trusted, "The Father who put them under my care is so much greater than the Destroyer and Thief." John 10 msg.

Today, His banner over me is LOVE.

fragrant oil, my costly perfume, my jar of nard

Believe

I want to believe God and Ruthlessly Trust Him in the "bulb" moments of my life. When it looks like nothing can possibly grow out of "this" - whatever that "this" is in that moment.

Look and See

I want to keep my eyes wide open. I want unhurried time with my Creator so He can show me what He is up to. I do not want to clutch and hoard and fret. "Be open wide and watch for my plans for multiplication and growth." I notice that even in the winter the Spirit says these truths. Thank you God for helping me to SEE!

Cross shaped

I want my life to noticably be cross shaped. This may mean that I look really, really odd. I might not look the same way others look. I want to have evidence of being transformed. I notice the shape of the cross here in my friend.

the unfolding

These are not crystal clear. I am reminding myself that is ok.
I LOVE THE LIGHT filtering through the RED - PAINT ME RED, JESUS. Filter all my life through the story of your unfailing sacrifice! I need you!

I love the veins that you can see where LIFE is at work in this CREATION.

RED LION YOU ARE LOVELY.

Blooming in a Different Season

The week after Christmas as I was looking briefly in the "Christmas is over Clearance" section of Super Target, I found the Red Lion Amarylis. It was just a bulb in a nice pot - looking dead. It had originally been $19.99 - but was now only $2.34. I am not sure all the dynamics that made me so JOY FULL about redeeming this flower. But I bought the bulb and brought it home.

Over the last 1 1/2 years I have been learning as a Botanist. God has used this in many ways in my life. This is good. I desperately need to learn more about what He is "silently shouting" through Creation.

Watching my "Red Lion" through the 12 days of Christmas, Epiphany and now Ordinary time has been really strong for me. When I brought it in and placed it in the soil of the pot and looked for a spot of winter sunlight - I felt hopeful about watching. The Kelly men have been kind to make observations and "wow" over the growth of this friend of mine. God even gave me the connection between Paul's words to the church of Galatia in chapter 6 of Galatians to remind me about seasons and reaping and sowing and waiting and growing. I have pondered much about blooming in a different season.

I did not capture images all along the way but I do have some to share. I notice how glad I am about being able to see things in this flower. I notice God whispering many things to my heart. I also notice the warfare and lies that the enemy tells me. "You are wasting time." and "You take duddy photos." and "This doesn't matter." I am fighting for TRUTH and BEAUTY as I even type out these words today.

I know that this Red Lion Amarylis would have been discarded. I know that its value went down drastically from a retail standpoint because it was not chosen to "bloom at the expected time". I know that blooming for Valentine's day instead of Christmas is a different plan. I see that it was hindered from growth in the box with the clearance tag.

I want to keep seeing true beauty and true value and true growth potential. I want to be unhindered and see others live in freedom and WALK after Jesus step by step. I want to lean with my full weight toward the LIGHT. I want to say continually, "Great is the Lord." (Psalm 40) I want to know that God is in charge of my blooming season. I want to be multiplied. I want to live cruciform.

I see these things today in the face of my friend.
I see the color of the blood of my Savior - it set me FREE!
I see the shape of a cross.
I see the LIGHT.
I see the intimate care of a CREATOR.
I see GROWTH.
I see waiting.
I see stamen and carpel and petal.
I see HOPE.

So I am choosing to share here. These images are not all "award winners" but they are a part of the Red Lion story for me. They are an extravagant reminder of things the Spirit is teaching me today.

"My love for God is sustained, not primarily by enjoying His blessings or keeping his rules, but rather by Spirit-nourished CONFIDENCE in God's HEART and Spirit-empowered RELEASE of our Passion for Him." - Larry Crabb

the art of remembering

"If my art is an ongoing conversation I have with my life where I dream of all that might be possible, the added bonus is that I get to encourage my children in their dreams, too. I also see beauty in less likely places than I used to, like the tiny white T-shirt I just bleached that reappears smeared with grass stains. I study my children and never cease to be amazed by the complexity and uniqueness of their delicate faces. They are small, priceless masterpieces." - Kierstin Castella

I am putting this down in a form of writing while it is in my brain and heart. It is not a time when I have lots of time. It is not a thought that has been fully processed. But it is real. I have been pondering how the last 18 years of my life have been JAM FULL of the living art of children and remembering children and teaching children to remember.

I have studied the faces of 3 sons and see the complexity of the Creator's unique mark on each of them. I have studied the faces of countless middle school and high school students in 3 different states and several other countries. I am back around now to being a "teacher" in some "official" sense of the word and I am studying new little faces of a variety of ages. What I see are masterpieces that bear the signature of a Triune God.

Every day I am tempted to not notice because it seems easier. I am tempted to forget because it is more efficient. I wrestle with shutting down because it is all messy.

But today I am thankful. I am thankful that every day I have been in the process of some form of art with children for the last 6,570 days of my life. I wonder how many days of this type of art God will give me? No matter....I am a very wealthy woman.

I see a generation RISING UP TO TAKE THEIR PLACE

I keep pondering this blog. I keep chewing on what it means for my heart. yesterday I spent a LONG time talking to God about what it means that He is giving me a season in which I am, in the span of each week, shepherding 11 3 year olds, 15 8-10 year olds, and upwards of 15 17-18 year olds. Plus caring for a 9 year old son, 15 year old son, and at a distance and 18 year old. This morning I read these words from T.M. Moore. I am sharing them here because I am continuing to ponder the RICHES of this season that I am entrusted with. I want to write this down because I do believe it is a WEALTH entrusted to me. I want to be alert and faithful. I want to train the next generation as disciples of Jesus Christ. I want to WALK OUT Psalm 78. I want to believe that Jesus thinks being with children is so so valuable. I don't want to miss this.

Devotional written by T.M. Moore

Yours is the duty of instructing the young, that they fall not into sin and the devil not drag them away to his house reeking of death.

- The Rule of Carthage (Irish, 7th century)

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

- Titus 2.6

All adults have a responsibility toward the rising generation, to teach them the way of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We do this by signing up to serve in our churches - Sunday school, youth ministry, and so forth. We also do this with our own children, at home. And we do this by the zeal, boldness, and manifest joy with which we undertake the task of learning the things of Christ ourselves.

Oops. The old saw, "Children don't do what you say, but what they see you do," probably helps to explain why so many young people abandon their faith once they head off to college. They simply haven't seen anything worth living for in the adults they grew up with in church. Young people are looking for purpose, mission, something big to invest themselves in for the long haul. Is this what they see in your church? In you?

Make no mistake about it, we, the adults in our churches, are teaching the young people who will take our places (or not). We are teaching them by our words, deeds, priorities, practices, and everyday ways of life. If all they see in us is a paste-on faith over a life that looks pretty much like everyone else, they'll cast the paste-on aside and cling to the life as the thing that matters most.

Of course, that won't satisfy them - any more than it satisfies us. But until the adults in our churches begin demonstrating more vigor and earnestness about the life of faith, they will continue to teach the generation to come that Christianity is pretty much a take-it-or-leave-it deal - nice if you need it, but not necessary if you don't.

The education of the next generation begins with each one of us. Let's make better use of the opportunities we have, shall we?

a nest stirred up.

"Though many of us have seen pictures of a huge eagle's nest high in the branches of a tree or in the crag of a cliff, few of us have gotten a glimpse inside. When a mother eagle builds her nest she starts with thorns, broken branches, sharp rocks, and a number of other items that seem entirely unsuitable for the project. But then she lines the nest with a thick padding of wool, feathers, and fur from animals she has killed, making it soft and comfortable for the eggs.

By the time the growing birds reach flying age, the comfort of the nest and the luxury of free meals makes them quite reluctant to leave. That's when the mother eagle begins stirring up the nest. With her strong talons she begins pulling up the thick carpet of fur and feathers, bringing the sharp rocks and branches to the surface. As more of the bedding gets plucked up, the nest becomes more uncomfortable for the young eagles. Eventually, this and other urgings prompt the growing eagles to leave their once-comfortable abode and move on to more mature behavior." Today in the Word, June 11, 1989

"....like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions." - Deuteronomy 32:11

changes.

I am writing about changes. I am writing about anger and struggle and tears.

I am writing about going into the one fabric store that I have known inside and out for the last 7 years that has now completely changed.

Joann's etc. is now just JOANN. I have been going to this store since we moved here in 2003 and I learned over the 7 years where things were. I learned about how to maneuver my way around with limited time, mostly because they are so short staffed that I could never find anyone to help me. I learned how to work on my memorization of Psalm 40 when I waited in the lengthy lines to have fabric cut - or to check out.

On Friday of last week we ran into what I knew as "Joann's etc." and found instead "JOANN". (SEE THE LARGE OUTSIDE SIGN FOR VERIFICATION)

I was aghast.

Who changed this vast store around? Every item, every aisle - reconfigured. Things grouped together that have never been together. A super large cutting station where you have to take a number and watch the screen to see when your number is up.

As I wandered the aisles I even said out loud, "It took me 7 years to learn this store, now it is all changed."

I know this seems like a huge response for something that really doesn't matter. And that is why I knew that the Holy Spirit was doing something else in my heart as I evaluated why JOANN made me so frustrated.

I was able to tell God that changes make me feel very out of control. Changes in names, changes in groupings, changes in waiting, changes of any kind - they cause me to recognize that my own way of "I can find it on my own, thanks" attitude doesn't always work.(especially in God's kingdom)

When we moved back to Knoxville, (which I never imagined we would be able to do) in spring of 2003, Taylor was turning 11. I have maneuvered through the turns of adolescence and cried out to God many times. I have also often thought, "we have been working with students this age for a long time - we have some experience here."

And now, Taylor is 18, and things are changing.
He is leaving.
He is not a child.
Everything is not as it has been.
Some of that is so good - and some of that is so hard.

I was able to face my own attitude about JOANN because it is also my heart about changes in our family. I felt like pouting and saying, "I won't shop here now because it is too hard - and too different!" I feel the temptation to say to God, "Changes are too hard - can't you just make things easier?" and in both of these situations I recognize the darkness of my own heart and my constant need of a Redeemer.

Will I run to the feet of my King and lay down the BURDEN of change? Will I wash His feet with my tears?

HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL NEVER CHANGE.

mysterious

God allowed me to have the gift of DANCE last night smack in the middle of Lent 2010. Our beautiful teacher, Leann Dickson, asked us to select one word in the song "Our Gread God" by Fernando Ortega and Mac Powell. On that word we were to use our imagination to see a scene that causes us to experience the majesty of God.

My word was Mysterious.
This is my moment to remember.

I am seeing the majesty of God in His Mystery this Lent.

There is Light. There is Beauty. But there are clouds and danger too.

On Pentecost 2009, I had the honor of being in New York City at Redeemer Presbyterian to hear Tim Keller teaching from the book of Habakkuk. "Give out of Scarcity." It has framed my year.

Now in the middle of Lent, Dr. Larry Crabb's devoti0n leads me back to the book and the Holy Spirit whispers truth to me, once again, from this living WORD. It is from his new book, 66 Love Letters.

"From the Book of Habbakuk: God says, never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that rises in your heart as a you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with joy.

Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?

The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world. You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for my plan of Love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also SEE MY GLORY FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP OF FAITH.

Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence!

Struggle well! Wait in hope!"

I see the awe of this mystery. I feel the pain.

I want to struggle well and wait in hope.

puritan prayers

"The soul learns to pray by praying; for prayer is a communion with a transcendent and immanent God who on the ground of his nature and attributes calls forth all the powers of the redeemed soul in acts of total adoration and dedication." - Arthur Bennett

Learning this week, in homeschooling, about Puritans. Arthur Bennett, in the 1970's, gathered Puritan prayers from the past into a compilation called The Valley of Vision.

I never want to stop learning about talking to PAPA. Here is one prayer from this Puritan collection.

The Broken Heart

O Lord,
No day of my life has passed
that has not proved me guilty in thy sight.
Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart;
Praise has been often praiseless sound;
My best services are filthy rags.
Blessed Jesus, let me find a covert in thy appeasing wounds.
Though my sins rise to heaven thy merits soar above them;
Though unrighteousness weighs me down to hell,
Thy righteousness exalts me to thy throne.
All things in me call for my rejection,
All things in thee plead my acceptance.
I appeal from the throne of perfect justice
to thy throne of boundless grace,
Grant me to hear thy voice assuring me:
that by thy stripes I am healed,
that thou wast bruised for my iniquities,
that thou hast been made sin for me
that I might be righteous in thee,
that my grievous sins, my manifold sins,
are ALL forgiven,
buried in the ocean of thy concealing blood.

I am guilty, but pardoned,
lost, but saved,
wandering, but found,
sinning, but cleansed.
Give me perpetual broken-heartedness,
keep me always clinging to thy cross,
Flood me every moment with descending grace,
Open to me the springs of divine knowledge,
sparkling like crystal,
flowing clear and unsullied
through my wilderness of life.

wow. yes.

mountains.

"Savior, He CAN move the mountains."

He calls Himself an immovable ROCK.

He is able.

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand."
Psalm 40:2

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done."

Mountain movers who are standing on the ROCK.

These are the types of wild invitations I notice the Old Testament and New Testament give to me.
"Jesus' teaching is full of wild exaggerations, for Jesus is a wild man." - Brennan Manning

What are the slimy pits He is lifting me out of today?
How does standing on the firmness of the ROCK of His finished work change me today?
Where are the mountains in my story, in my heart that must be moved and thrown into the sea?
Am I willing to follow in the steps of a wild man, who said wild and hard and freeing things?

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Isaiah 52:7

I want the Reign of God to affect me.
I want to proclaim peace - bring good tidings - proclaim salvation and have beautiful "mountain climbing good news" kind of feet.