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We come from the Mountains...

We are no strangers to mountaintops. We were raised in the mountain side hollers found during a curvy steep climb where trees meet and the sky disappears and you think the heaviness and darkness of the tree canopy may overtake you. Then suddenly you reach clearance and tree tops are below you and the crooked path ascnded is certain. You scan the steep drops and hairpin turns where the Lord protected you.

We left our oldest on a Georgia mountaintop yesterday afternoon. There was foreshadowing as we came off the mountain back down into Tennessee. We looked up from our hotel and could see the lights of the high pinnacle of the great Carter Hall of Covenant College. Emily is here as a finalist for a full merit scholarship, The Maclellan scholarship. We’ve prayed for the Lord to lead, direct and allow her to interview and perform well. We prayed for sweet dorm hosts who would be what she needed. We prayed for her to have a taste of college life that would help her make decisions if the opportunity presents to attend here.  The same as we have done and will do for the other colleges she has applied to and has also competed for top merit scholarships.

We visited the dorm room where she would spend the night where the students left welcoming and encouraging messages. We sat in on Q and A sessions, chapel service, were able to talk with her (PCA pastor without call) admissions counselor that we had only “met” through emails and phone calls. We sat in front of home schoolers and kids who have gone to Christian High schools who are part of 300+ member youth groups in Florida and Georgia. We met folks from Memphis and Washington State. I was reminded and made thankful that the Lord in His infinite wisdom places us each where we need to be.

We hugged the neck of a current Covenant student, John, and ate lunch with Ben’s supervisors. These sweet family connections that the Lord sent our way were not chance encounters but reminders of how the Lord works in the lives of His children.

We don’t know that she will end up here for her college years, but we know in less than 8 months, we will drop her off somewhere wonderful and not see her again for weeks or even months.  It may be the mountaintop in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, the rolling hills of Spartanburg, or the sweet town of Rock Hill. The Lord knows and is graciously preparing our hearts.

We filled her empty chair at the restaurant last night with a purse and our coats. I slept in an empty queen bed since we were already set up for boys in one bed, girls in another. I fell asleep thinking of her schedule and where she would be and praying that she would be safe, connect with other students and professors. I awoke wondering if she was awake yet. Last night, we joked that Nate would soon  have the privilege of undivided attention as we all felt the weight of change that will come quickly.

Mountains are spoken of often in scripture, they are a place of refuge, revelation and worship. They inspire the same awe of the creator God that standing with our toes in the vast Atlantic Ocean brings. Each shapes us in often unexpected ways. We look at mountains and we feel reverence, peace and comfort knowing that the God who moves mountains works in each of our lives. Our time on mountaintops leave us appreciating being made “holy” and being set apart in Christ. We look down at the steep cliffs and deep ravines and know that He is God and is shaping our faith and walk with Him to make us more and more like His Son.

 May my girl’s time on the Mountain be a reminder of whose she is, of her identity in Christ, and of the sweetness of fellowship with other believers. May she be reminded that the same God who brought Moses to the mountaintop is the same God guiding each step of her path.

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