and all I had was a cell phone camera

story time:

so God always gives us what we want.
(I can imagine you raising your eyebrows to this daring statement)
however, what our soul often really longs for and wants is very different than what our flesh wants.
luckily, we have a good Father that listens to the longings of our heart and soul and does not listen to the longings of our flesh.
labor day weekend was hard for me. I was suffering acutely from PACSBIITB (otherwise known as "Pining After Chattanooga Syndrome Because It Is The Best"). I biked to downtown Johnson City on Saturday to find someplace to escape.
no such place was found.
on Sunday, I had a lovely afternoon with a new friend. it was beautiful, but it still didn't give me the peace I was kind of frantically searching for.
I rarely ever find peace in any situation until I know there is some place that I can make my refuge. I had countless places like that in Chattanooga. whenever I was restless or impulsive (which us a lot. like a lot a lot.) I would go to those places and think or process or create or do something to work out my restlessness.
labor day, I made a list of coffee shops to look into. you know, little locally owned and operated places where the drip coffee is served in mugs and the pastries are made daily.
that sort of place.
so I hopped in my car and began searching.
I thought I wanted to sit inside and write and think about home and how much I miss the river.
that was not what I wanted, however. I found that out when my search for a little homey coffee shop resulted in a bunch of names of places crossed out on a list.
while getting my hair trimmed on Saturday, the nice lady talked about how pretty the trails were at Erwin, Tn.
so after a series of disappointments, I got back in my car, turned on Courtney Marie, and put Erwin Tn into my GPS. it was pouring rain when I got on the interstate, but I didn't care.
I got on Rock Creek Rd and began to drive up. and up. and up.
I passed a trailhead and didn't stop.
I passed another one and didn't stop.
all of a sudden, the road led me down. and down.
I turned around as fast as I could and thought to myself "I just want to stand on the mountain side and feel alive."
I pulled off at the trail head, thinking I was just going to check it out.
the sign designated the trail as apart of the AT and a landmark called "beauty spot" was a reasonable distance.
so I, wearing a long skirt, hiked. and hiked. and while I was hiking rain fell. and the mountains misted. and everything around me sang a song of praise to its Maker.
then it hit me.
this is my escape. I thought I wanted to be holed up in a little man-made building, surrounded by strangers.
but my Father knew my soul wanted to be free in the mountain air, surrounded by trees and sky and His Spirit.
when I got to the "beauty spot", I sighed a sigh of elation and bliss.
I felt peace.
my restlessness was worked out.
it was as if the wind carried whispers that said "you'll be okay" and "you're where you should be" and "you are going to grow and grow here" and "look at the mountains!"
the end.

oh here are my cell phone camera pictures