Go to the Mountains with Kristi!

Hi Victoria's Living Family, Christy Everington Johnson here at the top of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. And just last week I was in some prisons in Florida and I asked several of the guys, I said, where do y'all want to go? And they said, we want to go to the mountains. So here we are. We are at the top. There's a cars parked at the top here too. But let me see if I can give you a panoramic view here. I'm standing on some rocks. Last time I was here I took you guys over that bridge. You can see it over there. It's called the Mile High Bridge. And it's a little scotchy. Yeah, it was windier last time I was here, but I just don't love walking over that. But you know, when I get here, the view is amazing. And I know there's some things that you guys are walking over today and you ladies and it feels scary. It feels overwhelming. The wind's blowing. It's swaying a little bit and it's frightening, but you just keep taking one step in front of the other and just keep trusting, trusting God who is leading you. It says that if you have acknowledged him, he will direct your path. He says that he will uphold you with his righteous right hand. So I want to encourage you today that going over through hard things leads you to beautiful places. And that's where I stand today at the top of a mountain looking at a beautiful view. But it took some scary steps to get here. So you keep taking those scary steps. You keep taking one right after the other.

You keep your head up. Don't look down. Don't look at, listen to the wind. Don't watch people that are in front of you running back. You just keep moving forward. And I promise you that if you keep taking those steps, you keep looking forward, you keep persevering, there will be a beautiful view on the other side of those steps. I want to take you guys on some little adventures and little life lessons as we're here on this trip this week with my family. But I want you to know you're always in my heart. You're always in my mind. God bless you. There's a little waterfall, there's my husband. So we're at Linville Falls in North Carolina and as I always mention, I'm always thinking about you guys and ladies, and love you so much, and look forward to the day that you get out and you can come and stand on these rocks that are absolutely beautiful and hear this waterfall yourself. In the meantime, I pray that it gives you just a beautiful, just reminder of the sights and the sounds that are waiting for you. And Father, I just pray in the precious name of Jesus, that you will comfort my brothers and my sisters, that you will just love on them, and that you'll remind them that just as you created this water and the movement and the sounds, Father, you have created them with purpose and on purpose. And Father, that we get into your river, I look at the path of this water as it goes and it just knows which way to go. And Father, that you will guide and direct us. Father, thank you for your word and your promise that if we acknowledge you, you will direct our footsteps. And Father, thank you for your power, just like the water has power to shape and to mold these beautiful rocks.

I thank you for the power of God and the Holy Spirit to shape and mold our lives. Father, would you just mold our stony hearts and make them to be hearts of flesh. I love you much, and we'll see where the next stop takes us. Bye-bye. So, Christi Overton-Johnson here, your more victorious living host, with my favorite—oh, did I say that? Yeah. What's up? Favorite brother-in-law, Adam. How are y'all doing? This is Tim's— Brother Tim will never come on camera. He's the older brother, right? Older than that, but younger than Ronnie. Okay, and this is Addie boy. He lives somewhere not here in these mountains. And it is awesome. Yeah, it's flat where we live. Flat where you live. So, I just wanted to show you guys the mountains. It is almost sunset, which is creating just a beautiful view. Look at the river. There's Timmy. Anyway, this is called Wise Man's Bluff. And you got these steps. They're trying to make y'all sick. And there's the mountains. Y'all, I'm straight in the bed. And that was still my quiet time. And when I woke up, and I'm telling you, even 10 minutes ago, I couldn't see the trees right here. I could barely see past this railing. And the fog is just suddenly lifting. And I felt like the Lord wanted me to stop what I was doing, which I was reading, and to show you this. Because I couldn't see anything past this railing. I'm telling you, nothing. And I was just thanking God for the weather that I've had the last few days. And then all of a sudden, it's just lifting. Like, even right now, all of a sudden, in a few minutes, you're going to be able to see

some mountains over there. And I felt like the Lord wanting me to tell you that right now, you are in a cloudy season. It is foggy. You can't see one step in front of the other. You don't know what's going on. But just like this fog is suddenly appearing, disappearing, and you can see that's what He's doing. That there's going to be a suddenly in your life. There's going to be a suddenly in your life where all of a sudden you see where you're supposed to go. You see where you're going. You see a clearer picture. The Lord says in Proverbs 3, to trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and all of your mind, and all of your soul, and all of your strength, and all that kind of stuff. And to love Him with everything, even your resources. But Proverbs says, as you trust the Lord, as you love Him, but you trust Him because you love Him. As you trust in the Lord, sorry I told you this early, trust in the Lord with all of your heart. And lean not into your own understanding. If in all your ways you will acknowledge Him, He will direct your path. And so, what does that mean to acknowledge Him? It means, Lord, I trust you. I trust you when I can't see. I trust you when I don't know which step to take. I trust you when everything around you is cold. It's cold right now. And it's just wet. And it's yucky. And it's damp. And it's dark. I trust you. I can't lean on my understanding because my own understanding is faulty. And I don't even know which way is up right now. I can't see one step in front of the other. But I want to trust you that as I just get in your Word, you're going to show me what to do. I trust you that as I walk with you, you're going to be, sorry about that, you're going to be directing my footsteps. That is if you trust in the Lord with all your heart.

You're trusting Him even though you can't see. And you're leaning not into your own understanding. That means you're not putting your weight and your trust in what you can see. Because like I said, it's faulty. It is so faulty. You're basing what you see and your decisions on what you feel. And I'm telling you, when I got up this morning and even looked down and couldn't see past this rally, I was like, oh it's gross. It made me feel yuck. And then all of a sudden, I was like, you know what, I know what's on the other side of that fog. I can't see it, but I know there's some beautiful mountains. And I believe the Lord wants you to know there's some beautiful mountains in your horizon too. Right now it's wet. It's cold. It's nasty. But as you keep trusting Him, He's going to keep your mind in perfect peace. That's what it says in Isaiah, that He who keeps their mind steadfast on the Lord. Y'all, I don't have my Bible right here, but I believe it's Isaiah 26. 13 maybe. I don't know. But as you continue to keep your mind on Him, He will keep your mind in perfect peace. As you lean into Him and trust Him in Isaiah, also, I believe it's 40, 31? No, I don't know. Y'all, I'm sorry. It's in Isaiah, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on eagles as, you know, soar on wings as eagles. And so, yeah, just trust in God. Back to Proverbs. If you trust in Him, He will guide your footsteps. If you trust in Him, Isaiah says, and you keep your mind steadfast on Him, He will keep you in perfect peace. If you trust in Him, He will keep you in perfect joy. And joy is going to be your strength to keep going. If you intertwine your life with Him, that's what it means to trust. You bring Him into everything. And it says that you will soar on wings as eagles. You will be able to soar high above these mountains. That's what the eagles do. I saw some eagles here at a, it was at a zoo, but looking at them, knowing

that they, they can fly high. And that is exactly what God wanted you to know this morning. That you can fly high. You have a future. You can't see it, but it's there. There is beauty in your horizon. Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment. Don't just look at the gross, dark, unloving thing that's in front of you right now. Might be prison. It might be jail. Might be a court case. It might be so big and you can't see past it. There is something on the other side of it. You keep trusting Him. And that's what I felt like the Lord wanted you to know. And you know, it's, you can start to see the line. It is lifting. But you know what else? In that direction over there, behind those clouds, there's a sun. And right now you, it's bright and there's rays coming. The same rays that would come, that came yesterday, are coming right there. It's just the clouds are blocking it. And so the Lord wants you to know right now that He is there. The brightness. He is the light. He is there. And you just got to trust it. Even if you can't see it. Even if you can't feel it. You just got to keep trusting it. So I pray that this has been an encouragement to you. And I pray that I haven't scared you to death. Fortunately, you can't smell my breath. I'm a little bit groggy. I slept in a little bit. Y'all, I binged watched some shows last night. They were innocent shows. But it was like, what am I doing? I never do that. But I guess I'm on vacation. So yeah, I love you guys and you ladies. And the Lord loves you. That's why He would have me get up right there from the warmth and come out here to show you, look, there's more you can see. And so God bless you all. And may He continue to strengthen you, Lord. Would you strengthen my brothers and my sisters. Would you help them to know that you are there. That you see them. You love them. You know them by name. And that you have a future for them. It's not over. And that's what, those were my marching orders, Lord. When you sent me into jail, into prison, for the first time to visit my friend Bill, you said, go and tell them that it's not over. You tell them that I love them. You tell them that I, they're not a number. They're not a person in a jumpsuit with rubber shoes. They're not a hashtag Florida DOC number, anything. They are precious to me is what you said, Lord. And then you said, go tell them that I love them. Go tell them

that it's not over. Go tell them that they have a future. Go tell them that if they will grab hold of me, a power source that will never fail them, that I will take them up and I will take them out. I will move them out of depression. I will move them out of sorrow. I will move them out of grief. I will move them out of hopelessness. I will restore everything that the enemy has taken. And that's what God is saying to you. He wants to restore it all. He wants to lift the fog and bring restoration. Gration. Trust Him. Trust Him. He's got you. He's there. So, Father, I thank you that you're there. I thank you that you love us. You know us by name. I thank you, Lord, that even though I can't see right now, you're telling me that, too, even though I can't see where this ministry is going, I can trust you. I can keep my mind on you, and that'll keep me in perfect peace. And so, Lord, thank you for this time this morning with my friends. Please just put your arms around them and love them in a way that they've never even felt. Would you do the same for me this morning, God? Would you touch our minds and help us to stay focused? Would you forgive us of our sins? Lord, your word says, if we come to you, 1 John 1, 9. I finally know one today, Lord. 1 John 1, 9. If we confess our sins to you, God, you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, all of our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so, Father, I thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for reminding us today that there is a future for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Listen, I want to come here a little bit warmer. I have been on this little vacay for a couple of days, and I just want you to stay on for a few minutes because I carried the camera to some fun places when I was in some of the Florida facilities a week or so ago. I asked some of the guys, where do you want to go? They're like, I want to go to the mountains. And

so, we've gone to Grandfather Mountain together. And I know in one video, I think I've already taken you on some of these places, but I did a couple little teachings this time. And I wanted you to see some waterfalls and give you the opportunity just to stay on those videos and just listen to the rapids, listen to the wind, and just enjoy the beauty. And I trust that one day, you're going to be there. You're going to be in those beautiful places yourself. And for now, you can be there through the tablet and in your imagination. Listen, don't give up. Even the beauty of outside is there for you. God is a God of restoration. He is a God of miracles. And don't give up. I have met so many people, so many people with the most miraculous stories. And you just keep trusting God. Let Him renew your strength every single day. And keep leaning in to Him. He will uphold you. He will direct you. He will never stop loving you. He told me that one time. He's like, I love you with an everlasting love. And so, I love you too. And so, watch these fun little videos that are coming up and enjoy the scenery. And I look forward to being back on soon. And I promise, I will brush my teeth and I'll have some makeup on and some better lighting because this is rough. This is how much I care for y'all. Just come and be me. So, anyway, I know I must look rough because whenever I go into a prison, like you told Sheridan and me, you're like, you guys, y'all look better than you do on the tablet. So, yeah, just, I'm just going to keep holding on to that. All right, guys and ladies, have a great day. Make it a great day. Have a good day and a God day. God bless you. Bye-bye. Please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098 or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to

provide our Victorious Living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples.