diff --git a/features/data/configs/tiny.yaml b/features/data/configs/tiny.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bbcb4847
--- /dev/null
+++ b/features/data/configs/tiny.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+journals:
+  default: /tmp/journal.jrnl 
+colors:
+  body: none 
+  title: green 
+editor: "vim"
diff --git a/features/overrides.feature b/features/overrides.feature
index 07dd5a24..7739f339 100644
--- a/features/overrides.feature
+++ b/features/overrides.feature
@@ -31,6 +31,6 @@ Then the output should be
 """
 
 Scenario: Override color selections with runtime overrides 
-Given we use the config "editor.yaml"
-When we run jrnl with "-1 --config-override '{"colors.body": "blue"}' "
+Given we use the config "tiny.yaml"
+When we run jrnl with -1 --config-override '{"colors.body": "blue"}' 
 Then the runtime config should have colors.body set to blue
diff --git a/features/steps/core.py b/features/steps/core.py
index 5f87ab73..abf66bb4 100644
--- a/features/steps/core.py
+++ b/features/steps/core.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ from behave import given
 from behave import then
 from behave import when
 import keyring
-import mock
 
 import toml
 import yaml
diff --git a/features/steps/override.py b/features/steps/override.py
index b1ddb31a..dccc10fb 100644
--- a/features/steps/override.py
+++ b/features/steps/override.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from jrnl import override
+from jrnl.jrnl import run
 from jrnl.os_compat import split_args
 from unittest import mock
 
@@ -9,27 +11,29 @@ import yaml
 from yaml.loader import FullLoader
 
 import jrnl
-from jrnl.override import apply_overrides, _recursively_apply
 from jrnl.cli import cli
-from jrnl.jrnl import run
 
 
 @given("we use the config {config_file}")
 def load_config(context, config_file):
     filepath = os.path.join("features/configs", config_file)
     context.config_path = os.path.abspath(filepath)
-    with open(context.config_path) as cfg:
-        context.config = yaml.load(cfg, Loader=FullLoader)
+    
 
 
 @when("we run jrnl with {args}")
 def run_command(context, args):
     context.args = split_args("%s" % args)
     context.parser = parse_args(context.args)
+    with open(context.config_path,'r') as f: 
+        cfg = yaml.load(f,Loader=FullLoader)
+    context.cfg = cfg 
 
 
 @then("the runtime config should have {key_as_dots} set to {override_value}")
 def config_override(context, key_as_dots: str, override_value: str):
+    key_as_vec = key_as_dots.split('.')
+
     with open(context.config_path) as f:
         loaded_cfg = yaml.load(f, Loader=yaml.FullLoader)
         loaded_cfg["journal"] = "features/journals/simple.journal"
@@ -41,14 +45,17 @@ def config_override(context, key_as_dots: str, override_value: str):
     # fmt: off
     try: 
         with \
-        mock.patch.object(jrnl.override,"recursively_apply",wraps=jrnl.override.recursively_apply) as mock_recurse, \
+        mock.patch.object(jrnl.override,"_recursively_apply",wraps=jrnl.override._recursively_apply) as mock_recurse, \
         mock.patch("jrnl.config.get_config_path", side_effect=lambda: context.config_path), \
         mock.patch("jrnl.install.get_config_path", side_effect=lambda: context.config_path) \
         : 
-            cli(['-1','--config-override', '{"%s": "%s"}'%(key_as_dots,override_value)])
-        mock_recurse.assert_called()
-            
-        
+            run(context.parser)
+        call_list =  [
+            mock.call(context.cfg, key_as_vec, override_value),
+            mock.call(context.cfg[key_as_vec[0]], key_as_vec[1], override_value)
+        ]
+        assert mock_recurse.call_count == 2
+        mock_recurse.assert_has_calls(call_list, any_order=False)
     except SystemExit as e :
         context.exit_status = e.code
     # fmt: on