From glory to glory...

Has it really only been a little over two monthes since CLC has started? God has transformed me so much, and He is still refining me... I love it! Before I get all deep on you, here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of weeks. Yah for fun times!



Andrea, Brad, Lisa, and I went up to Paulina Peak and had a blast! We hiked around to this ridge (which you can kinda see behind Andrea in the picture below) and we went to the edge and threw rocks over and made avalanches! It was fun :)


This is what happens when boys think they are funny... My car got suran-wrapped all around, hot-dogged, and crisco-ed. YAH! Revenge was sweet though :)

Then, last Thursday, we had a hair cutting party! Tim and Thomas got mohawks, Taryn got layers (and we helped her discover what her hair looks like curly cuz we shoved her in the sink), Seth and Brittany got trims, I got some layers :) it was fun...
Transitioning now, I just want to share with you (I'm not sure who "you" are, but whoever reads this thing, it's to you...) what God has been speaking to me:

1. MARK 2:21

"No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment: or else the new peice pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse."

• I cannot patch what God is doing in my life onto my old life. Period... there are no if's, and's or but's. He has not called me to be a patch work quilt. I have to throw away my old life, completely. Letting Him rebuild me is key. He wants me to be like a tapestry in that I don't patch Him onto certain areas of my life, but I let Him weave me into His plan and we become one.
• He has really been showing me that it's not about fixing my life, but it's about giving my life to Him and laying it down at the foot of the cross. I can't pretend that I have it all together, because frankly, I don't. From my point of view, things look a little messy... it's like when you look at the back side of a tapestry, you only see strings hanging down and the picture is not visible. But from the other side of it, it is a beautiful image. Jay used this example in a message once, and it has really stuck with me.
• God has asked me this one question: "Have you really layed your life down?" Have I really let Him tear me down in order so He can build me back up the right way?

2. GALATIONS 2:20-21

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

• All I have to say about this one, because I think the scripture is pretty explanitory, is that I will never set aside the grace of the Almighty God because I am not good enough to be called His child... Thankfully though, God's grace is sufficient to cover a multitude of sins. I love His Grace!

3. 1 CORINTHIANS 9:24, 26, 27

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one recieves the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it... Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."

• God has challenged me to run in such a way. I have been running after God for some time now, and I have found it really easy to slip into a running coma (if there is such a thing?). It is SO easy to get into the routine of the christian walk. Wake up, read my bible, go to class, go to rotations, go to church, go to sleep, then do it all over again. Coming into CLC, I thought it would be really easy to grow closer to God, which on some levels is true, but in a way it has become more of a challenge. So many things fight for my time!
• We just finished our first quarter, and I realized that this thing is gonna go by fast! If I don't take advantage of EVERY chance I get, I will leave CLC the same person I was at the beginning. It's been hard, and I am for sure still struggling, but I have to discipline myself to be subject to the Holy Spirit and listen when He tells me no. I can't always be everywhere all the time... I knew this in my brain, but God has really revealed it to my heart in the last couple of weeks.
• Going back more to the scripture, God has called me to a purposeful run, one with certainty in who Christ is and in who I am, and one where I actually move forward. I refuse to deny Christ's rights into my heart becuase I know that if I do, I will be ineffective.

That's only three things out of pages and pages of things God has spoken to me about. I wish I could express just exactly how He has encountered my life and just turned me around face to face with His grace. I love it so much! It's hard, I will admit, to let God refine me, BUT I know it is so so so good and that it is what He wants.

I hope some of this spoke to you, and I love you all :)

Simply,

Elyxis