Winter Part3 ! (and a little somethin' about this past year)

So here it is, Winter Part3... These were taken Christmas day! I had so much fun this Christmas! God has blessed me with such wonderful Family and Friends! Many things have happened in the past year that could be considered spectacular and I have done many things in the past year that could be considered crazy, "special", or just plain silly. But hey, it's life, and I love it!

Here are some of my favorite memories from 2009, not in any special order! (Click on the link to see pictures/videos!)

1)Last years New Years Eve Party! Probably one of the funnest party's I've ever been to! Lots of laughs! Guitar hero, random stuff :)

2)I Heart Prinville/I Heart Sisters
God has used the heart campaign to touch so many people and it's blessed me to be a part of the I Heart events! At I heart Prineville, we got to pray with tons of individuals, not only at the concert but out on the streets, to receive Jesus... Through these outreaches, God has opened my heart more and more and has taught me how to better love the lost. I love Jesus so much!

3)Spring Break Coast Trip!
Probably one of my favorite trips, in a long time.... CLC packed their bags and headed to the coast for a week of blissful fun. We had no rotations, no responsibilities, no homework, and we got to get away from Bend, hallelujah! We played guitar hero, watched movies, hung out at the beach, climbed a massive (and by massive, I mean MASSIVE!) sand dune, some people were drug into the ocean, and best of all, it was the beach... I love the beach!



4)40 Days. For 40 days during April and May, I set aside time to seek the Lord in a way I've never done before. He spoke to me so much and gave me direction and instruction and wisdom. It's something I want to do every year now!

5)MTI Nights! All I have to say about that is this: Andrea, you saved us all with your drawings! Ha ha, no, actually I loved MTI. The lessons taught me so much and our practicum group was amazing! Shout out to Drew and Tami!


6)Adopt A Block and Dream Kids. I loved connecting to other people in our community who needed to feel the love of Christ. I know that what we did not only impacted the here and now, but eternity as well.

7)Cascade Life Commission Graduation! Even thinking back to it now, I get all teary! I remember just how much God did last year and all that he's continued to do and I love it! I've watched my very best friends grow closer to Christ and there is almost nothing that gives me greater joy! Love, love, love!!!!

8)Mexico! All I can say is WOW :) God showed me a lot about my character that I need to change! I was able to help lead worship at the Griggs' church the three weeks I was there. It was very refreshing to get away for a while, even though I will admit that I missed my friends very much! We had a healing conference and countless people were healed emotionally and physically and spiritually. It was amazing!

9)Summer Camp. Relationships rebuilt. Students changed. Families changed. Eternity impacted.

10)New Friends! Getting to know Hope and her family has been so much fun! Hopefully many more good times in 2010!

11)Encounter
God is amazing!

12)I Heart Bend 2

13)The many Ice Skating Adventures!


14)Going to pick up the Africa team from the airport

15)Getting my hair cut short!

16)Knowing the Love of Christ in new ways, every day.

17)Our end of the year party out at the Parsons, water fights and all! (ps. thanks to the Parsons for opening their home to us all the time, you guys are amazing!)

18)Getting a Dog! I love Lola!

19)Moving, again. (and hopefully the last time for a while, sheesh)

20)Starting 2nd year CLC!

21)Getting a job at a daycare.

22)I started going to the Deckers small group in July and have ever since. I love it so much there!

23)Having contact with my real father for the first time and getting to know him more.




There is so much more that happened in this past year, but to list them all would probably bore you if you haven't already been bored, ha ha :)

Thanks to everyone who made this year as wonderful as it was.

You all mean so much to me!

I pray that this new year brings new joys, loves, passions, challenges, ideas, seasons, and most of all, a new start.

I love you!
















All Smiles,
Elyxis

Winter Part2 !

Ice Skating... seriously one of my favorite things to do in winter time!

Some of my favorite people :)

So much fun!

Hope and I

Winter Part3 coming soon,
Merry Christmas,
Elyxis!

Prophetic Hindsight

I could not have known yesterday morning what would transpire from then until this point. Jay has started a second year class about leadership. What is the cost? That's what I've found myself asking... what does it cost? We looked at four places and times in Jesus' life that shaped him. The wilderness, the mountain top, the garden, and the cross. With knowledge comes responsibility. The Word says that its sin to know what you ought to do and not do it. Now I know, not in full, but in part... I am responsible. Hearing him teach, I wasn't aware of how personal and real it would become to me in such a short amount of time. I can't explain what God is doing in my life right now... not that I don't know how, but it runs a little too deep and close to my heart. It's costing me, more than I thought it would. God's asking me if I'm serious about this thing, this pursuit of his presence, will, and call in my life. AM I SERIOUS. This is so hard. I just wanted to share a song that's been consuming me for the past few weeks, it's by JJ Heller and called Your Hands. It's kind of my hearts cry right now. Hope you enjoy it.

Winter!

At the Christmas tea! We had lots of laughs!

Christmas tree lighting downtown! (one of those corny traditions that you kinda hate going to but you go because it's what you do every year :) )

Hopes Birthday Party

I Love Winter Time!

Love,
Elyxis

Knowing His Will

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Knowing God's will is tricky business. I have struggled to know what his will is for me. I find myself getting so caught up in other things and forgetting to walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord. Walking in any mistrust, doubt, sin, unfaithfulness, any of that rotten stuff that taints our hearts, is what defines unworthy walking. I don't want to walk in a way that's unworthy of God. Leaving the joy and love and peace of God simply in my bible, without letting the Holy Spirit transfer it into my heart, is like buying a pair of shoe strings and just laying them on top of my shoes... not lacing them through and tying them. They are useless. Those shoe strings keep the shoes together and on my feet. Walking without the Holy Spirit is like laying his love flippantly over my life, but not actually letting it weave it's way through my heart and soul. I would like to think that I let the Holy Spirit into every part of me, and I have done a fine job of fooling myself... Every stinkin' day, I just see more and more of the wickedness of my own heart and the impurity of my motives and just the stinky-ness of my sin. It's hard to let God shape me! I'm bad at patience, awful at endurance, short in giving thanks, little in understanding, small in strength, and too often slow in joyfulness. In light of all of this, can I just say that God's Grace in incomprehensible. I feel like every other blog that I write conveys another part of the same message, another small piece of a big picture in which I'm constantly messing up God's perfection and He's faithfully mending my brokenness and my mishaps and my feeble attempts. I guess that's just what a life with Christ looks like! Man oh man, I just don't understand! God amazes me continually! The scripture above was from the bible reading today and it just reminded me of God's grace in my life, and I wanted to share it with who ever reads this thing (which if it's just me, that's ok too :) ) I love that God calls me his beloved. I love that he can see past everything that I try so desperately to put up to deflect what's really inside, the good and the bad, and that he still loves me... I love that...

Figuring it out,
Elyxis

Hope

I love the little joys of life! Recently I have become friends (more like sisters) with a very special girl named Hope. I love her very much! She blesses me and brings joy in my life where it has seemed to be lacking a little lately. I thank God for bringing her into my life. I love getting to know her and can't wait to see our friendship grow more. Hope has taught me a few things since we've started hanging out:

1)It's ok to be silly! I can get really serious sometimes, but she has shown me that being silly is really fun! She brings out the kid in me :)

2)You can eat ice cream, even if it's freazing cold outside.

3)You shouldn't lock people in your car! :)

We have so much fun hanging out! She has also reminded me what child-like faith looks like. I watch her and see how she views situations and her world and am just amazed and constantly reminded of the soveriegnty of God. I easily think that my life is spinning out of control, but she reminds me that God takes care of us. She reminds me to hope, hope in the future and in my dreams and especially hope in Jesus. She reminds me to be honest :) Not that I lie or anything, but honest in the context that if I don't agree with something that's being said or done, I should speak up. She reminds me to laugh at myself... :) Hope is someone who I can really just be myself around, I don't have to pretend to be someone else. We can just have fun together, and I love that!

So for all this and for being lovely, I thank you Hope. You have really blessed my life! I hope you know that I really love you and can't wait to see what God does in your life!

Excited for our next adventures!

Elyxis

Blog #61

Just wanted to post some pictures from the last month or so! Nothing profound to say,

this time :)

First off, I just wanted to show you a picture that I just found on our computer that I have NO idea where it came from or why it was on our computer, but there it is... a llama.

Halloween Party at the Parsons!

The obamas flew in for the party....

Small children should overt their eyes, Tim's kinda scary....

Kaitlyn for homecoming :)

My pumpkin that I carved!

Me and Hope at a baseball game (notice the boy in the back, I think he was having a blast)

Brit and I had a little photo shoot on 2nd street a few weeks ago... it was gorgeous!!!

Kaitlyn getting her senior pictures done.... also gorgeous!

And That's really all I have.

Elyxis.

Lonliness, together.

I have been thinking a lot over the past couple weeks about this statement. I read last week about Jesus being betrayed and crucified. God reminded me of Jesus' humanity in that moment, and his loneliness. I think its easy to start to feel lonely in this world when you don't have someone, the someone. I promise not to get all corny or cheesy cheese on you, just wanted to post something that's been on my heart. I have watched one of my best friends get engaged and my other best friend start a relationship. They are both amazing people and I love them so so much. Their relationships are holy and pure... I admire them and am really happy for them both. But as I watch these two enter into a new season of their lives, I have felt a little like I've been hung out to dry... that I'm sometimes forgotten. Not by my friends, no! But by God. Its a risky statement, I would say... to say that God has forgotten me. But as I read in Luke, and walked through Jesus' Crucifixion, I understood a different part of the heart of God. I cannot even imagine how alone and forgotten Jesus felt as he was beaten and hung on the cross. It can sound so cliche, you hear it enough... "Jesus died for me on a cross", and once you hear it enough, you think its common, and once you think that, it has lost purpose, which leaves you feeling alone. You feel like your the only one going through hard things. You feel like everyone else has someone and you still have no one. The moment that the sin of the world came upon Jesus and the Father had to turn away..... that's loneliness. I forget so easily that Jesus went through it for me so that I didn't have to. He was lonely so that I could be loved, He was forgotten about so that I could be forgiven, He was thrown out by the world and by heaven so that I could know God... how long is it going to take for me to get this in my thick skull! It's true, I do want my someone, but God is teaching me to want Him more than I want them. It's hard, and I feel alone in it. But Jesus is here. He's has been through this valley as well, and He knows what I need, and what I want. I can say that I feel forgotten by God, and I'm sure it hurts his heart when I say that, but the Truth is this: He has engraved me on the palms of his hands, He is constantly making intercession for me at the right hand of the Father, He died for me, His thoughts toward me are good and lovely, He has good plans for my life... He holds my hand... He holds my tiny little heart in his hands... He loves me... I have to learn that that's all I need, I have to know it in the very deepest part of my heart, or else I will strive in this world for nothing, for things that don't satisfy. I never want to have to look back at my life in regret. God has shown me so much in these last couple of weeks how relationships don't fill any spot in your heart if you haven't let him have the whole thing first. A man was not meant to carry the weight of my heart... God made me with the intent of carrying my heart himself... that's something I love about him. This journey takes a lot of faith, not in happenstance, but in Jesus. I know He's with me...

Joy is love exulting, Peace is love reposing, Long suffering is love untiring, Gentleness is love enduring, Goodness is love in action, Faith is love on the battlefield, Meekness is love under discipline, Temperance is love in training...

Learning to Love,
Elyxis

My God is so Good.

God is good. I've heard that about a katrillion times! I've thought about it and thought I understood what it meant... God is for me, he's on my side, he has good plans for me... I've heard it all many times over. I can honestly say now that I know and believe it in my heart! These past two weeks have been more incredibly faith challenging than anything I have ever been through. Spiritually and naturally. Like I said in my last blog, this summer has felt long and distant and dry. God seemed so far away. In the natural, I was running out of time to come up with the rest of my CLC money. It seemed that from every angle, everything was going wrong... oy. But God is good, and he DOES have a plan, even when I cant see it!
At encounter this year, God showed me so much about himself and about me. I went in not really knowing what to expect, except that it was going to be way different then 1st year... thats about it. I was really excited though! I soon gave into the frustration that I had been feeling all summer as we started our first session at wildhorse. During worship, I felt nothing. During the lesson, nothing. I found myself trying to force myself to something, anything. I was angry at myself and disappointed that I couldnt find God. I prayed and searched and felt like I was going no where, fast. I cant really explain what was going on or what I was feeling, it was just this desperation that if I didnt find God, I would literally die, my spirit would die. On the last night, as I went in for prayer, I still felt like I hadnt really connected with God at all. I hated it, thats for sure. As Bo, Lindsay, and Katie prayed for me though, this hope welled up inside my heart and as they delivered their words for me, something just clicked inside... the light had been switched on. It was like going from light to dark, all over again. Like I've mentioned before, this summer has for sure been a wilderness one... dry, gross, tiring. As they spoke with me, I came to the realization that it really was God who had drawn me there, with him. I had said it so many times, "God has brought me here for a reason", but I think deep down I didnt really believe that God was with me in the desert... I felt so alone. I had forgotten dreams, and hopes, and vision, and goals, and callings... I had forgotten them all. God started something that night as I sat there. Since that night, God has been restoring the things he had spoken to me and the things he had promised me. I hate it that I forget so easily what He's done for me when times get tough! I have this incredible hope and faith now. Hope that there's more to find and faith to go look for it. God's grace astounds me!
So I came out of encounter with this renewed vision and passion and then found myself back in the problems that I had left at home... mainly the issue that I had barely half of the first payment for CLC. But I had such faith that God would provide... and He did, but there was a big area of uncertainty for me. He gave me supernatural faith to believe for the rest, but in the natural I saw no possible way it was going to come through. To make the story short, God provided $700 dollars for me the day before the last day I could turn in money or not do CLC. Lots of prayer and tears, I tell ya... It scared the crap out of me to think that I might not be able to do CLC! It grew my faith so much to see God come through. I knew he would!
Then coming right out of this miracle, I ran hard right into I Heart Bend. It was awesome. All the past I heart events, I've felt that God moved, but I dont think I've ever experienced the love of God for a city before this event. My day started at 5:30 and ended at about 10:30. I got to the church, blew up baloons, ran stuff over to the Nazarene church, prayed with a homeless couple, ran over to Healey Hights, gave away stuff, prayed with a lady there, went door to door with two very cool people (Lily Smith and Alexa McBride!), went to lunch with Lily, went home, left 10 minutes later to go get on the dream kids bus, got to Drake, face painted for 3 hours, sat down for 30 minutes during highstreet, then loaded red chairs and cleaned up the park, then walked to my car which was literally 8 blocks away, drove home, and then passed out for many hours, glorious glorious hours! Whew! I say all this not for any other reason than this: I was tired. I served and loved Bend for one day... and I was tired. As I drove home I just started crying because I was tired. God spoke to me and just downloaded his heart for me and for my city in that very moment. I was tired after one day. God is relentless. He does this day and night, never stopping to take a break. Jesus is constantly at the right hand of the Father interceding for me and for everyone. He never stops. I realized just how weak and feeble and human I am. I was tired after one day! Oh the depths of the love of Christ... I cannot fathom or understand it. I saw how we loved our city and heard the stories of so many people being touched by the love of Christ, and it was only one day. God showed me that if the church would just be the church, and love like this everyday, our city would be so so much different. I thought about all the people I crossed paths with that day. God goes after them every single day, wanting them to know him and his love. He tries to get their attention. He tries to use you and me... how many times do we ignore the voice of the Lord and choose not to talk with someone we see. I know I do it all the time. God birthed in me a heart for the lost that I've never had before. He left me with this question: Are you going to let I Heart Bend be the only day that you pray for your city, the only day you serve strangers, the only day that you actually care? Its for sure something I've thought about, and something that has consumed me, heart and mind. My prayer to God right now is to not let me forget about those he cares about.
Switching gears a little bit, here are some pictures from Encounter till I Heart Bend and everything in between!

No better way to start something than with Spongebob... thats my motto!

Encounter!!!!

Tim :D

My Best Friend !

The whole fam.

Brittany and me at the fire pit!

Tim and Brittany <3

Lola... our new dog!

The foot says it all :)

oh, you know, just some water bottles.

Randomly, Bend Burger was welcoming us :)

Me and Lily had a fun morning/afternoon :)

Thats really all I got for now! So excited for fall in bend! Whoo Hooo!!!!!!!!!

Joy, joy, joy!

Elyxis