So Good

      I feel like I always start or end by mentioning how good God is. But the fact is - HE IS. There will never be a time when praising Him gets old or a thankful heart becomes overrated. He is more faithful than our comprehension will ever stretch. Learning more of His love will never get old, seeing His faithful blessing in every day will never end.
       As Thanksgiving comes to a close and I think of all I'm thankful for, my heart is overflowing with all He does for me. He literally has filled my heart with a fire today that cannot be quenched. Be encouraged - He NEVER loses hope in us. He NEVER gives up on us. He NEVER stops loving us. 
       " But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9
       I can't even count the number of times I have read this verse and thought "oh yeah that's nice, I guess that includes me." But for the first time today I read it and I believed it. The word of God is TRUTH and so often I read the words and even if a verse hits me I don't always believe in my heart of hearts that it's true and applies to me. But it is, it's true it's true it's true. He has chosen US, to further His kingdom and we have responsibility to live that out. Believe what He has written about you - it is truth and it is life.




                                               10 days until we leave for Brazil!!!
          

Talented People

It amazes me when I step back and think about the mixture of people and cultures I live with. Melissa from Norway is incredible at the Cello, the girls from my dance track all have their own beautiful way of putting passion into dance, Jessica, Leah and Seth are all in music track and have voices that are going to take them places. Then everyone in the art tracks who just blow me away with their creativity in everything from painting to photography. The list could keep going on and on, I get more amazed every time I think about it. Last night was cafe night and all of these talents plus many more were displayed for everyone to see. It was so nice to listen to songs, see art and watch dances that we have all been working on for the past nine weeks. Yet another confirmation that every single one of us was brought here for a specific purpose, we are all so different yet work together in ways that astound me. The downstairs lecture hall was set up like a coffee shop last night, complete with candles, Christmas lights, couches, cookies and coffee and wonderful people.  Definitely a fun and exciting night for everyone.

It Snowed!!!!

I LOVE SNOW!

We're in this thing together

Imagine this with me - your very best friend in the entire world asked you to go to lunch with him. You can't wait to talk with him and have been wanting to have a good turkey sandwich at Panera and are looking forward to it with everything in you. Although the sandwich is an important part, you are even more excited about spending time with your friend. Hearing what is on his heart and growing in closeness with one another. He means the world to you, and even if you didn't eat a thing while hanging out with him, just being there together would be enough...Thirty minutes before you are about to meet, your friend calls up and says he really isn't feeling Panera any more and would rather have a coffee at Starbucks. Yeah admit it, you were super excited to eat that Turkey sandwich, but changing where you eat has absolutely no effect on how much you care about your friend or he cares about you. Where you eat or the type of food shouldn't change the rich conversation you can have or the ease of being in one another's presence.
       In just the same way, how we expect God to meet us or what He will teach us doesn't change how much He loves us - it also shouldn't change how much we can feel his love. I might be sitting enjoying His creation by the creek - His love letter to me. I may have a friend walk up to me and tell me something they appreciate about me - His love letter to me. Maybe I am in worship and the presence of the Holy Spirit brings me to my knees - His love letter to me yet again. God comes how He wants to come. The truth remains - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 
He loves us, He loves us, He loves us. It might feel like God is a million miles away - well He's not. There's no ifs ands or buts. God grace and mercy for us is bigger than we will ever comprehend. He wants to be with us. DESPERATELY. I hear about people "putting God in a box" then have the realization that I was doing it myself.  He was teaching everyone around me new things about the Holy Spirit, while He wanted to teach me about being His friend. Just hanging out to be with Him. All of it is good, all of it is perfect because it's from God - but it took a wake up call from the Lord to recognize He will speak to me in the way He wants to break through to ELIZA, not the people around me. Through all of that, He would continue to draw me to His presence - reminding me that He is three in one. I can feel the love of my Father God, closeness of Holy Spirit and kindred friendship of being with Jesus. Sometimes it seems like God is coming through for everyone around you, but just not you. It's not our job to judge what God is doing in other people by what is or isn't happening to us. Every person has a unique and beautiful journey with God. UNIQUE and BEAUTIFUL. He is writing his love letter to you, in just the way HE PLANNED IT. Find your love language with God. Spend time with Him. Tell Him your fears. Search out a new and raw honesty in the way you talk to God. He is not oblivious to your fears or frustrations - as a matter of fact He already knows all of them, but He wants to hear them coming from your heart. He is so gentle and wants to invade your life in the way He knows is best for you. 


"Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here's why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,This most patient God, extravagant in love" Joel 2:13(The Message)

Masquerade Ball

This weekend we had a Masquerade ball in the Student Center

 Complete with a magic show, fire dancing, a rapper and LOTS of dancing.

This is Lisa and I  with our dates - Obi on the left side and my date DUH-WAYNE on the right side

Lisa, Rebecca and I

This is Leah and I. She is a heart sister and I'm going to Brazil with her 

Mike, Josiah and Crystal did a SWEET fire dance

Karl and Baby Lily - my favorite picture of the night

"Awake My Soul" by: Mumford and Sons

How fickle my heart 
and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find 
any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles 
on things I don't know
This weakness I feel 
I must finally show

Lend me your hand 
and we'll conquer them all
But lend me your heart 
and I'll just let you fall
Lend me your eyes 
I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, 
totally free
Har har, har har, har har, har har

In these bodies we will live, 
in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, 
you invest your life
In these bodies we will live, 
in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love,
you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
You were made to meet your maker 

A taste of Bellingham

Some Mini Outreach pictures!

Lisa and I walking downtown

                     This is at Camp Lutherwood where we stayed for the week

                                 Jeremy, Karl, Emilie, Ben and I by the ocean

One day we helped at Saint Josephs Hospital in the Arthritis Clinic, preparing supplies for their annual "Jingle Bell Jog" to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation

One of the sunny days

I just love these girls

These are my roomates - Kaylyn and Cassandra :)

We went to Western Washington University to learn more about Bellingham and just talk to people

My friend Kaari took this picture - it's at the dock back in Lakeside and I thought it was gorgeous

GO GOD

PASSION
- Love that stirs to action
- Uncompromising commitment
-Willing to Sacrifice
- Can't keep it inside
- Without distraction
- Doesn't get old
- All consuming emotional interest
- Fire
- Focus creates more focus
- Loses rationality
- Creates desire to bring more people into it
- Undignified
- Brings hope
- Brings freedom
- Willing to waste your life on it

"God is most glorified when man is fully alive" - John Eldredge


Passion provokes desire for change. Passion creates a desire to want MORE of it. What does it look like to be passionate about Jesus?
There is no formula for passionately loving Jesus - it's a relationship that is unique for everyone. He wants to spend time with us, talk to us, live with us. The way we include Jesus in our every day lives is where it all begins. He is our lover and friend. Let His passion to love you pull you IN.
        Our speaker this week has been Dan Baumann. I have never witnessed a more passionate person in my life, and I am not exaggerating when I say that. He is literally one of the most inspiring people I have ever been around. Dan was imprisoned in Iran for 9 weeks - beaten and interrogated. It was the darkest time in His life, attempting suicide and feeling like God could not have been farther away. When he was standing before an Iranian judge, knowing that he was imprisoned for his faith, the Holy Spirit filled him and as he stood on the witness stand he proclaimed the gospel for a half hour to that judge. The day he became imprisoned he asked God how long he would be there and God said 9 weeks. The day the guard came in and told him to gather his belongings was 9 weeks to the exact day. God is faithful. "Go God" as Dan says all the time.
       Dan lives such a simple yet adventurous and exciting faith. He goes through his every day with Jesus, talking to Him like He's walking right next to Him. I've heard this before and experienced the closeness of Jesus, but the way it has been presented to us this week, makes walking with God every day so much more tangible and real. Being passionate about Jesus and living out what He has for me doesn't mean every day is going to be happy go lucky, but it means accepting that God is more faithful and committed to fulfilling His will for my life than I am to finding it. I might have days when I don't feel like living a Christian life, when I feel like my flesh is overriding "being a good Christian" but that doesn't change how God is feeling about me, He is the consistent one. There isn't a day when He isn't passionately pursuing a relationship with me. He doesn't give up. Not a day goes by that He isn't waiting for an invitation to be in every situation with me. HE ISN'T GOING TO CHANGE! God is doing things in my heart that I can't explain, and it's all good because I serve a good who at the end of EVERY day I can say He is good and He loves me this I know. Seek Jesus, the man who took all your sins on the cross with him. Seek the relationship with the lover of your soul, who knows your every deepest struggle, dream and desire better than you know it yourself. He is good, He is good, He is good.

           Last week we were in Bellingham Washington on our "Mini Outreach." The trip to WA took twelve hours and that car ride was my favorite part. I was so relaxed and mellow, it felt amazing to just be, especially when I was surrounded with a van full of people who I love spending time with and am building those relationships deeper. In WA we had the opportunity to do some different service projects around the city for an organization called rebound. My favorite day was when about 15 of us went to the site of a house that had been rebuilt for an eighty year old man named Wayne. Wayne's house had been condemned and the house was already rebuilt but we got to work on his front yard, spreading gravel to make a driveway and shoveling dirt in the front yard so that grass can be planted. I had not really ever done manual labor or construction, but it was really rewarding! God gave me such a heart for this man, and a love and compassion for his life. At the end of the day we all stood on the big dirt pile to pray for his life and the new house Wayne is about to get. Bellingham was a super cool town to be in, aside from all the rain and mud at the camp ground we stayed at. Bellingham is a very earth friendly and granola type college town. The down town was so much fun to walk around in - lots of antique shops and boutiques. The last night when we were walking downtown there were some people with a pickup truck full of snow they got off of Mount Baker. We had a snowball fight in the streets!
          There's a little update about what has been going on in the life of Eliza lately!