this past weekend my bible study took a trip up to flagstaff to kathy's house. just two hours north of STILL hot phoenix is little flagstaff in the mountains. it is almost cold. soon it will start snowing there. i love flagstaff. i was so excited to get away. and to be cold. almost.
i drove up with my dear friend janay, talking and singing at the top of our lungs. as soon as we got there we went straight to the grocery store to load up on food for the eight of us. i ran into my fellow yl staff associate friend holland, the only person i know in flag. small town. love it. the rest of the girls were driving up later so kathy took janay and me to dinner. that night happened to be an art festival in downtown flag so there were people everywhere. flannels and beanies and folk music and art. flagstaff is my kind of town. after the best burger i've had in a long time we headed home to meet the rest of the girls. kathy's "cabin" is less of a cabin and more of a huge house with a movie theater and lots of fireplaces. we hung out all night and talked by the fire. it was perfect. our bible study is made up of mostly 20something women, most married, and one with a baby on the way. i am the youngest but only by a few years. i love them. they are wise and fun and strong and ridiculous. we laugh. a lot. the next day we woke up and made the world's largest feast of a breakfast ever. so elaborate. then we drove an hour or so up a mountain with blankets and food and bibles. we talked and ate and had quiet time and soaked in fall. it was perfect. so refreshing. we walked around downtown flag again a bit more and went in some stores. that night we made another feast of tacos. group effort really. we watched a movie in the mason's theater and passed out. leaving in the morning was hard. no part of me wanted to leave this fall wonderland and go back to eternal summer real life back in scottsdale. it was so good. so so good. and i do wish i could move there. i'll keep it on my list.
in other news, we have a rat. long story short we caught it. put it in a cage. named it lucky. and it's our new pet. it's a domesticated rat. doesn't have the plague or anything. the catching of the rat is actually quite a funny story. and makes me appreciate my roommates even more. i am so grateful for them. coming home and watching movies together or making food or whatever is always what i need. i lucked out. hugely. so blessed.
i read transforming grace for my monthly staff associate training. it's a bit longer than the other books we've been reading and i was having a hard time getting through it. there doesn't seem to be a lot of down time in my life. but i got through it. and lord did it transform me. it revealed so much about myself. i know i have never been great at understanding, giving, or receiving grace. i have a very "you get what you earn" mentality. and although i know better, i have always worked with the motivation of trying to make god love me more. and there is literally nothing i can do to make that happen. i will never be good enough. which is freeing. so freeing. i do not have to try to earn anything with god. i received his grace by the blood of his son- not because of anything i had done or would do. just because i am his child and he loves me. i'll never earn it. so i have been reevaluating everything i do. and my motivation. something i think things in young life aren't going awesome because i'm not doing enough. like i haven't earned a great club. but now i can rest in the freedom that as long as i am doing my job, the rest is not up to me. i can't earn anything. i can only love the lord with my life and serve him out of sheer love for him without expecting anything. it's funny that grace is my middle name. ironic. i needed this reminder. so i suggest reading transforming grace. it's worth it.
i'm getting excited about coming home! in a month and a half i'll be home for two weeks. just to relax and see people and be hoooome. i can't wait to hug my mom.
i drove up with my dear friend janay, talking and singing at the top of our lungs. as soon as we got there we went straight to the grocery store to load up on food for the eight of us. i ran into my fellow yl staff associate friend holland, the only person i know in flag. small town. love it. the rest of the girls were driving up later so kathy took janay and me to dinner. that night happened to be an art festival in downtown flag so there were people everywhere. flannels and beanies and folk music and art. flagstaff is my kind of town. after the best burger i've had in a long time we headed home to meet the rest of the girls. kathy's "cabin" is less of a cabin and more of a huge house with a movie theater and lots of fireplaces. we hung out all night and talked by the fire. it was perfect. our bible study is made up of mostly 20something women, most married, and one with a baby on the way. i am the youngest but only by a few years. i love them. they are wise and fun and strong and ridiculous. we laugh. a lot. the next day we woke up and made the world's largest feast of a breakfast ever. so elaborate. then we drove an hour or so up a mountain with blankets and food and bibles. we talked and ate and had quiet time and soaked in fall. it was perfect. so refreshing. we walked around downtown flag again a bit more and went in some stores. that night we made another feast of tacos. group effort really. we watched a movie in the mason's theater and passed out. leaving in the morning was hard. no part of me wanted to leave this fall wonderland and go back to eternal summer real life back in scottsdale. it was so good. so so good. and i do wish i could move there. i'll keep it on my list.
in other news, we have a rat. long story short we caught it. put it in a cage. named it lucky. and it's our new pet. it's a domesticated rat. doesn't have the plague or anything. the catching of the rat is actually quite a funny story. and makes me appreciate my roommates even more. i am so grateful for them. coming home and watching movies together or making food or whatever is always what i need. i lucked out. hugely. so blessed.
i read transforming grace for my monthly staff associate training. it's a bit longer than the other books we've been reading and i was having a hard time getting through it. there doesn't seem to be a lot of down time in my life. but i got through it. and lord did it transform me. it revealed so much about myself. i know i have never been great at understanding, giving, or receiving grace. i have a very "you get what you earn" mentality. and although i know better, i have always worked with the motivation of trying to make god love me more. and there is literally nothing i can do to make that happen. i will never be good enough. which is freeing. so freeing. i do not have to try to earn anything with god. i received his grace by the blood of his son- not because of anything i had done or would do. just because i am his child and he loves me. i'll never earn it. so i have been reevaluating everything i do. and my motivation. something i think things in young life aren't going awesome because i'm not doing enough. like i haven't earned a great club. but now i can rest in the freedom that as long as i am doing my job, the rest is not up to me. i can't earn anything. i can only love the lord with my life and serve him out of sheer love for him without expecting anything. it's funny that grace is my middle name. ironic. i needed this reminder. so i suggest reading transforming grace. it's worth it.
i'm getting excited about coming home! in a month and a half i'll be home for two weeks. just to relax and see people and be hoooome. i can't wait to hug my mom.
