Bare Faced Gorillas...uh....Girls.

Three bare faced beauties got together for a sleepovahhhh! Models for tonight's shoot: Danielle Andersen, Elizabeth Andersen, and Gabbie Rehder. 

We are weird. 

The end :)

Pilgrim's Paths

I am a poor wayfaring pilgrim traveling through this world below
There is no sickness or no danger in that bright world to which I go
I'm going there to meet my father I'm going there no more to roam
I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home
I know dark clouds will gather o'er me I know my pathway is rough and steep
But golden fields lie out before me where weary eyes no more shall weep
I'm going there to see my Saviour who shed for me his precious blood
I'm just going over Jordan I'm just going over home

Connie Smith 

This is my favorite one...

Dear World:

Dear World:
I just wanted to let you know that God has done it. After years of doubting and then strengthening of faith, years of praying and wondering, He has followed through. I always knew He would, but there are those times when waiting and waiting can make you guess whether He really did mean what He was saying or if He was just speaking figuratively. 
I have been accepted for a position on Reach Youth Ministry's team. 
It is an interesting feeling to be accepted because this is as far as the plan goes in my life. I have no idea what I'm going to do after Reach, but I'm oddly at ease with the idea of having no plan. I am really looking forward to enjoying my time with Reach for what it is and not clouding the experience with worries for the future. 

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. "Ah, Lord God!" I said, "I know not how to speak; I am too young." But the Lord answered me, Say not "I am too young." To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 1: 5-8

Remember this, O Jacob, you, O Israel, who are my servant! I formed you to be a servant to me; O Israel, by me you shall never be forgotten: I have brushed away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like a mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
Isaiah 44:21-22

God will not allow your foot to slip; your guardian does not sleep. 
Psalm 121:3

Happy are those who fear the Lord, who walk in the ways of God.
Psalm 129:1


Friends, please pray for me and for the future Reach teams. We have some hard times ahead of us and we really need intercession to our Father. Money is the big thing on my mind right now, but also spiritual preparation for the things I will encounter. I love the feeling of knowing that I'm doing the right thing-- that this is where God wants me. For so long I've waited for this, and now it's finally happening. Crazy.

Sushi Pictures

Here is the evidence of my brave adventure with Brandon Thursday night. He was kind enough to take a few pictures. Thanks Bran!
His Beloved,
Elizabeth
 P.S.
Update on the AMAZING trip I had this weekend coming soon! 
P.S.S
I just wanted to draw attention to the fact that makeup didn't touch my face and I was still confident enough to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. 
P.S.S.S
For all those who thought I was going to wear makeup in Montana-- I didn't. I didn't break it! It was lovely to not wear makeup this weekend, though my face broke out pretty bad before, so it was tempting...
More Montana update later.

Me attempting to look happy before I eat raw fish...I was actually pretty excited to try it though!

A not very flattering "in action" shot of me trying some sushi! Just for evidence sake.

Will you pray for me?

Ok, everybody, I've got some happy news to share. For years I have felt called to join Reach Youth Ministries and now I am packing to go to an interview weekend in Montana to see if this is what God is really wanting me to do. I am leaving Friday morning on a plane and will spend the whole weekend at Reach Headquarters. Jesus help me! I don't know what to expect. I am starting to feel some extreme fright at the prospect of flying by myself and being interviewed by the head honchos over there. I've been interviewed for ministries before and I usually do get pretty nervous about them. This one is different though. This one is the one I've been waiting for for so many years. What if they don't like me? What if they have expectations of me because of something they read on my application or decide that I'm too immature or young to be in this sort of ministry? I've always been confident in my ability to be honest and myself during interviews, but what if they decide they don't want me? Maybe they'll decide that they can't use someone who has been as broken as I have. Perhaps they've made perfection a mandatory characteristic to be picked for the team. 
As always, God has given me hope for tomorrow, and told me as a wrote this: 

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

But right now I need to get back to packing, because my awesome big brother surprised me with a Valentine's date! I happen to love trying new things and being adventurous, even when it freaks me out or makes me sick, so his idea is really appealing to me. He is taking me out to Sushi!!!! Gross and awesome! Yay Brandon! 
If you all could pray for safe travel for all the people being interviewed this weekend and for this experience to bring us closer to our King Jesus, I would really appreciate it. Soli deo Gloria.

Time in a Bottle

Time in a Bottle

By Jim Croce

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty, except for the memory of how
They were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do, once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go through time with.

Lasting Love

 

Rancid Heart

Well, our first week of Bare Face Challenge is coming to a close. It was a pretty good week and I felt held accountable by the girls I've been seeing at school and church. On Thursday morning I had a huge emotional breakdown. All of the pent up emotions, anger, and bitterness that I had smashed into me and had kept controlled, broke and exposed my rotting heart. Valentine's Day seems to be the topic all around and while others think of a sweet or maybe even a passionate love, I can only dwell on the love of my life, my Lord, grieving over my dysfunctional heart. I wish I could say it was broken, but I can't. Instead, I have a heart of rock. Cold, hard stone. The funny thing about a hard heart is that one hardens it to keep it from being hurt, but really the pain continues to seep into it while the joy reverberates from it. It rejects what is good and attracts what is not. All of the cruel words and actions that other people say or do to me hold fast to my heart, regardless of its stony appearance. My unforgiveness has spread like a disease and poisoned not only my mind, but also those around me. I am now considered fairly unenjoyable to be around by my family. I have become a cynic and a doubter, loud and obnoxious. Lord, I long to be a woman who clothes herself with a meek and quiet spirit, like you talk about in 1 Peter 3. I want to be as hospitable, kindhearted, and adventuresome as Rebekah, as lovely as Rachel and Leah, as wise, faithful, and obedient as Jocabed, a chosen and devoted prophetess like Miriam, as repentant as Rahab, as brave as Deborah, bold, selfless, and obedient as Ruth, with the beauty and majesty of Esther, and the faithfulness of Mary. Jesus, show me how to become the woman you have created me to be. Give me the strength to go against the current of the world and follow you and you only. Show me the way. 

One Day More!

As I wrote the title for this post, I couldn't help but play the Les Miserables song in my head...

Girls: One day more, another day, another destiny, This never ending road to Bare Faced Me... I did not live until makeup! How can I live when we are parted? One day more... Tomorrow you'll be worlds away, And yet with you, my world has started.  

Elizabeth: One more day all on my own...

Girls: Will we ever meet again?  I was born to be with you. And I swear I will be true!
Elizabeth: One more day before the storm! At the barricades of Freedom! When our ranks begin to form, Will you take your place with me?
Girls: Do I follow where she goes? Do I join my sisters there? Do I stay or do I dare?
All: The time is now The day is here! One day more!
Makeup Queens: One more day till revolution, We will nip it in the bud! We'll be ready for these schoolgirls, They will wet themselves with foundation. One day more! Watch'm run amuck, Catch'm as they fall, Never know your luck 'Till there's a free for all, Here a little dip There a little touch, Most of them are goners So they won't miss much!
Various Girls: One day to a new beginning. Raise the flag of freedom high! Every girl will be a queen. There's a new world for the winning There's a new world to be won Do you hear the people sing?
Girl: My place is here, I fight with you! One day more!
Makeup Queens: We will join these people's heroes. We will follow where they go. We will learn their little secrets, We will know the things they know.
All: Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in Heaven has in store! One more dawn...One more day...One day more!

Sleep...I want sleep...

You know you haven't gotten enough sleep when you start singing and your voice is already warmed up from yesterday.
You know you haven't gotten enough sleep when your toothbrush is still wet. 
You know you haven't gotten enough sleep when the load you started in the washer before you went to bed is still going. (Ok, so I just made this last one up...)
You know you haven't gotten enough sleep when you get dressed, do you hair, check your email, eat breakfast, and then go sit on your bed for fourty-five minutes in a completely zoned out way.
You know you haven't gotten enough sleep if you start wondering who would notice if you didn't go to class and just stayed in bed. (For me at least!)

The funny thing is that last night I got my whole eight hours of sleep, which is longer than I've gotten all week. I do look and feel really tired though...


Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.
Proverbs 20:13


O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.
Isaiah 33:2

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
 Isaiah 50:4

And I—in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. 

Psalm 17:15