Ellerslie Update

There is absolutely no way to put words to the work God has been doing in my heart, and no time to tell you all I've been doing. I'll simply share a few highlights and then zero in on one specific area of what I've been learning.

-The His Little Feet choir (look it up!) has been here preparing to go on tour. It has been such an incredible blessing to minister to the kids and play with them. You don't have to speak the same language to show God's love. Last night they gave us a concert, and it was one of the most intensely moving things I've ever witnessed. They are gone now, and I miss them already. Please pray for them.
-Last Saturday we had a picnic and hiked around Lily Lake. Understanding the power of God and the awe of knowing that His Word makes mountains tremble is taken to a whole new level when you see grandeur like that. The hike up and around was unforgettable.

Again, there is so much God has been teaching me, by there's something central to what I've been learning. (This is sort of a follow up to my post on God's promises)

Just as His promises are to be believed, so His commands are to be obeyed. He is God, we bend and bow to His definition of reality rather than trying to redefine it. He has bought us with His blood; we are not our own. We must "lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and run with endurance the race that is set before us. (Hebrews 12:1)

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any man will come after me, let Him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey it's passions. (Romans 6:12)

You therefore must be perfect, and your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

Sounding impossible? If you don't think so, try to live this way and you will quickly change your mind. In our own strength, we are completely and totally unable to live this way. Here's the thing: We aren't called to do it in our own strength! It is Christ living in us that enables us to walk as He walked. We must decrease, that He might increase.

Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)

He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

His divine power has granted us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may be partakers of the divine nature... (2 Peter 1:3-4a)

This barely scratches the surface, but there you go. Those are things I've always understood on a certain level, but not I'm standing on it, in His strength, and accepting His Word as truth in an intensely practical way. I'm seeing my own depravity apart from Him, but I'm also seeing the depths of His grace and power like never before! I don't just feel free, I am free!