2 weeks in.

Reading always inspires me to write. Something about seeing someone else’s words becoming known make me want to make mine known.

I’ve been back at school for 2 weeks. It’s been a full two weeks, emotionally & spiritually. There haven’t been a lot of adventuring for me, I turned down a 7 mile hike on Saturday to have, what I thought would be some alone time. See, I was blessed with a Nook for my birthday and I’ve been reading Catching Fire, the second book of the Hunger Games. Trendy, I know. But it’s been a great escape from school and troubles, so think what you’d like. Saturday turned into a full day of driving people in and out of town, socializing with the new girls in my tent, and doing my career hobby, makeup.

I realized while applying makeup on a new ethnicity, that I have so much to learn. My understanding of skin tone and depth, face shape and style is going to soon expand. I am planning on attending makeup school Los Angeles Spring 2014. I love makeup. I haven’t always, actually I used to not care about it at all. I got by with whatever oil free stuff I could get. It wasn’t until I was 18 and my skin had taken a turn for the worst, and my makeup wasn’t helping any that I learned there was more than just what Walmart sold. After searching for something to cover, and let my skin heal from acne, I came upon mineral makeup. I fell in love quickly; seeing how my face could look normal. My obsession with complexion and sparkles exploded and God launched me into a world I never thought I’d be a part of. Ever since I’ve been learning and growing in it slowly. I’m not great, and I’m not being modest, I do a okay job with what I have and know. So stoked to learn more though.

 Personally I don’t wear makeup on a regular basis, I don’t feel I need to. My face is scarred from acne, and that’s just a part of who I am. I wear makeup so infrequently that when I tell people that I don’t wear it, they have a hard time believing it haha. Since most women never leave the house without it on, how or why would I? But I love my (and other people’s) face bare.

 Here is me sans makeup, in terrible lighting. 

So, I’m settling back into the routine of school and life away from school. God has been growing me in ways I hadn’t anticipated and I’m so so in love with Him. He’s so good and so faithful. <3

AV

21. a year in review

Today is my last day being 21.

It has been the best year of life so far. I cannot describe everything in the detail it deserves, but every moment was precious and if I didn’t live another day it would be all worth it. I’ve learned that once God gives you something, you don’t get to choose something different.   It’s the cross you bear, and the life you were blessed with. You can fight it and be depressed that it isn’t what you wanted but ultimately, it’s whats best for you. This may have been the best lesson I’ll ever learn, and I’m happy with that. Everything is exactly how it should be. I know that because I’m saying this that something big is going to happen to make me question that. So, I’m ready for the next big thing. It won’t be through my power or strength that I get through it either, but Christ who will be there with me every step of the way.

Goodbye 21, you were a blast <3

Also, Jordan Cherie Reinman, we met this year. You da best.

I’ve got this hobby….

I discovered I had a knack for doing this while in my first semester of bible college. It all starts with my love for shell hunting. Yes, hunting for shells. Swimming is great fun and all but the thrill of searching for beautifully hidden, tiny treasures is exhilarating. To most people shells are nice but you can pick them up in any souvenir store, and this is true. But do you really want things that you didn’t go on an adventure for? That’s just not how I roll.

A lot of it probably has to do with my parents. Both world travelers, they always bring back something unique. I remember this beautiful and massive conch shell my mom got in Haiti. I would put it up to my ear as a little girl and listen to the ocean. Dreaming of one day living on an island. Sadly that shell was stolen by some “friends” of ours and I never saw it again. My love for things from the sea never went away. Living in orange county the beach has been a big part of my life and I have found an awesome collection of heart shaped rocks and sea glass. Not so much shells as there isn’t too much going on in our waters that the birds haven’t already destroyed. Moving to Hawaii fixed my lack of shell problem right up.

All shores of Kauai have shells on them. Different sides and shores store different kinds. The west side has a lot of rose colored shells while the north shore carries tiny, tiny Ni’ihau shells. If you want the infamous “sunrise shell” you have to go diving, or pay big bucks at a jewelry store. I have collected my fair share of shells over the years, not just to look at either. I had a purpose.

I first learned how to wrap shells at a friends house in Kauai. A few of my friends all got into making shell jewelry and I wanted to give it a shot. It wasn’t easy but with practice I finally got the hang of it and was able to produce some decent and gift worthy pieces. So that is my hobby. I like to make jewelry :) Real exciting, I  know right?

Great is Thy faithfulness

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. – Hosea 2:20

This past fall I started to read the book of Hosea, for those who don’t know, that is a book in the Old Testament of the Bible. Hosea is considered a “minor prophet”, that just means the book is short. Though it is the longest of the minor prophets. The story of Hosea is that of redemption. God instructs Hosea to marry a particular woman, who would later leave him for harlotry. Romantic eh? Well the story goes that Hosea is to bring his wayward wife back to him to be his again. He is called to forgive and love her regardless. It is a parallel of God’s love for us. No matter what we do, He is always, always there to call us to be His again.

Reading this book, fed my soul so much over this past semester. It encouraged me to keep loving anyone who had hurt me. Loving through hardship It’s not easy. Actually, it’s close to the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I truly did not believe I could do this, seemingly impossible task. Around this time I learned, what was going on in my life was exactly what I had asked for.

No, I didn’t ask for the situations, in fact I prayed against it. What I did ask for was to reflect Christ. What I did ask for was grace to do His will. You think those things just come upon you? Not often if they do, it’s something I had to learn. So He taught me how to love and how to give and receive grace. Doing that He showed me, this is what He does for me. He allows me to come back to Him after I’ve insulted His plan or rebelled against His will. He is faithful to love me, and never leave me. Not only is He faithful to always love, but He is faithful to provide everything we need when we need it. I kid you not right before writing this I was in need of a friend, not a moment later He provided one. He hears our prayers. <3

I love the Hymn “Great is Thy Faithfulness” by Thomas O. Chisholm.  These words are true, and I can’t forget it.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

 

AV

Healing

Like anyone else, I go through heartbreak. I try and try to make or pray for something to work out the way I want it and when it doesn’t, better grab a box, or 2 of tissues. When I was little my heart broke over moving across the country to California and loosing my cat to cancer. Leaving the place I’d always known to go somewhere to people I didn’t. Now, the thought of leaving home to somewhere I don’t know is exciting, still a tad bit scary.

Lately, the concentration of my heartbreak has been with my relationships. My last one, was unlike anything I’ve ever known. It’s been especially difficult to get over, not because it was so real & amazing but because I obeyed the Lord in everything almost everything I did. Why it turned out the way it did I’ll probably never know. Scars remind us where we came from, not where we’re going. I’d like to say this is true but in my experience it isn’t always. Sometimes the Lord allows the wound to open up, to get us going in the right direction again.

I can’t heal myself. I try and try and try to but I will always come back to the Lord in worse shape. So this time I’m not going to try. I am going to hold on to the mighty words of God and run the race He’s given me. I am guaranteed to fall and get hurt.

“and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. ” – Romans 8:17 

I refuse to let myself allow one any person’s actions change the direction of my life. It isn’t fair to myself or the person choosing a different course. I have only love for this person, and I won’t make any room for hate or much anger. So what then do I do with the sadness?

“ For the mountains shall depart

And the hills be removed,

But My kindness shall not depart from you,

Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”

Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:10

Colossians 1:9–14

^“9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering ^xwith joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” – Genesis 50:20

I’ve got too much to do to spend much time being sad. Rejection sucks and feeling abandoned isn’t anything to be desired, that doesn’t mean it’s true. That doesn’t mean that right around the corner there isn’t something amazing. Just around the river-bend, you’re all Disney kids you know what I’m talking about. We don’t give up until Jesus comes and gets us.

Read Psalm 147. It’s going to take time, but I know His faithfulness.

<3 AV

On my own

On Saturday my good friend Brad, who works for a movie theatre, and I went to see Les Misérable. Now a couple years ago I was invited by my small group leader’s wife and a friend to see it in play at a local high school. I’m no beginner when it comes to musicals, or music for that matter, and for a high school it was beyond amazing. I fell in love with the story and the music. The same year PBS aired the 25th anniversary of Les Mis in concert, and anytime it came on I was glued. It was a rough time and On My Own became the song I would sing when no one was around. The sadness and honesty behind it was overwhelming, and the melody and arrangement just further tells the story of Eponine.

Flash forward to now and ironically I still sing it when I’m alone, but this time with understanding. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, you need to. Your way of looking at people and love is at risk of changing. That’s a good thing.

Christ loves us in the same way. Without anything in return, without request, and with all the fierceness in the universe.  He is my example on how I am to love others. It has been the hardest thing to do but has been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. I’ve gotten a glimpse of how He loves others, I see what He sees in them through love.”Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” – 1 John4:11

Don’t be afraid to love,” there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out all fear, because fear involves torment.” (-1john 4:18 ) even if you get shut out and barred just remember how many times we’ve done that to God. Yet he is faithful to always be there. Love like Him.

The movie was fantastic, but we had to sit in the 4th row cause we were a bit late. This is how close we were, idk if you can tell. It was like I was IN the movie, it was awesome. Go see it!

aloha

An untraditional couple of years

Well it certainly has been a long time since I’ve written anything. After reading a couple blogs recently, I remembered, hey I have one of these! I am currently on Christmas break from bible college and I have a ton of free time, so why not try again.

Allow me to reintroduce myself :

My name is Alyx.

I am 21 (almost 22) years old and I currently reside in Southern California. With plans to move north.

My school is located in Hawaii on the island of Kauai, the garden isle.

I am a desired art, business and theology major. So far it’s just been theology/biblical studies.

I LOVE THE LORD. the end.

I’ve been a photographer, on the amateur level for going on 6 years now. I love capturing nature and people in their natural state.

Makeup artistry is also on my resume, I plan to further my career in the upcoming year.

For the past 1.5-2 years now I have devoted my time, my energy and my life to seeking the Lord.

I up an changed my plans to go to a 4 year school (I had my classes, roommate and about half scholarship) and moved to Hawaii. When I graduated high school, almost 4 years ago, my plan was to go to a small bible college out there called Kauai Bible College. It was through the Calvary Bible College system but was far enough away from “big Calvary” that it was, for me, perfectly laid back. Instead of going there straight out of high school I took a gap year, which turned into 3. I don’t really regret this because I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I didn’t want to start something I would hate later on. I wanted to be ready for college, and I wasn’t. I graduated a junior, and it was hard work, I just wanted to take a break. While taking this break a few unexpected health concerns came up that took time to be dealt with. One year when I went to start community college, some computer error made it so that I could not register. That to me was a sign from the Lord, so I just went with it. Finally out of curiosity I applied to a school I knew I couldn’t get into, my SAT scores weren’t that great, but they had a “non traditional” application. Non traditional sums me up pretty well. Wouldn’t you know, I got accepted. This went against my plans of going to LA to become a makeup artist and scared the heck out of me. I wasn’t ready yet, but I went forward with it just in case. When orientation/registration day came, my mom and I drove up to Portland and toured the campus. There was no peace found for me there. Beautiful grounds, and nice people were everywhere but I didn’t get the classes I wanted, so why pay all this money for classes I’m not interested in? Because my last name is at the end of the alphabet I was last in my major to get classes. Driving home I knew I couldn’t go, but I had to do something. Military and bible college, those were the options I gave myself. When I got home I went to the Air Force recruiter, they were closed. That was a literal closed door, so I applied to Kauai Bible College, got my references and within a week was accepted. We’d been saving for a really expensive school so they money was already there.

Being in Kauai now for going on 4 semesters, has been a challenging, at times tedious, most awesome time I’ve ever had.

There is nothing I lack now. I have my Savior who loves me and has blessed me beyond imagination. Friends who bless and pour into my life and give me the opportunity to do the same. I live in a tent which has become my home away from home, even if it floods in the rainy reason. I’ve gone on so many adventures, everyday is an adventure in Kauai. What really takes the cake is how much growth has happened. I realized my life is not my own, it is His to do with what He will.

So that is where I have been.

Talk to you soon,

A.V