Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Simplicity








Simplicity, silence and solitude are the three Spiritual Practices that I need to grow in the most this year. I made it one of my New Year’s resolutions to do all 12 Christian Spiritual Practices with excellence this year. One lifestyle change I want to make to create a life of simplicity is to spend fewer hours on social media each week. I’ve decided to stick to only Instagram and Facebook in the future. I won’t be blogging anymore after this week, but I’ll leave the blog up for another 6 months or so, in case anyone wants to read through old blog posts. On Instagram my account name is: the_futuristas

I badly need to establish simplicity in my “online lifestyle”. I look forward to focusing on only two different accounts from now on: Instagram and Facebook. I don’t need to spend time and effort on updating a blog, Twitter, Snapchat or a Youtube channel every week. Life is about so much more than spending time online. I love social media, I just want to spend fewer hours online every week and more hours face to face (in real life) with all the people I love.

Simplicity, silence and solitude are the areas where I need to grow the most, but I aim to see growth in all 12 Christian Spiritual Practices during 2018. Here’s the whole list:

1. Simplicity
2. Silence
3. Solitude
4. Prayer
5. Confession
6. Meditation (on the Word)
7. Study (of the Word)
8. Fasting
9. Sabbath
10. Giving
11. Service
12. Worship


Criticizing





Words are powerful. They can beat us down and lift us up. They wound and they heal. And the right words at the right time can be exactly what we need to hear—or what we need to say. Pastor Craig Groeschel from Life Church preaches an excellent sermon about the topic of criticism.


When We Fail at Love






The word “sin” is one of the most common bad words in the Bible, but what does it really mean? In this video, we’ll explore the concept of “moral failure” that underlies this important biblical word. Get ready to discover a profound and realistic portrait of the human condition.


3 Tips for Marriage





Both romantic comedies and the last episode of every TV show seem to end with the same thing: the main characters get married and live happily ever after. Hollywood movies are fun to watch but they paint a very unrealistic picture of what marriage will be like. Our modern culture seem to think that a romantic relationship will satisfy our souls, in reality that is far from the truth.


Marriage was created by God as a tool that he uses to form and shape us toward holiness. Marriage is ultimately not about happiness, it's about selflessly serving another person. If we get good at serving each other in marriage happiness arrives as a very nice "side effect" of that lifestyle.


It's easy to love people that you only see once a week, it's much harder to love when you share your life with another human-being. This is why marriage and parenthood are two of the main tools that God uses to shape us toward holiness during our lifetime. Few things are more efficient at shaving off selfishness from our souls than becoming a wife and a mother. Marriage and parenthood reveals to the human-being that the universe doesn't revolve around her. We learn that this life is all about love, and that love is not self-seeking nor proud.


Friday, March 23, 2018

Jesus: Who is He?





Jesus, the whole world counts time from the year when he died and rose, 2018 years ago. He died on a cross and my home country Finland took that so seriously that they put the cross symbol on the national flag, a blue cross with a white background. The so-called Scandinavian crosses on the flags of the Nordic countries–Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden–also represent Christianity. Why have people cared so much about a man named Jesus all throughout history and why do people still care about him today? Episode 2 of Alpha explores who Jesus is.



Philippa Hanna's Story

Alex Wood

Forever






Forever, He is glorified
Forever, He is lifted high
Forever, He is risen




Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Dysfunctional Comfort





Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina preaches an excellent message about our comfort zones in this video.

I must admit that I love being comfortable. Why in the world would I want to expose myself to the frightening, uncomfortable and seemingly unsafe life outside of my comfort zone? The answer to that question is: the results. As I look back at my life, I can clearly see that growth and transformation always took place in an uncomfortable place. We don’t grow much inside our comfort zone, do we?


Lisa's Story





Lisa Luby Ryan wanted the perfect life: children who adored her and a husband that would protect, guide and love her. But things didn't turn out that way.
She had been sexually abused at a young age, lived in a chaotic home and wasn't loved by her parents. Honesty, trust and a wholesome relationship between a man and a woman simply wasn't Lisa's reality. As she went through life, through relationships and men and a broken family of her own, she knew in her mind that "All I wanted was to be loved." But God asked her the question, "How can I heal you when you're not willing to heal yourself? Are you willing to confront your secrets and give it all up to me?"
Are you willing to give it all up? Are you willing to be healed? Lisa had to confess her past; a life of affairs, abortion, divorce, and neglect. She freed herself by facing the truth and God was faithful to restore the broken pieces.



It Is Well






Through it all, through it all 
My eyes are on You 
It is well with me.




Tuesday, March 20, 2018

What can break a marriage?






Every book I’ve read on marriage says the same thing about having close friends of the opposite sex: it’s not a good idea. When we are married and still have close friends of the opposite sex we end up building an emotional closeness in that relationship. Emotional intimacy should be reserved for our spouse alone. We can have close friends of the opposite sex, but it’s better to see them in a group setting. One on one meetings with friends of the opposite sex builds too much emotional intimacy. Recommendations like these can seem unnecessary or silly, but the experts know what they are talking about.


Audrey Meisner was close friends with a much younger man and for many years he remained just that, a friend. She never imagined that she would end up having and affair with him one day since he was much younger, and they were just friends.


Bob and Audrey Meisner also had another struggle that so many of us face, they were busy people, very busy. Where do you fit in time to connect and work on your marriage when your schedules are packed with the kids, work and ministry? Bob and Audrey tell their story about how in a busy season of their lives Audrey ended up having an affair that almost ended their marriage.


Bob had a bold and mature mentor who challenged him to forgive his wife, just like God forgave him on the day of salvation. Bob wanted to punch his mentor in the face for even suggesting forgiveness as an option, but over time he chose to do just that, even if the hurt was deep and it took time to heal from it.



Love That Lasts





The other day I was looking through the pictures from our Renewal of Vows ceremony last summer. It hit me that “renewing your love” is what marriage is all about. We live in a culture that thinks it’s possible to “fall out of love”, but in reality you don’t stop loving somebody overnight.


Nobody gets fit at the gym and then suddenly “falls out of shape” one day. We don’t get in bad shape from avoiding the gym for three weeks, but if we avoid the gym for three years we will end up in bad shape. Why does our modern culture believe that we can get married, focus on everything else but the marriage, and still be happy and in love with each other 5, 10 or 30 years later?


One of the things my husband and I do every year to work on our marriage and keep our love alive is read books together. Last year we read The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman and this year we are reading The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller. Another important thing we do is pray together every evening. We pray and ask God to strengthen and deepen our love for each other. We pray over whatever challenges we are facing each day and we intercede for others who are going through a tough time.



Monday, March 19, 2018

Family






The seasons of life

"For everything there is a season,a time for every activity under heaven.A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest."

Ecclesiastes 3 (NLT)



Friday, March 16, 2018

Fight Your Fear





God has a destiny for you, but fear could be getting in the way of it. See how fighting your fear may be the key to changing your future.


Monday, March 12, 2018

Peace Be Still





Be Still
&KNOW
that I am
GOD
PSALM 46:10



Desperate Prayers Yield Miracle





One couple finds a reason to be thankful after doctors discover a mass in their infant daughter's brain.



Defining Moments






OUR DAYS ON EARTH ARE LIKE A SHADOW.

-KING DAVID


God & Scripture





Is the Bible just a historical document or is it the written Word of God? Is it still relevant or even reliable? The Curiosity Collective brings together thought leaders, subject matter experts, pastors, and theologians to explore these challenging questions.


In Love with my Ex





Cheryl Scruggs divorced Jeff after 10 years of marital numbness and searched for a deeper, more meaningful relationship - one she thought she'd found in another man. When she discovered that her emotional void could only be filled by Jesus Christ, she wanted Jeff's forgiveness.
The freedom Cheryl thought she would experience after the divorce didn't exist, instead she was left with the pain of knowing that she had been the one to break up her family. 
In this interview with Jeff and Cheryl Scruggs they talk about how living the dream life in Los Angeles still left their marriage crumbling. Cheryl talks about what led her to have the affair. Jeff&Cheryl also walk us through how seven years after the divorce they started dating each other again. They eventually decided to remarry each other to their twin daughters delight. 
Today Jeff&Cheryl are still happily married and both of their daughters are married now. They have decided to share their story with hopes of helping others. Jeff and Cheryl share their story in more detail in their book "I Do Again: How We Found a Second Chance at Our Marriage--and You Can Too"

I Do Again






The Wedding
The Twins
The Good Life

The Void
The Affair
The Divorce

Repentance
Forgiveness
The 2nd Wedding
A Marriage Restored



What are you Afraid of?





Life has dark valleys full of death that fear tells us we can't get out of. The reality is we have a shepherd who is leading us through the valley towards the greatest things he has to offer us.

In week 3 of the series Fear is a Liar Pastor Chuck Mingo from Crossroads Church preaches a sermon about how to get through the tough times in life without loosing hope.


Thursday, March 8, 2018

Who You Say I Am





Free at last
He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin
Jesus died for me
Yes He died for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God



Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Helicopter Parenting





Care Pastor and Psychologist Merry C. Lin talks about the pressure that new parents face to be "perfect parents". Merry mentions that she was afraid of traumatizing her child through her parental mistakes when she first became a mother. 



Broken and Imperfect, but Dearly Loved


I'm a good person. I have no issues. Life is a walk in the park.


What a mess we are, ever single one of us. In our modern society we work hard to cover up our issues and imperfections with happy pictures on social media and small talk, but the truth is ugly. If you haven’t already watched “The Push” on Netflix I recommend it! It’s a film about a social experiment that reveals that most people, under pressure, are capable of committing murder. Derren Brown picked four people for the experiment, two women and two men. Both women and one of the men committed murder at the end of the experiment. All these people are normal people, not mentally unstable, and still they chose murder. The Push is far from the only psychological experiment that has revealed that humans are far more self-centered than we might want to admit.


We are a mess, we are what the Bible calls sinners. We hate the word sin, but it’s quite clear that humans aren’t as sweet on the inside as they look on the outside. The people in the social experiment chose murder when they were faced with the realization that they might go to prison if they let the person live. We think we are “good people”, we are not.


Despite all this, regardless of our brokenness and ugliness, God willingly chose to give up everything to save us humans from ourselves. My mind struggles to understand how huge that is, that God willingly took on unbelievable amounts of pain to set my soul free from the bondage of sin. I can’t save myself from my issues, I can strive to be “a good person”, but the social experiment shows that I’m not. Humans are inherently selfish and if we are ever faced with the choice of saving our own skin or committing murder 3 out of 4 will choose murder. Still, God loves us, every single one of us. That's mind-blowing to me!


Imperfect, but dearly loved!


Today we had a “Testimony Day” at our Women Connect gathering at church and I was once again reminded of God’s limitless love. It’s incredible what God will do to reach us, even when we are running in the other direction. Sharon was one of the women who shared her story at Women's Connect today. Sharon has been a believer since she was a small child, but most of her life she hasn’t spent much time focusing on God. She got caught up in chasing wealth, possessions, career success and independence over the years.


One day Sharon suffered a stroke and a brain aneurysm and ended up in the hospital. She had an out of body experience while she was in the ambulance and found herself walking in the yard of her big house in Toronto. She could hear a voice that said: “You have spent all your money and focus on this, and you spend no time with me.” She didn’t understand what was going on until later, and after months of recovery and rehabilitation she knew everything had to change in her life. The doctors say that she should be either dead or severely disabled at this point because of the severity of her brain aneurysm, but she is walking and doing well.


Sharon has big scars on her body from the surgery and for a long time she has been covering them up with a scarf. One day God spoke to her during her prayer time and told her not to hide her scars any longer. God told her to share her testimony and tell others that although she should be dead today God decided to make death pass over her, just like it passed over the Israelites’ homes in Egypt. Today Sharon is living every day to the fullest, not worrying about the future at all and making sure she’s spending time with God. She’s not letting herself get distracted by the alluring things of this world any longer.


Sharon isn’t the only person I’ve met who have had miraculous healing take place in her life. Two of my friends at Women Connect have experienced miraculous healing in their own bodies. It’s one thing to hear about God’s mighty works or read about them in the Bible, it’s different to meet a friend who tells you their story. God cares for us, nobody will ever love you like God loves you, but do you love him? The Bible makes it clear that all God asks of us is for us to love Him back and then go out into the world and love other people.


Messy, weak and imperfect but forgiven, free and fearless in Christ.


How many of us can honestly say that we really love God? You can’t love somebody that you don’t know personally. I don’t love Beyonce, because I have never met her. I love my husband because every day I spend time with him. Every day God loves you, protects you, cares for you and provides for you. Do you even notice that in your life? Do you even care about Him at all? 


I don’t know about you, but I tend to get easily distracted from the things of God and choose to be self-absorbed. One of my New Year’s resolutions this year is to spend more time with God. When Lent started a couple of weeks ago I chose to fast from sleep. I decided that I will get up one hour earlier every day to spend that hour with God. The first week was very unsuccessful. I would get up, turn off my alarm, and crawl back into bed. The second week I finally got a good routine going.


I get up at 5AM every morning to spend one hour with God. I read 1-2 chapters in the Bible, I sing 1-2 worship songs to God, and I pray for myself and others. I ask God to protect, guide and provide for all my friends and family members and I ask Him to help them with whatever they are struggling with. If someone’s sick I pray for healing. At this point my time with God has become my favorite hour of the day. My time with God leaves me joyful, at peace and full of hope every morning. But I’m aware that once Lent is over it will be very easy for me to slip back into old habits and not prioritize putting God first any longer.


Everything that is beautiful, good, lovely and admirable in my life comes from the same source; God. How can I justify not letting God have the first hour of my day when He gave up everything for me? I will work hard to keep my Morning Quiet Time habit after Lent is over and other people’s testimonies encourage me to keep God first. At the end of this life I will not wish that I had spent more time on shopping, Netflix, or at the gym. What will matter at the end is this: How much I loved God and how well I loved other people.


Peace. Hope. Joy. Purpose.


We all come into this world naked and we all leave it naked. Our beauty, career titles, popularity, social status or prestige is temporary and will not impress God. What matters is if we love God or not, and if we loved the people God put in front of us. How are you doing in these two areas? I personally have a lot of room for improvement in both areas, but every new habit makes an important difference.


Monday, March 5, 2018

Steadfast Love





Lauren Chandler is the author of "Steadfast Love" and in this video she talks about her struggle with perfectionism, self reliance and not feeling good enough.


Here Comes Trouble





Meet a guy whose name actually means trouble. Achan was an Israeli soldier whose personal action brought a national reaction. When he crashed and burned, he took others down with him—his fellow soldiers, his family, and his country. How can one person do so much damage? And what should be done when we find ourselves in the fallout of failure (our own or others’)? Moreover, can there ever be a bright future for those experiencing such dim circumstances?


Zanetta's Story





Zanetta Romero lived a life that looked like a fairy-tale, but on the inside she felt empty. She went looking for something to fill the void. 

Zanetta ended up making some choices that led her to loose her family. She found freedom when she finally decided to reveal her secrets to God and to the closest people in her life.


Rebecca's Story




Rebecca Toups shares her story about hitting rock bottom.


Is He "The One"?





Emily Wilson talks about some of the things she saw in her husband during the dating phase that convinced her that he was "the one" for her. Emily noticed that Daniel wasn't a man who just tolerated her values in life, he had the same values as her. She also discovered that Daniel was a selfless man who wasn't afraid to give of himself and serve others. He wasn't self-serving.


Emily also talks about having a deep awareness in her heart that she wasn't settling as she was choosing Daniel. She could see that being with Daniel helped her become a better person and her presence in his life made him a better person too. Emily knew that she needed her future husband to be a man of great character and integrity and she found both of these things in Daniel.


Tuesday, February 27, 2018

What if I'm not a religious person?






Jon works as a pastor in Whistler,BC in Canada and in this video he talks about the difference between being religious and having a personal relationship with God.



The Struggle is Real





We all strive to live lives marked by love. We want to bring love and kindness into every interaction we have with people. We long to live The Life of Love, not a life filled with sin, but the struggle is real. We struggle with being patient and kind when people are getting on our nerves. We don’t want to forgive others when they wrong us. We aim to live lives marked by compassion, kindness and discipline but in reality our lives are marked by a bad temper, irritability and meanness.


We will never be perfect, and God does not expect perfection from us. God expects us to aim for righteousness, rather than to come up with excuses when we sin. We receive God’s grace freely every time we choose to own up to our mistakes and turn from our sins, rather than to keep going down the wrong path. 


The good news is that God notices every single attempt we make to turn our lives around, it all counts in God’s eyes. The people around you might not notice any difference in your behavior yet, but God knows how hard you are trying to change. God notices every effort we make and he also notices every time we choose sin. We get away with nothing in front of God. There’s no sin you can commit that God won’t judge you for one day, unless you choose to come to Him and ask for forgiveness in repentance.





The beautiful message of the gospel is that no matter how bad you have messed up in your life it’s never too late to change your course. We can never become too broken or too old for God to be able to do His redeeming work in us. We are also aware that we will never “arrive” in this lifetime. You can’t live a generous life in your thirties and forties, retire at 55 and spend the rest of your life focused on yourself. You will never arrive at a place where you have done enough good deeds and can “check out” of your responsibilities and focus on yourself. The day your mission in this life is finished will be the day you die, the day that God brings you home to heaven. 


I’m greatly encouraged by the fact that every day matters to God. How I choose to live my life today is important to God. God doesn’t need me to graduate university, land the dream job or start my own non-profit for Him to be pleased with me. Every small act of kindness and love matters to God. Big dreams and ambition is good to have but God isn’t hard to please. All God requires from me is that I love Him with all my heart, and that I love on all the people I interact with everyday.


When I aim to live this “life of love” God is pleased with me every single day. God gives me the strength I need to be able to choose love, and when I sin, fail and mess up God’s forgiveness and grace is available for me every time. That’s a free and beautiful way to live! I’m aiming for love, but I’m fully aware that I will end up sinning daily and that God will forgive me every time I do. I’m free to try again, without even a hint of shame or condemnation.




 “A good person’s good life won’t save him when he decides to rebel, and a bad person’s bad life won’t prevent him from repenting of his rebellion. A good person who sins can’t expect to live when he chooses to sin. It’s true that I tell good people, “Live! Be alive!” But if they trust in their good deeds and turn to evil, that good life won’t amount to a hill of beans. They’ll die for their evil life.
“‘On the other hand, if I tell a wicked person, “You’ll die for your wicked life,” and he repents of his sin and starts living a righteous and just life—being generous to the down-and-out, restoring what he had stolen, cultivating life-nourishing ways that don’t hurt others—he’ll live. He won’t die. None of his sins will be kept on the books. He’s doing what’s right, living a good life. He’ll live.
 “‘Your people say, “The Master’s way isn’t fair.” But it’s the way they’re living that isn’t fair. When good people turn back from living good lives and plunge into sin, they’ll die for it. And when a wicked person turns away from his wicked life and starts living a just and righteous life, he’ll come alive.
(EZEKIEL 33:12-19)

Monday, February 26, 2018

Manhood





The sins of men are something we are far too familiar with, we have experienced it in our own lives. We witness how evil men can be as they commit murder, rape, adultery and wage war. We are terrified when we read stories about sexual assault, the holocaust and other evil acts committed by men. Where does all this evil come from and how can we make it stop?


Pastor Matt Chandler from The Village Church talks about men’s struggle with sin in this sermon. We learn that there are two main groups of sin that men tend to lean towards: selfish aggression and selfish passivity. Selfish aggression would include pornography, domestic abuse, thoughtless criticism and withholding attention or affection when someone fails. Selfish aggression is to use money, power or something else to control others. Mocking or belittling others to exalt oneself. Slandering or harming another person’s reputation to get ahead. Deriving pleasure from watching other people suffer etc.


Selfish passivity is evident in a man’s life when he’d rather engage in fantasy than engage his wife and children, when he complains or makes excuses, when he actively avoids conflict, vulnerability or work. Selfish passivity also includes leaving difficult work to others, refusing to help someone in need, apathy, lack of ambition in matters truly important to God and others, and not being appalled by sexual abuse, child abuse, racism etc.


Matt Chandler explains that all humans are either male or female, but just because someone is born male that doesn’t mean he’s a man. We grow from boys and girls into men and women as we mature and as our character is being formed. Sadly, our world is filled with adult males who are still little boys on the inside, males who never put on the character of a man. Aging happens naturally, maturity doesn’t. In the sermon Matt Chandler gives men advice on what they can do to avoid falling into selfish passivity or selfish aggression in their lives.


We must actively pursue maturity to develop good character. As we mature and grow in character we develop the self-control and discipline we need to be able to turn away from our temptation toward sin and choose love and justice. We choose generosity over greed, faithfulness over being unfaithful, kindness over criticism, humility over hate etc. We learn to say “No” to every twisted desire we have, desires that could lead us toward committing evil acts. We all have these desires and they aren’t going away anytime soon.


The evil stops when we learn to control our minds and not give in to our twisted desires and temptations. Every human being is born with the ability to do both good and evil, acting like we aren’t ever tempted toward evil isn’t helpful. The evil stops when we decide to stop practicing it. It isn’t just other people who are adding more evil to this world. Every year you add evil to this world, and I do too. Let’s pursue maturity so that the people in our lives will greatly benefit from knowing us rather than the opposite being true.



Justice





"Justice" is a felt need in our world today and a controversial topic. But what is justice, exactly, and who gets to define it? In this video, we'll explore the biblical theme of Justice and discover how it's deeply rooted in the story-line of the Bible that leads to Jesus.


Good Good Father






You're a good good father
It's who you are,
And I'm loved by you,
It's who I am.




Thursday, February 22, 2018

Women’s Struggles





The evil we see all around us and hear about on the News daily is a result of the sinful nature of every man and woman who walks this Earth. It’s not the animals that are ruining our planet, it’s the humans. We are aware that all humans struggle with sinful desires like greed, selfishness, meanness etc. Some people take it a step further and commit adultery, murder or other horrific acts of evil. The more we learn about the sinful nature of humans, the more we can understand where it originates from and how we can stop it.


There are some specific types of sins that are more common among men, like selfish aggression and selfish passivity. The two main types of sins that are more common among women are comparison and perfectionism. Comparison and perfectionism then gives birth to gossip, slander, quarrelling, jealousy etc. in women’s lives.


In part 8 of a series called “A Beautiful Design” Pastor Matt Chandler from The Village Church talks about the struggles that are specific to women in our society. This sermon was so good for me to listen to because it convicted me of multiple ways that I tend to be mean toward my own husband and others in my community. Step one to be able to grow is to know your weaknesses. Ladies, if you are interested in personal growth this year, this sermon will give you the push you need.


Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Women





Being a woman is hard. Women often wear many hats, and feel judged or criticized no matter what path they choose to go down. So how can we make sure we are practicing self-care and being kind to ourselves? Psychologist and Care Pastor Dr. Merry Lin gives her best advice to women.


Kathie's Story







Rejection, love and loss. 
Joy and purpose.




Mixed Signals From Men





Ashley Brown from the youtube channel Ashley Empowers gives her best advice on what to do when you are getting mixed signals from men.



Love is in the air






Valentine's Day last week was incredible! My husband and I celebrated 7 years as a couple with a four-course dinner at an Italian restaurant in Toronto. My awesome husband also surprised me with a big bouquet of red roses, macaroons and a "Good Morning Beautiful"-coffee cup as a Valentine's present.

My day got even better when I found out that my brother had proposed to his girlfriend during a walk along the beach on Valentine's Day!!! I cried tears of joy when I got the good news. I look forward to their wedding so much! Love is in the air!



What's My Purpose?


Where do I want to live? What type of career would best fit me? Who should I marry? The better we know ourselves, the easier it becomes to answer life's big questions.


We are all gifted in different areas of life. Living out our purpose will require us to figure out what gifts we have so that we can put them to use. The Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers personality test is one way to better understand your uniqueness and figure out what areas you are gifted in. I took the personality test a few weeks ago to see if there are any areas where I’m gifted that I haven’t thought about. The test reaffirmed a lot of things that I already knew about myself and my personality type. It was also funny to see that so many of the things I’m passionate about aren’t really that “unique” after all, they are very common interests for my personality type.

People with my personality type often become activists or involved in politics. The test also showed me that careers where my personality type is very successful are: Psychology and Counselling, Writing, Teaching, Early Childhood Education, Healthcare, Social work, Law and Religious Leadership. If you are interested in learning more about your own personality type, or want to find out what type of careers you would do well in, you can take the test here: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp


Embracing Limitation





Have you ever felt like you don’t fit in? Like you’re an outsider? Learn how to leverage your uniqueness for something greater.


Friday, February 16, 2018

Jeanhee's Story





Jeanhee found her way out of a poverty-stricken childhood and worked her way to becoming a business woman. But tragedy showed her the joy she lacked.


Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Changed





I look in the mirror
I see in my face
The pain that I've carried
Is being replaced
There's a brighter future
I see it in my eyes
There used to be darkness
But now there's a fire

And now that I can see
Everything You promised me
You're making a new heart
I'm not who I used to be




Monday, February 12, 2018

The Happy Wives Club





The media rarely displays a happy wife. Turn onto any channel or open any magazine and the portrayal of marriage are heartbreaking. With daunting statistics on divorce and affairs, many have lost hope that they could be once again happily married to the person whom they once said "I do" to!

Join us as we hear from Fawn Weaver, an investor, best- selling author, and happily married wife, about her mission to shine a brighter light on this biblical union and how you truly can become part of her Happy Wives Club!


Your Identity as a Woman





Women are beautiful in a way that is more powerful and unique than the world realizes. Our feminine qualities include strength, beauty, intuition, fidelity, self giving, acceptance, and receptivity. These are qualities that God placed in our natures that empower us women for who we are. We also have four qualities that are completely unique to women, the first one is receptivity. Women have a special way of receiving those they love into their hearts and loving them there. Women are compelled and meant to try to form these deep, loving relationships with others.


The second uniquely feminine quality is generosity. Us women desire to give ourselves freely to everyone we come into contact with. We pour our heart and soul into our relationships with other people. We even go so far as to give up our own bodies for the lives of others, through our unique ability to carry a life within us. This is something only women have been given the ability to do. Through our generosity of our soul and body, others are built up and strengthened, guided towards who they are and are meant to be. 



The third quality is sensitivity, which is often seen as a weakness in our society. However, the sensitivity of us women is what allows us to enter into another person’s perspective in a way that men are unable too. Through our sensitivity we can understand another person’s situation and be their strength. 



The fourth quality extends to all aspects of our being: maternity. Motherhood extends past the relationship of mother and child, motherhood means to protect and safeguard humanity and bring it to its full development. When we put our receptivity, generosity, sensitivity, and maternity to use we are able to strengthen humanity with love and care



This is who we are, Ladies. This is how we were built. However, due to a society that has pushed us down, many of us have lost our identity. We have forgotten who we are and are constantly striving to understand it in all the wrong ways. We have no idea how special we are.


The Minimalist Closet





Sticking to a capsule wardrobe saves time, money and is eco-friendlier than having a lot of clothes. What’s better than that? It’s been a few years since I first adapted a Minimalist Style and I still love this simple lifestyle! I have found the colors and styles that I love and stick to them year after year.

My favorite colors are black, white, navy, grey and pastel blue. I also like to add 2-3 colorful pieces to my wardrobe every season. My favorite bright colors are: pink, purple and mint green. I have found seven different types of clothing that fit my body type very well, so every year I wear different versions of these 7 pieces:

1. Skinny jeans
2. Blazers/short jackets
3. Simple one-colored tops
4. Long knits
5. Long Blouses
6. Knee-long dresses
7. Maxi dresses


February



I'm not a big fan of advertisements or commercials but I have to admit that this time of year they add some nice color to our city and light up in the dark.


Some people like to go skating by City Hall on a cold day in February, I prefer to spend my Saturdays shopping.


I love to spend my freetime outdoors but this time of year I like hanging out at the mall, while the snow/freezing rain is falling outside.


On Saturday I went shopping for a pair of new jeans and a white blouse for Spring.


In February I enjoy trying new healthy recipes like this Green Smoothie Bowl. I bought two new cooking books this month so trying new recipes has become a bit of a hobby this winter.


This time of year the sun goes down around 5:30 PM, I enjoy taking a walk along the lakefront at that time of day.



Macaroons continue to be my favorite treat in February. The colorful macaroons light up my day! This week I look forward to celebrating Valentine's Day on Wednesday. Valentine's Day isn't just a day to celebrate love in general, my husband and I are celebrating 7 years as a couple. Seven years ago, this week, we went for our 2nd Date. Time flies when you're having fun together!


Friday, February 9, 2018

What Does Real Manhood Look Like?





Somewhere along the way, our culture lost its definition of manhood, leaving generations of men and men-to-be confused about their roles, responsibilities, relationships, and the reason God made them men. It’s into this “no-man’s-land” that New York Times bestselling author Mark Batterson declares his mantra for manhood: play the man.


In his new book Play The Man Mark Batterson helps men understand what it means to be a man of God by unveiling seven virtues of manhood. The seven virtues include clear vision, raw passion, true grit and moral courage, to name a few. Mark provides practical truths for immediate application so that men everywhere can be the brothers, husbands, fathers, and leaders God created them to be.


Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Loveology




“Love is at the forefront of the experience of what it means to be human. We can choose to try to figure it out on our own, or we can choose to see how the designer of love intended us to experience all this. Loveology guides us straight into the heart of God, who created this wonderous, powerful experience of love, romance, sex, marriage, masculinity, and femininity.”

Dan Kimball


My husband and I heard “loveology” at the beginning of our relationship, and it changed our entire view on love and dating. It exposed and shattered all the “Hollywood movie” lies that were embedded in our minds and replaced them with God’s original design. Following the Loveology principles gave our relationship a sense of direction, saved us from making a lot of painful mistakes many couples make, and answered a ton of questions.”

Naomi and Isaiah







I didn’t grow up in church, which means my view of relationships was partly formed by culture and partly by my family background. I grew up with two parents who loved each other deeply. My Mom and Dad did an excellent job at showing me what a healthy marriage looks like as I was growing up. My parents are committed to each other and love each other very well. For me, the negative influences came through culture, not from my family.


I watched a lot of Hollywood movies as a teenager which strongly influenced my view of love and marriage. When you consume a lot of TV Shows and movies as a teenager the media becomes much more than entertainment. The TV Shows and movies painted a picture of what love, sex and romance was supposed to look like. I specifically remember watching the movie American Pie at age 14 and thinking to myself “I need to fit myself into that type of lifestyle, that’s how it’s done.” Most of the time we aren’t conscious of how much we are influenced by the media, but psychological research shows that we are strongly influenced by what we watch and consume.


We are all strongly affected by our parents’ relationship and pop culture media, another influencer is porn. I was 10 years old the first time my friends and I watched a porn movie on VHS. You can imagine how much a young person’s view of sexuality is influenced when you start watching porn long before you even hit puberty. I don’t want my own kids and future generations to grow up the way I did, exposed to the same destructive lies and distorted views of sex, romance, love and marriage that formed me.





I got married at 26 and at that point I had around 16 years of negative baggage that I brought into my marriage. The more baggage you bring into your marriage the harder you will need to work to overcome those negative past experiences that have formed you. It’s totally possible to overcome your past, but it takes a lot of hard work. I had multiple, short failed relationships before meeting my husband, and he had a few long-term failed relationships before meeting me. When we met and fell madly in love we didn’t want anything to ruin the love we had found. We decided to educate ourselves about love and marriage because “doing things our own way” had led us both to have failed relationships. The more we learned about God’s beautiful design for love, romance, marriage and sex the more we realized why our own ways had not worked. Let me just say that God’s view of sex, romance and love is very different from what porn, Hollywood movies and culture at large are teaching us.


As a society you could say that we are “bad at love”. Statistics show us that around 50% of marriages fail in our modern society. Second and third marriages have even higher chances of failure. Research also shows that couples who live together before they get married have higher chance of divorce than those who move in together after they get married. Couples who lived together before marriage see a 33% higher rate of divorce than those who waited to live together until after they were married. Most of us are fully aware of these depressing statistics, but then there’s another type of shocking statistic. There’s one group of people where research shows that less than 1% of them end up divorced. Man, I want to be a part of that group!!


Couples who pray together on a regular basis have less than 1% chance of divorce. In other words, not couples who attend church a few times a year, but couples who have an active, thriving relationship with God and who seek God together. Those statistics alone is enough to motivate me to prioritize taking time to pray together with my husband daily. In a society where divorce is very common it’s obvious that “doing whatever you feel like” will not lead to a healthy, thriving marriage. My relationship with my husband is far too important for me to risk messing it up. I want to continue to learn more about God’s beautiful plan for marriage every year, and through that get better at loving my husband every day.