Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Ryan's Story






Ryan Truax from ZOE Church in Los Angeles, CA shares his story about moving from pain to purpose in this video.



Peace





"Peace" is a very common word in English, that means different things to different people. It's also a very important word in the Bible that refers not only to the absence of conflict but also to the presence of something else.


Monday, January 29, 2018

The Weekend



It's cold and dark in Toronto this time of year, and since it's still two more months left until spring you gotta come up with fun things to do.


Getting all dressed up for our weekly Date Night with my husband is one of my favorite things to enjoy every week.


I've also enjoyed doing some decorating and shopping during the month of January. When all the Christmas decorations went back into the storage room our home felt very empty. I decided to replace the Christmas decorations with some new accessories. On Saturday I bought a new orchid and a candle for the breakfast table.


I also took the time to shop a pair of new winter boots from Steve Madden. During the month of December I spent all my weekends on Christmas shopping, so in January I'm enjoying having time to shop a few things for myself.


Healthy eating is one of my goals in January, but you gotta balance that up with a few macaroons every Saturday. Coffee and macaroons is my favorite sweet treat in January.



On Sunday evening I enjoyed a glass of red wine from Wayne Gretzky Estates and a new magazine.


Tony's Story





"Don't put this game first."

Tony Dungy


What is Hell?





What does the Bible actually say about Hell? Senior Pastor Brian Tome from Crossroads Church unpacks the stories in week 3 of "Heaven, Hell and Here".


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Maxim's Story

Fitness and Healthy Eating




Healthy eating and exercise is one of my New Year’s resolutions again this year, because I want to practice self-love. I can honestly say that I don’t want to change a single thing on my body. I want to practice self-care by giving my body what it needs. My body does not need botox, perfect abs or whatever else I’m supposed to strive for. My body needs nutritious food and exercise to be strong and healthy. When I was younger beauty was my main motivation for working out, today I only want to be healthy.


I was struggling with eating disorders and anxiety about how my body looked for most of my twenties. It wasn't a fun way to live. Our world is obsessed with looks and beauty, take a quick look at Instagram and this becomes obvious. No matter how much the beauty ideal changes, the result is the same. We are still told that looks are very important. Imagine how much world change we could accomplish together if we spent that same energy on something else than our own faces and bodies. The obsession with the self in our culture is astonishing to me, it’s not making anyone happy.




We live in a world where much of a woman’s worth is based on how she looks and because of that I’m not a fan of book titles like “The Bikini Body Guide”. That said, I understand why Kayla Itsines is a popular personal trainer, she does her work with excellence! I don’t like the book title, but I love the recipes!


Kayla’s new book is filled with yummy healthy recipes and I love the pictures of the food! I personally don’t like cooking books without pictures. I’m also a big fan of Kayla Itsines’ workout programs so I was very happy to buy her new book this month. The book is exactly what I needed to find some new inspiration for healthy eating and exercise this winter! Thank you Kayla!


Nothing to Prove





We all want to live lives where we experience freedom, joy, peace and contentment on a daily basis, but instead many of us live lives marked by fear, worry and anxiety. Why? Humans have always lived in communities, and our communities are defined by culture. Our culture brings us joyful experiences like theatre, movies, music etc. but our culture also pushes us toward a set mold that we need to fit ourselves into. Our culture always tries to tell us what is wrong versus right. We are told how to dress, look, work, shop, do relationships, parenting etc. by culture. Culture tells us how to live, and we conform to it.


Most of us are fully aware of the pressures that our culture puts on us to look a certain way, to have a certain type of house, car, smartphone, career, relationship, clothing style etc. It's exhausting to try to measure up to all the different types of pressures and expectations that our culture puts on us. As we live our lives trying to measure up and please other people in our culture we lose our joy, contentment and freedom.


God never intended for us to live in this way, weighed down by the pressures and expectations of this world. When we choose to live for God's glory instead of our own glory we are suddenly free. We get to enjoy this life and experience gratitude for every new day we are given, instead of being weighed down by fear, worry, anxiety and pressure.


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

10,000 Reasons





The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning
It’s time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes



Relationship Goals





It's been five years since my husband and I got married and every year we keep learning new things about marriage and love. It's our aim to keep growing in love every year and get better at being a wife/husband. One of the main things that help us succeed in our marriage is learning from other people who have successful and healthy marriages. Nobody grows in isolation, as we open up our marriage to other people who can speak their advice and wisdom into our lives we keep seeing growth every year.

I've personally learned a lot about love and marriage from my parents who have been married for 32 years. But whether we have good role models in our parents or not, we can all learn about love and marriage if we seek wisdom. I knew already before I got married that around 50% of marriages end in divorce, so I wasn't going to be passive in my marriage. Knowing what it takes to build a healthy marriage and then applying the wisdom we've learned is crucial to success.

Every time I argue with my husband I can spot a few areas in my own behavior where I know what to do, but I've been avoiding applying the wisdom. Knowledge is key, but applying what you've learned is equally important. Unless we apply what we've learned about relationships we continue to be stuck and keep repeating our old mistakes.

In part 5 of the series Relationship Goals at Transformation Church pastor Michael Todd interviews married couples, single people and a few couples who are dating. Each couple gets transparent and share wisdom that helped them build a healthy relationship and find contentment in their current stage of life.


Why are you still single?





Has anyone ever asked you this question, "Why Are You Single?" What an annoying question! Today, Heather will bring some clarity on this topic. Check out these three reasons why you may be single.


Friday, January 19, 2018

How to Let Go of an Ex





Unless we heal from our past relationship wounds those past experiences will follow us into the next relationship. Relationship mistakes also have a tendency to repeat themselves, unless we learn something from our last relationship that ended. 

Ashley and Carrington give their best advice on how to let go of anger or resentment toward and ex and move on with your life. 


The Best Take Out





The other day we had one of those chaotic days again when both my husband and I were sick, but we still had to prepare for an important meeting we had the next day. Who was going to cook dinner? Nobody. We didn’t have time or energy leftover for anything more than what had to be done. We got Take Out, again. Most of the time we get Thai food, I can’t get enough of Chicken Pad Thai, but I also love a burger from Hero Burgers. Thank God for the suburbs where you can find many different Take Out options! I grew up in a small town, where you didn’t have much to choose from if you were too tired or busy to cook dinner.

It feels like we've been getting Take Out a lot this January. There hasn't been one week when nobody's been sick in the family over the last month and a half. Everyone I talk to has been sick lately or is still sick, the not so fun part of winter has arrived in full force. The good news is that the weather has been beautiful the last few days, we have both snow and sunshine in Toronto today! It's a beautiful Friday! 


Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Expect to Be Empowered





Wherever you are in life, you have a purpose. It's inevitable that we will run into some difficult obstacles the second we choose to do something good with our lives, but we can overcome these obstacles. Amy Groeschel from Life Church teaches us how to unlock the power we need to overcome each obstacle we will be faced with in this lifetime. Let's live this life empowered!


I’m Safe in Your Hands


 Picture from http://menalive.dumc.my/page/2/


The book of Psalms is one of my favorite books in the Bible because it reveals God’s character to the reader. David had a very close relationship with God and reading the Psalms is a little bit like reading David’s diary. When I read the book of Psalms it’s like I’m getting to read David’s prayer journal.

If you could read my prayer journal you would know some of the most intimate details about my life. My prayer journal is a collection of what I’m praying for and what God is teaching me through this season. There is no mask, no hiding, no pretending in my relationship with God, when it’s just Him and I the truth is out. I’m fully honest in front of God, in a way that nobody else will ever get from me. If you read my prayer journal you would know everything about me. I’m so grateful that the book of Psalms is included in the Bible, that I get to have the privilege of looking into David’s close and personal relationship with God.


The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of distress.
Those who know your name will trust you,
 for you have not forsaken those who seek you, LORD.
Psalm 9:9-10 (ISV)


One thing that becomes clear to me when I study the book of Psalms is that I’m fully safe in God’s hands. I’m like a small baby in her loving father’s hands. The problems start when I learn to walk, and start to wander away from God. Just like everyone else in this world, I’m prone to wander away from my loving father and toward sin. Sin looks so shiny, interesting and harmless from a distance. It doesn’t seem to help that God keeps telling me to stay away from sin, I just gotta have it! It’s like when you tell a toddler not to touch the stove, sooner or later the child will decide to give it a try regardless of the warnings. Seconds later the toddler is crying and in pain with a burnt finger.

It fascinates me how us humans are so much like young children, no matter how old we get. We want what will eventually hurt us, and most of the time we resist what is important and good for us. It’s a war between good and evil, from the day we are born we are bent towards evil. We must teach our children to do what is right. We don’t need to teach children to do what is wrong, they do that naturally. How many parents needed to teach their child to hit their sibling? None.

We work hard to teach ourselves to choose love, because doing what is wrong always seems easier and more interesting to us. If we were bent towards love by nature we wouldn’t need things like self-control and discipline. Self-sacrifice, self-control and discipline become important in a world where doing what is right is not what we want to do, most of the time.

Love is a choice we make, on most days it doesn’t happen naturally. We were all created to love and be loved, but it takes real commitment and work to live that way. I don’t know about you, but I can confess that if I did everything I wanted to do, I would not be a very loving person. The more I choose self-sacrifice, self-control and discipline, the more love I’m able to give to others. Love is a beautiful thing, it’s the only thing that can heal our brokenness in this world, but it requires work.

Think of one area in your life today where you have chosen the easier route lately, because choosing love would be much more difficult. Commit to make one small (but important) change to the world today by committing to choose love over comfort in that area of your life, from this day forward.


Monday, January 15, 2018

Relationship Goals





Lead Pastors Michael and Natalie Todd from Transformation Church teach a great message about healthy relationships in this video. Michael and Natalie share some very real and personal advice and give great wisdom as they teach us about the 4 Major Keys to Marriage

My personal favorite is key Nr. 2: Know the difference between what your spouse needs and what they want. Men and women have very different needs in a marriage, understanding what these needs are is crucial to being able to respond to them. We can't have a great marriage unless we understand what a great marriage will require out of us. Knowledge is key to success.



John & Johnisha's Story






This is a story of God's faithfulness to a family that had a big need and how he worked a miracle for them.



Thursday, January 11, 2018

Embrace the Adventure





Our souls long for adventure. We were made for adventure, but not just any adventure, we were created for God. Skydiving or bungee jumping can be fun, but nothing compares to the adventure of following God into the unknown. The moment we invite Jesus into our hearts our adventure begins. We get to wake up every morning excited about life and fully aware that each new day is a gift from God. We are still here, living and breathing, and that means God has work for us to do. That work might be talking to the old lady on the train who looks lonely. It might be praying for a friend who is sick, or it might be something really crazy like pursuing a big dream that God has put on your heart.


God has great plans for our lives, long before we were born God made great plans for my life and your life. Not a single day on this Earth is a day without purpose. If you aren’t feeling like your life is filled with excitement, joy and beauty right now, could it be that maybe you have chosen your own plan above God’s plan for your life? Sometimes we get stuck in life and never get to see God’s beautiful plan for our lives enfold, because we refuse to let God lead us. We are unwilling to give up control and trust God. It’s understandable that our natural inclination is toward trying to control everything in our lives rather than to follow Christ. Control gives us an illusion of safety, but in the end control tends to hold us back in life.


Following God into the unknown is neither safe nor easy, but this is where we will witness miracles and live with joy, peace and passion. Following God requires faith. Sometimes when we feel like our lives aren’t going anywhere we can be tempted to blame God. But God is not the one holding us back in life, our lack of faith is what’s holding us back. Without faith we will never choose to follow God into the unknown. Many times, when our lives end up looking like a depressing mess, it isn’t because God doesn’t care about us. We have simply settled for something so much less than God’s beautiful plan for our lives. We have chosen to give up hope. We think to ourselves: “This is as good as life will get for me, so why even try to aim for something better?”


I dare you to sit down and pray to God today about the impossible in your life. God likes it when we ask him for big things, dreams so big that it’s obvious to both us and God that without God this dream could never come true. What dream do you have in your life that you gave up on a long time ago because it seemed too big, too crazy or just plain impossible? Bring that dream to God today and watch him start to move mountains in your life. It won’t happen over night, it won’t be easy, it won’t happen according to your own schedule, but it will happen. We are God’s children and he wants good things for us. Dare to dream big and dare to ask God to make the impossible possible in your life.


If your dream is in alignment with The Bible, in other words you are not praying for something like: “God, please help me take revenge on that person who hurt me.” you can be sure that God will move on your behalf. God will fulfill your dream according to His perfect timing. When you have lived long enough to see him do just that, it strengthens your faith tremendously. You now have a hope and faith that doesn’t make any sense, you have hope in areas where other people would have given up long time ago. There’s a big difference between hearing about God performing miracles in other people’s lives and watching him do just that in your own life. Once you have seen God move mountains in your life (that you yourself could not remove) it will propel your faith to a whole other level.


Our faith isn’t something we just wake up with one day, our faith keeps growing as we get to watch God move in and through the circumstances of our own lives. It’s difficult, probably impossible, to have faith in a God who you have only heard about. Once you have seen God move the mountains that were holding you back your faith grows. How will you ever see God do something big in your life if you never ask him for it? Step one on our adventure with God is daring to ask him big questions. Dare to ask God to fulfill a big dream, not just the small stuff that you could accomplish easily without his interference. It’s the beginning of a new year, what better time is there to start dreaming some big dreams and to ask God to move on your behalf? Why live this life inside our comfort zones when we can choose to embrace the adventure that God has for us?


I have two huge dreams for 2018. Dreams that I know God is calling me to run towards this year. Some days I feel excited and passionate about pursuing these two dreams, other days I feel fearful and want to quit. Late at night these two dreams seem like a really bad idea. I get scared, I think I’m not the person for this job and that I will probably fail. But I know by now that God never calls us toward something that will break us. If God is for me, then who can be against me? If this is God’s plan for me, do I really want to give up on it because of fear? Yes, maybe…. No! Fine, I’ll do it! Pastor Lorie at my church has an expression for times like these; “Do it afraid!” she always says.



3 Ways Porn Deceives Girls About Their Sexuality






Porn is so dangerous because it can appear “harmless,” but it will totally wreck a girl’s view of herself in seconds.



Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Money, Power & The Hunger for Control





So if there is a God, a real and personal God in the universe, wouldn’t it make sense that the most intelligent people in our society would be the ones that find him? God is a funny God, and he’s also full of mercy and grace. God didn’t choose to reveal himself to the smartest, most beautiful, most successful or to all the “good people” on this Earth. The Bible is clear on the fact that God chooses who he reveals himself to, and it’s often the outcasts of this world that God chooses. Why? Could it have something to do with the fact that these people probably are more humble than us who think we are “good people” and “too intelligent” to believe there is a God?

Make no mistake, you can be very intelligent and still become a Christian, but it tends to be harder for the smart, rich and successful in our society to notice God. When you have built a good life for yourself it’s easy to avoid thinking about God. When you find yourself in a prison cell or completely at the end of yourself it’s easy to humble yourself enough to call out to God.

Highly intelligent people like CS Lewis and Timothy Keller came to faith in God through looking at the evidence and using reason. Other people find God when they end up in prison, in a serious drug addiction or something else that makes their whole world fall a part. No story is more important than the other, both the intellectual and the guy in prison are precious to God. What we all have in common is that none of us will be able to accept Christ into our hearts without humility.

The Rockstar Alice Cooper lived a wild life when he was younger but today he is a Christian. My friend Kesavan went to prison for 10 years but today he is a loving father of three and a Christian pastor. CS Lewis was an intelligent atheist Oxford graduate from Belfast, Ireland who is known for writing The Chronicles of Narnia and who also became a Christian. All our stories are very different, but God’s love is the same for the former atheist as for the former criminal or prostitute. We all serve a good, loving and merciful God.


Complaining






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. Let’s find the right words to speak.

In part one of the series My Big Fat Mouth pastor Craig Groeschel preaches a great message about complaining. When we complain it feels good in the moment, we get to vent all our negative emotions, but what complaining does over time is it rewires our brains to think more negatively. The more we complain, the more we will see negativity everywhere we look.

If we want to thrive in this life complaining isn’t the path to take. When we are faced with difficulty we can choose to do something about the situation instead of complaining about it. When we are faced with a difficult situation we can change something in our lives and make things better, but if we can’t change the situation we can always change our perspective. Perspective is everything.

Life isn’t so much about what happened to us, it all depends on how we perceive what happened to us. Here’s the thing: if we think that this life is all bout us, we will constantly have something to complain about. If I have a world view in which I think that the world revolves around me, I will have a lot to complain about. If I’m the main character in the story, then I shouldn’t have to face these difficulties. Why does she get to meet “the one” and I don’t? Why did he get promoted and I didn’t? Why do I have to go through this struggle? it’s not fair!

If I believe that I’m the most important person in this life then it’s natural for me to complain when things don’t look great for me. But if I realize that this life isn’t all about me I will be able to see the bigger picture when I’m faced with difficulty rather than to complain. It’s a sobering thought isn’t it? The more I complain, the more I believe that the world should revolve around me. If I’m aware that the world revolves around God I will notice the purpose in every struggle, rather than to think that it’s not fair that I have some struggles. When I believe that life is all about me it also becomes very easy for me to miss the blessings in my life, as I zoom in on what’s not great right now.


Monday, January 8, 2018

Authentic Love





The word “love” is one of the sloppiest words in our language, as it primarily refers to a feeling that happens to a person. In the New Testament, “love” refers to a way of treating people that was defined by Jesus himself: seeking the well-being of others regardless of their response.


Here Comes Heaven





Children, weep no more
Hope is on the horizon


Weary world behold
Your promised Messiah



Thursday, January 4, 2018

Who's Your Saul?




We all have people in our lives who irritate us and make our lives difficult. We think to ourselves: “If only that person could go away my life would be so much better.” We are right, our lives would be easier without that annoying person in it. Clearly comfort and ease isn’t God’s highest priority for us in this life, what God wants for us is holiness. What is holiness? Choosing to do the right thing despite the challenges, not because your life is free from challenges. If we take a closer look at our lives we will notice that this life is all about growth, God is refining us in the fire. It isn’t easy or comfortable to grow, but that is what this life is all about. Heaven will be different, heaven will be completely free from evil, but this world will never be that way.

King David was a guy who was tempted to get rid off the man who was making his life a living hell. David had an enemy named Saul who tried to kill him. One day when Saul was out looking for David with plans to kill him David had a chance to kill Saul. I bet David thought about it long and hard. He finally had a chance to kill the guy who was making his life so difficult. A chance to get rid off the problem once and for all. What problem or person do you have in your life that you wish you could get rid off?

David ended up feeling conscience-stricken for even considering the option of taking Saul’s life. David realized something that few of us realize. Was Saul making David’s life very difficult? Yes. Could God take away this difficult person out of David’s life if he wanted to? Yes. Then maybe, just maybe, there was a reason God left this difficult person in David’s life. What if that difficult person or problem that you want to get rid off is God’s tool for shaping you and growing you? We don’t just wake up one day and realize that we are holy. God is shaping us toward holiness every single day in this life. The truth is, if we only surround ourselves with people who like us and agree with us we don’t grow. There is a purpose for every blessing and there is a purpose for every struggle. What is God trying to grow in you through your current struggle? Is it patience? Is it compassion for others? Is God using this difficult situation in your life as a tool to shave off some of that selfishness in your heart?





When people are making our lives a living hell we hate them (or at least we resent them). We don’t want to honor them and respect them. The only way we can show honor and respect to a difficult person is if we zoom out. If we zoom in we notice that this difficult person has some serious issues that he/she should work on. Issues that isn’t our responsibility. But if we zoom out we will notice that there are some issues in our own soul that is making us choose to resent, disrespect or even hate the difficult person. 

We are all called by God to love people. The Bible is not calling us to love the nice, fun, friendly, happy, perfect people who have no issues. No, the Bible calls us to love people period. We all like the idea of love, until we realize how difficult love really is to accomplish. Here’s the thing: we say we want to be “all about love” but we lie to ourselves. Many times during the week we do not want love. We want to resent, dishonor, disrespect and maybe even hate others. We choose love. 

Love is always a choice. And God, who is in the business of shaping us toward holiness, is watching every step we take and seeing how we treat both the nice person and the difficult person. I’m not responsible for anyone else’s actions, but I’m responsible for every single one of my own actions. David says this about his difficult situation: “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.” (1 Samuel 24:6) 




If we are going to be able to love people, even when they are making our lives difficult, we need to realize that every person on this Earth is God’s child. How dare we even consider doing something evil toward one of God’s children? Yes, this world is filled with people who are messed up and practicing evil, but that does not mean that we are free to hate them or dishonor them. When we realize that every situation we are faced with is a lesson in love and righteousness, we will be able to choose love. 

Here’s another thought: if we choose to not learn our lesson now, we can be sure that once our problem is gone God will send another difficult person our way to teach us that same lesson. There’s been so many times in my life that I believed that my problems would be over if only that difficult person was out of my life. I was wrong. Unless I learn what God is trying to teach me I will continue to run into similar problems year after year, and then I wonder why I have such “bad luck” in life. Let’s not waste our lives on repeating the same mistakes year after year.


Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Healthy Homes






A session on sex, dating and relationships.



Tommy’s Story






The President of the United States awarded Tommy a Silver Star for his military service. But soon after, alcoholism took over Tommy’s life. See how Tommy moved from a life of addiction to a life full of purpose.



Hello 2018!




Welcome to 2018! I celebrated my New Year's Eve in Toronto this year. We enjoyed an excellent three course dinner at Milestones and afterwards we went back home to watch the ball drop on TV. We had -18 degrees in Toronto on New Year's Eve so watching the fireworks by Nathan Phillips Square didn't feel like an interesting option at all.




The state of our Family Room in the morning on New Year's Day. The team at Times Square may have stayed up until 4AM in the morning to finish the cleaning of the city, but in our house we let the confetti be. You can't celebrate and clean up on the same day if you ask me.


A Time for Reflection


This picture was taken in January 2017. The past year included wonderful blessings like our Renewal of Vows in July and difficult (but important) challenges like facing two of my biggest fears.




The beginning of a new year is a good time to stop and reflect. I like to think back on the year that passed and also take some time to think about the season I’m in at the moment. When I think about the past seven years I feel very grateful and blessed. I’ve seen many of my dreams come true during the past few years and I’ve met many new people and friends who enrich my life. I’ve grown tremendously during the past seven years and I’m excited to see how I will continue to grow and develop within the next ten years.


When I think about the pain I’ve experienced during the past seven years I can already see how many of the difficulties I’ve experienced have shaped me into a more humble, mature and wise woman than before. It’s not fun to go through difficulties in life but it’s hard to argue against the necessity of storms in life. I wish I could say that I’ve grown a lot during the easier days of my life but the truth is that I grew the most when I was going through something difficult.


There are storms in life that are caused by other people’s sinful choices but the hardest ones to face are often the storms that we cause ourselves. When I think back on the past ten years of my life I can see that some of the difficult storms that I faced were mainly my own fault. I often find it harder to forgive myself for making stupid mistakes than forgiving others. Every time I walk outside of God’s will in my life I end up in trouble. It always seems like a good idea at first, until I must face the consequences of my own sinful choices in life. God doesn’t punish me when I sin, I walk into judgement completely on my own. The Bible is clear that God will always bring down judgement on sin according to his timing, so when I choose to sin it’s like I’m walking toward a hurricane. God is not telling me to stay away from sin to limit me in life, but to keep me from harm and pain. God is like a safe house during a hurricane. Each one of us are given free choice by God and we can choose to either walk toward God or toward the hurricane. But why would anyone want to do something as self-destructive as walking toward the hurricane? The short answer is: because sin always looks harmless and attractive at first glance. 



Every year I take the time to read 4-5 books on personal development and spiritual development. "Find Your Brave" by Holly Wagner was one of the books I read in 2017, it helped me face two of my biggest fears. No matter what challenge you are faced with, you are not the first person in history to go through it. We can learn a lot from other people.



Every time I step outside of God’s will for my life I’m in the process of practicing self-destructive behavior. The problem is that sin always seems harmless, fun and attractive in the beginning. I choose to follow my own way rather than God’s way simply because sin seems like no big deal to me at first glance. After 32 years of having tried both living life my own way and God’s way I’m so done with ignoring God’s commands. How arrogant am I when I actually think that my own way is better than God’s way? I’m seldom surprised anymore when I run into “a hurricane” in life because deep inside my soul I already knew that I was disobeying God, but I was acting like it was no big deal.


God loves me more than any human on this Earth will ever love me. My parents and my family love me a lot, but God still loves me much more than that. Nobody will ever love me as much as God loves me and nobody cares more about my well-being in life than Him. If I’m smart I will listen to God’s directions and nudges in life rather than to ignore them and go my own way.


I can honestly say that I love getting older! Aging comes with more wrinkles but the wisdom and maturity that comes with aging is priceless! You can’t buy wisdom, you earn it as go through life and learn something from every blessing and mistake. I’m not expecting that 2018 is going to be “the best year of my life”, I’m pretty sure it will include both some amazing blessings and some really hard challenges, but I’m excited for both! This is what we live for: to keep growing in love and becoming more and more like Christ every year. God is love. The more time I spend in God’s presence, the more I will become filled with love. The fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Yes please, I’ll happily receive a big portion of that in 2018!



Monday, January 1, 2018