Through the Eyes of a Lion

Four years ago pastor Levi Lusko and his wife Jennie went through their most painful experience in life so far when their daughter Lenya died. When we are faced with pain and hardship in life what comes next will depend on what lens we choose to view our circumstances through. Levi Lusko preaches a powerful sermon at Life Church about perspective and the pain in our lives.

What can I do to make the world a better place?

The moment after the bubble around our own life breaks and we have just woken up to the reality of the suffering in the world it's easy to become overwhelmed. The needs in this world are so great. There are people around the world who lack access to clean drinking water, there's the orphan crisis, human trafficking and modern day slavery. The list goes on and on. When we start looking at the world without our rose colored glasses on it's easy to loose hope.


We wonder if we can really make a difference and if yes then how and where? The Bible makes it clear that us humans are "the body of Christ" we are "God's hands and feet". God looked down on the world and saw all the problems and the suffering and then he created you and me. We all have the skills and the passion needed to solve one particular problem in this world or maybe even a few, but none of us need to feel like the destiny of the whole world hangs on our own shoulders. Each person will play an important part in the big picture, one life is like a puzzle piece in the big puzzle called world change. We are not alone in this world, we share this world with 7 billion other people. Each one of us just have to figure out what particular cause God has called us to during this short life.


Is it fighting human trafficking that you want to commit your life to or maybe it's orphans around the world? Maybe you are called to move to another country or city or maybe you are called to stay right where you are and serve the people in your own region? Whatever our purpose might be we all need some help with figuring it all out. "All the places to go: How will you know?" by John Ortberg is a book that can help you figure out what your own cause should be in life. Once we are able to narrow it all down to one personal cause that we want to spend the rest of our lives fighting for the suffering in the world gets less overwhelming. Suddenly we feel meaning and purpose every new day when we wake up instead of hopelessness and confusion.

What's my purpose?

Personal development are one of my biggest interests, as you can probably tell if you have been reading this blog for awhile. It excites me to hear stories about people who have overcome great obstacles in their lives and found healing from a very painful past. Every life on this Earth will include both joy and pain so I find it very encouraging to learn from people who have been through both.

One of the most encouraging things about being human is that we can choose what kind of life we want to live. We don't have to stay the way we are, we can grow and develop every year if we are willing, and live to see change we never even thought was possible. There are many different ways we can grow ourselves every year, one of my personal favorites is reading books. I seldom read fiction these days, I love reading Christian books and psychology books because they help me grow the most as a person.

Every year I read 1-2 books that end up changing my life forever and that alters the way I see the whole world. A couple of years ago I read "Drunk tank pink" by Adam Alter, a psychology book about how our environment shapes our thoughts and actions. This book totally changed how I view the world around me. This year one of the books that has changed my life the most is "Restless" by Jennie Allen.

 "Restless" is a book about figuring out the purpose of your life and seeing how your gifts, passions, places and relationships aren't random but deliberate and meaningful. Even the suffering we have experienced in life plays a part in our life purpose. Jennie Allen explains that where we have experienced the greatest suffering in our lives might just be the place where we are the most passionate to create a positive change in this world. If you have gotten tired of living a life without a clear direction this book will help you see your whole life from a new angle and figure out what you were placed here on Earth to do.

One year in a few pictures

I like taking a moment to think about the year that has passed and feel thankful for all the wonderful things I got to enjoy during the past twelve months.

The winter of 2015 was cold and we had a lot of snow in Toronto that I could enjoy.

In February my parents came to visit us in Toronto and we decided to take a trip to Collingwood together.

We visited the Scandinavian Spa in Collingwood which was an awesome experience, I dream of going back there again in 2016.

Spending a lot of quality time with my family during the winter was wonderful, we had a lot of fun!

In March my husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a mini version of the same kind of cake that we had for our wedding three years ago. I love being married and I love the taste of wedding cake!

During the spring of 2015 I enjoyed looking at all the beautiful flowers in the suburbs.

I love tulips, and the park is so beautiful during the spring!

We decided to take a road trip down south during the spring, we spent a few days at Myrtle Beach, SC and a couple of days at Virginia Beach, VA.

Vacation time, my husband and the beach, what else can a girl ask for?

I enjoyed getting back to hiking again as the weather was getting warmer.

In June it was time to celebrate the Scandinavian holiday Midsummer's Eve with wild flowers, a barbeque and strawberry shortcake.

The Pan Am Games came to Toronto during the summer of 2015 and the city was filled with people from all over the world.

We took a trip to New York City during the summer to celebrate my 30th birthday.

I love being able to sit outside all night long during the summer when it never gets cold.

One of my favorite things that we did during the summer was take many trips to Wasaga Beach,ON to go swimming in Lake Huron.

During the fall of 2015 I enjoyed hanging out by the lakefront and the marina.

I decided fall was the perfect time to get back to healthy eating again after a summer of eating a lot of burgers and ice cream.

My favorite workout during the fall was taking long bike rides along the lakefront.

It was great to be back to the city life after spending a lot of time relaxing in the country during the summer.

On a sunny fall day we took the ferryboat out to the Toronto Islands and spent the day relaxing in the park and enjoying the beautiful views of the city.

Then came December and it was time to start celebrating Christmas and look forward to a new year. As I look back at all the fun things I got to enjoy during 2015 I feel very blessed and thankful. The year also brought some sad news into our lives, like when we found out that a close friend of the family had passed away very suddenly. The adoption process we started during year 2015 also ended up taking a lot longer than we had expected.

Every new year tend to come with both great moments of joy and sad seasons of mourning. Life is a journey with both ups and downs along the road, but I find it helps to remind ourselves of all the good times to be able to hang in there during the harder times in life. No matter how hard the season of life we are in is it will pass eventually.

All the hard things we are going through in life also become easier to carry when we share our pain and suffering with other people. We are not meant to do this life alone. Let's make year 2016 a year when we choose to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice, let's do this journey together!

What Causes Pain and Suffering?

Pain and suffering, if we could just get rid off those things our world would be so wonderful.We all know that this world is full of suffering, that it isn't really possible to live on this earth without experiencing pain to some degree. Today many of us are blessed to live in countries where there a lot less pain and suffering than there used to be a few hundred years ago, but that doesn't mean that it hurts any less when pain enters our lives. It's so devastating. We all wonder why these things happen, what's the source of all this pain?


If there really is a God then how can he allow all this suffering in the world. The Bible makes it clear that there are two different forces in the world, there is God, and then there is evil. We can call evil the devil or darkness or whatever we like, but we can't fight the fact that evil is real. Wherever there is lack of love evil flourishes. Children who grow up in homes without love doesn't become very nice people to be around. Countries with political systems that aren't based in love aren't very nice places to live. In places and people where there is absence of love there is great darkness.


Although we try to protect ourselves from evil with laws, alarm systems on our homes etc. we are never fully removed from the presence of evil. We live in a world with both good and evil and the only real way to get rid off evil is to "kill it" with love. When we fight evil with more evil it only grows, but when we choose to fight evil with love there will be a little less evil in the world every time.


For as long as we live on this earth we won't be able to escape having to live in the presence of both good and evil, but we can choose in what direction we want to walk. Do we want to spend our lives spreading more love into this world or do we want to practice revenge and other behaviors that only create more evil? It's a hard reality we live in, but we all have to choose what side we want to be on. We can choose to love or we can choose to hate. When we choose to follow God we choose love, because God is love.

"Where there is love, there is God."
Mother Teresa