I got bit, but I'm not bitter

When a crisis occurs, often our first reaction is to question God and ask why it had to happen. But what if there’s a better way to respond? Discover how learning the right response to a situation is often more important than learning the reasons behind it.


This week it's also Love Week at Elevation Church and there are hundreds of different events available for anyone who wants to take part in serving our city and helping others. My husband and I got the opportunity to serve by packing food for Ontario's kids in need on Sunday. It's inspiring and exciting to see the whole church come together to serve our cities at all the different Elevation church locations in Canada and the US this week. This year Elevation Church is also hosting events all over the world where people from Church Online can take part and serve their cities. Each Christian is called to love God and love other people, Love Week is one great way to live out this mission.

When you feel like you don't measure up

On Sunday morning I went to church online at Elevation Church. You can find the online campus here: http://live.elevationchurch.online/
I love that with today's technology I can go to church no matter where I'm at, even when I'm having a sick day at home in my pyjamas. A few years ago I was living in a city that didn't have a church that I could join, during that time I was still able to attend church thanks to church online.

Ten years ago online churches only had podcasts and videos of their sermons. Today many churches Live broadcast their services with the message, the music, the pre show and after show. Elevation church's online church also offers the opportunity to volunteer online and to sign up to an online Life Group called "e groups". Not everyone lives at a driving distance from a church but with church online it becomes easy to attend church anywhere in the world.

Pastor Dustin Stradley preached a very encouraging message on Sunday about the struggle to feel good enough in a world that often makes it hard for us to measure up. Dustin gets really personal and vulnerable in the message as he shares about his own struggles and insecurities. He challenges us to learn a new and better way to develop confidence so that we can stop the comparison game for good.

The Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend and Easter 2017 is definitely one of my favorite Easters so far! :) I like to decorate the house with colorful flowers for Easter every year.

After a few weeks with focus on prayer and fasting it was time to start celebrating Easter on Friday. I'm quite happy that Lent is over now, even if the only thing I took a break from during the fasting season was TV. Many of my friends took a break from social media during Lent but I currently don't use a smartphone so I didn't see a need to limit my social media use any further. I usually do a rice&beans fast every year but since my iron levels have been low lately I had to skip fasting from food this year. My TV break was fruitful, it gave me more time for stillness and reflection during Lent. I had all this time leftover to spend with family or on reading books instead of getting stuck in front of the TV every evening.

Friday was a very sunny and beautiful day so I decided to take a walk along the beach in the afternoon. The sunshine makes me so happy!

On Saturday we had a family dinner at our house and my husband cooked an amazing Jamaican dinner for us. We had Boston Cream Cake for dessert plus tons of Easter candy of course. If anyone wonders why we eat eggs and decorate with eggs at Easter it's because they are a traditional symbol of rebirth. The eggs remind us of the resurrection of Jesus. The egg represents new life, just like each one of us get a brand new life when we come to faith in Christ. The old is gone, the new has begun.

The traditional Jamaican Easter bun and cheese is also one of our traditions on Easter. We still have some leftovers that I look forward to having later today. I love that we are a multicultural family with multicultural Easter traditions.

All dressed up for Church on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday at Elevation Church in the GTA. I'm so thankful that I get to live in Toronto where we have Canada's only Elevation Church location so far. My friend's brother who lives in the Philippines goes to Elevation via the online church, it's fun to be a part of such a large international church!

Easter at Elevation Church was incredible. I had a few moments during service when I had to fight back tears while thinking about all the amazing things that God is doing in my life this year. God, you are sooo good!

I spotted this interesting phenomenon during my evening walk in the park on Sunday, let's call it an "Easter tree". So cute and funny that someone decided to decorate the park for Easter to put a smile on everyone's faces.

Sunday was an awesome day for many reasons, one reason being that we had +22 degrees Celsius in Toronto. Hello Spring! My poor husband has to model for my blog every week because I don't want to expose the rest of my family and friends to such a public blog as this. He's a (partly) involuntary "internet star", but let's face it, a blog without any people in the pictures quickly gets boring. :)

Sunday's dessert: one glass of red wine and two Smarties chocolate eggs. Life is good! :)

When following your passion gets hard

I love how modern technology gives us so many new opportunities. It´s great that you can Skype with your family members even if they are on the opposite side of the world. Today it was convinient for me to be able to visit church online since it's Sunday and I´m at the cottage. This morning I listened to the latest sermon online from our home church in Toronto called Elevation Church. The sermon is described like this on Elevation Church´s webbpage:

"No one said pursuing our calling would be easy. But what happens when the opportunity we’ve been chasing doesn’t turn out the way we planned? And how do we keep pushing when it feels like we're failing?"

Easter is coming up!

Easter is approaching! :) If you have questions and thoughts about life and death, why we are all here and what the point of all this is, Easter is a good time to find some answers. Come check out Easter at Elevation Church! Here are a few of the locations where you can find an Elevation church:

MISSISSAUGA,ON
ROANOKE,VA
RALEIGH, NC
CHARLOTTE, NC
ROCK HILL, SC

Elevation GTA

If you live in the greater Toronto area and are looking for a new church I've got great news for you! Elevation church, one of the fastest growing churches in the US right now, has it's only Canadian location in your area. Elevation church is a multisite church based in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you want to check out this modern church you can visit them at Elevation GTA in Mississauga. Get the details about the location and service times at: http://elevationchurch.ca/

You can also find lead pastor Steven Furtick on instagram under "PastorSteven". I do find it funny that we are now in an era where you can follow your pastor on instagram. Welcome to the world of modern Christian churches people! :) By the way, if you want some great advice on how to make your marriage happy and healthy check out the sermon above by Steven and Holly Furtick. Have a great week everyone!

We are not alone!

Have a great weekend everyone! :)