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)

When God shows off in your life

God is funny, you realize that when you get to know him. So many times in my life I've decided to pray a small prayer and God shows up and gives me everything I asked for and ten times more. Other times I don't even pray, I just think about something and God answers my little wish just to show me that he cares. He is so good.

A couple of days ago I was thinking to myself:"I wonder when we'll get some snow in Toronto because so far we've only had the first snow." Yesterday evening I decided to do some Christmas shopping and just as I was leaving the house it started snowing. I was so happy because Christmas shopping becomes more fun when it looks like winter outside. It kept snowing all night.

This morning I was super excited about our first snow storm in Toronto and took a lot of pictures of the snow. I thought to myself: "The only problem is that the pictures don't really show how beautiful this day is because it's cloudy." Two hours later the snow storm suddenly ended and the sun started shining brighter and brighter. I said to God: "Wow God, you are really showing off today aren't you?" He is funny.

"Who cares?" you might think, it's just snow! Now this example is just a funny little one about my own excitement about snow, but I have noticed that the more you stop to notice what God is doing in your life, every little thing, the more you will get to see him move big mountains in your life. We were built for awe and wonder but we can easily miss what God is doing in our lives when we get too busy or too focused on what's next. I find that the more I stop and notice beautiful little things that God is doing in my everyday life, the more he starts to move big things. And when he starts to move big things in your life you get really excited, and you wonder why you ever chose to live without him during the earlier part of your life.

I wish I had gotten to know God when I was even younger than 23, but the best thing about living my life without God for 23 years is that I know the difference. People who grew up in church don't fully understand what it feels like to live your life without any connection to God. I lived the first two decades of my life without God. I know what it feels like to have a black hole inside your heart that nothing can satisfy. A space inside my heart that was built for God and that would continue to make me restless no matter how many goals and dreams I would accomplish. I know what it feels like to carry around an emptiness on the inside even when your life looks great on paper. Nothing but God himself can fill that black hole.  I would never ever want to go back to living my life separated from God.

The funny thing is that I had a good life before God, my childhood was perfect. I've always had loving friends and family around me and I've never experienced any abuse or trauma in my life but still nothing compares to living life with God. The human soul can conquer and overcome a lot of things when we walk through life with God, but if we find ourselves separated from God even the smaller problems in life can become big obstacles. Obstacles that keep us separated from joy, peace and fulfillment in life.

Okay I better stop now because I could keep writing this text until it's 100 pages long. Happy Tuesday everyone! Enjoy this glorious day!

When our dreams, passions & purposes collide

Three years ago, my husband and I took a course at church that can help you figure out your purpose in life. I was a bit nervous about getting the results. What if our missions in life look completely different and don’t collide at all? When my husband and I met and got married we were both “baby Christians”. We believed in God, but we didn’t know him very well. We weren’t exactly living life with God and for God. We had no idea what we were created for. We chose each other simply because we liked each other, not necessarily because our passions and purposes in life were the same.

I’ve heard many couples who got divorced say something like this: “We just realized that we want entirely different things in life, so we couldn’t continue to be married.” It’s always very sad when a couple who has built a life together and had children conclude that they want to separate. Imagine how much pain that could be avoided if each couple found out that they want different things in life prior to getting married and having kids. What often happens when a couple wants different things in life is that one person gives up their own dreams and passions to fit their spouse’s life better. This strategy will only work for awhile, in the beginning when our romantic feelings are strong we don’t mind giving up our dreams for our spouse. Ten years later when we have been married for a long time we will start to resent the fact that we had to give up our own dreams when we got married.

I'm sorry, I can't stay awake any longer. I'm falling asleep.

When my husband and I got our results from the course about finding our purpose I was both relieved and excited. Our passions and purposes in life collide beautifully. We were told that it’s helpful to narrow down our passions in life to 1-2 different people groups that we are passionate about serving for the rest of our lives.

My two people groups were:

1.) Serving Young Women through the Women’s Ministry and Care ministry at Church.

2.) Serving kids in poverty

My husband’s two people groups were:

1.)  Serving Young men/adolescents through mentorship

2.)  Serving people in poverty (the homeless and others)

It was so funny to see the results that we came to on our own. We were clearly made for each other. The thing is, marriage is about so much more than enjoying the love, sex and romance that marriage involves. God created each one of us for a specific purpose, a mission to accomplish in this life. The point of romance isn’t to meet “the one” and then focus on ourselves for the rest of our lives. We were all meant to do something with our lives, to serve other people. The more obvious part of the purpose for each married couple is to have children and raise them up to become healthy and responsible adults one day, but that’s not all. Yes, having children is a huge part of our purpose for most married people, but we are also called to love people outside of our own family. Marriage is all about the mission that God has put on our lives. My husband is someone who God sent to help me accomplish the calling that He put on my life even before I was born. It’s not a coincidence that I have some specific strengths, gifts, skills and life experiences that other people don’t have. It’s all meant to help me accomplish my mission in life, to live out my purpose.

Not all people will be called to marriage in this life, Mother Teresa was single. She didn’t need a husband to accomplish a lot of good during her lifetime on Earth. Paul in the Bible was single, and Jesus was single also. Getting married or having children isn’t the point of this life, the mission is the point. Sadly, we live in a culture that attaches status to being married and having kids. Some people get married and have children because they are passionate about marriage and raising children, others do it to look good in a culture that equates marriage and kids with a successful life.

Teamwork. Serving is so much more fun when we do it together.

Singleness is viewed as being “less than” in our culture, but not in God’s eyes. Mother Teresa and Paul were definitely not “less than” in God’s eyes because they were single, rather the opposite. Paul became one of the apostles and how many different churches are named after Paul all around the world today? You can find “St. Paul’s Cathedral” everywhere around the world. Mother Teresa has been sanctified and is called “Saint Teresa” today. Let’s just say God probably called these two people to singleness for a reason, it was on purpose.

When Katie Davis Majors was 18-years old she moved to Jinja,Uganda to serve the poor. She didn't know if she was ever going to be called to marriage, but she knew for sure that God had called her to serve the poor. Today Katie still lives in Jinja and God sent her a husband who is also passionate about serving the poor. Katie and her husband Benji have a biological son today, plus 13 adopted daughters, most of them teenagers. God sent Katie a husband that fit into her mission in life perfectly and beautifully.

Joanna was in her forties and single when God called her to move to Africa and start an orphanage. Today she is still single and has 50 foster children that she lives with. I assume Joanna probably doesn't feel lonely just because she isn't called to marriage, she has 50 foster kids to love. We don’t need a spouse to be able to accomplish our mission in life but if God calls us to marriage we can be sure that He will match us up with someone who will be the fuel for our dreams, not someone who hinders them from coming true.

How can I love him back?

The ironic thing about life with God is that as new believers we are passionate about figuring out what the purpose is for our life. We boldly ask God questions like: “What’s my purpose?” and “What’s my calling in life? Please reveal it to me!” What happens when God answers our questions? We freak out. The response often sounds something like this: “Aaaaaah! Nooo, I don’t want to do that! That’s too scary and too big for me to accomplish! Don’t get me wrong God, it’s a beautiful plan, but are you sure you have the right woman for the job? I’m not strong enough for that calling. I don’t have enough courage to accomplish what you are calling me to do!”

God’s response to our fears is usually something like this: “I know, and that’s exactly why I chose you. You do not have what it takes, so the only way you are going to be able to accomplish this great task is by letting me do it through you.” God is a great God, and it should come as no surprise that He will call us to great things. Plans so beautiful and big that we get both excited and terrified at the same time when He reveals them to us. We are not the first people in history to have that response to God’s big and beautiful plans for our lives. When God chose Moses to lead the people of Israel Moses was convinced that God had chosen the wrong guy for the job, because Moses had a stuttering problem. But God knew exactly what he was doing, our limitations will not hinder God’s great plans for our lives, but our disobedience can.

The Bible calls us to love God and love other people. We know what we need to do to love other people; prioritize spending time with them and help them out. But how do we love God? It’s simple; we spend time with God through prayer and reading the Bible and we help him out. How can we help God? We help God out when we do what He is calling us to do. There’s something we were created for and when we do what God calls us to do we express our love for Him.

“Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome.” (1 John 5:1-3 MSG)

It’s a joy, not a burden, to get to live this life serving God and follow his purpose for our lives but it’s also scary. Following God will often include the need to face some fears. If I’m only willing to obey God when I’m not afraid, then I won’t do much good in this life will I? There are a couple of different journeys that God is clearly calling me on during this season of my life and I haven’t started neither of them yet. Why? Because I’m terrified! Obeying God would require me to face a couple of my biggest fears. It’s tempting to listen more to my fear than I do to God. But what does that say about my love for God? If I know what God wants me to do during this season of life but I choose to disobey him because I’m afraid, then I don’t love Him very much do I? I’m not surprised that God is calling me on these two different journeys this year. Fear has too much power over my life and God clearly wants to change that. My problem is that I’m too content with life the way it is right now. I’d rather stay stuck and be comfortable than get up and face my biggest fears.

God loves me so much. He has given me so many beautiful gifts in this life since the day I was born. God gave me a loving and warm mother, a loving and protective father, a loving and kind brother and many wonderful friends growing up. God gave me a healthy body with arms and legs that work. I can walk, talk, sing and dance, my body is a beautiful gift from God. I was also gifted with the great honor, responsibility and blessing of being born in a country where I never had to worry about having enough food, clothing or a roof over my head growing up. God has given me so many beautiful gifts throughout my childhood and he continues to bless me every year in powerful and beautiful ways. How can I not love Him back?

I can choose to follow my fear, or I can choose to face my fears and obey God’s call on my life. It’s time to make that jump. I want to love God back! No more excuses. I know God will give me the courage I need for each step of the journey after I take that first step of obedience, so here we go! Step 1, check!

to be continued...

Are You Rushing Ahead of God?

Waiting seasons in life can be frustrating. When we have a clear vision of what we want to achieve, but it's not happening yet, it's easy rush ahead of God. It becomes much easier to wait once we realize that there is a purpose for every season in our lives. Waiting for our dreams to come true isn't always fun, but the growth that happens in a waiting season is very important. Each season in life will prepare us for what will come next, so if we rush ahead of God we will notice that things won't work out as we had hoped.


God's timing is perfect. If we choose to trust God we will notice that everything will fall into place according to His perfect timing. I have a limited view of reality, but God sees everything. I can only make wise choices when I choose to let God into the decision making process. God already knows my future and His plans for me are good. When I let God lead in my life I have peace. I know that God doesn't make any mistakes. Half of the time I don't know what the heck I'm doing in life, but God is never confused about the future. When I choose to follow God's plan for my life I know that He will lead me to exactly where I need to be.

Commitment Issues?

Commitment issues can keep us from experiencing success, real love and joy in life, but it's possible to overcome them. No matter what our goals are in life we need to be committed to the journey to reach our goals. Career success or a successful romantic relationship doesn't just happen to people by chance, we experience these blessings in life because we are committed to the work required to have these things in our lives. If we throw in the towel every time something gets hard in life we won't get to experience the joy of seeing our dreams come true.


We can't be successful in a romantic relationship without commitment. We can't be successful in our careers without commitment. What it comes down to in the end is this: How important is that relationship or career goal to you? If it's important you will commit, no matter how hard it will get sometimes. Commitment requires good character, self-discipline and passion.

My Greatest Adventure?

What does it take to live a life of adventure? Watch world-renowned TV adventurer Bear Grylls share the untold story of his greatest adventure.

Slow Weekends

My husband is Jamaican and I'm Finnish-Swedish, we both come from cultures that are pretty good at enjoying life and finding a balance between work and rest. Today we live in North America where life balance is almost extinct. I get the feeling that it's normal to be exhausted, busy and over-worked in this part of the world. We are expected to tire ourselves out from working long days and commuting on weekdays. On weekends we are expected to train for a marathon/triathlon, take our kids to multiple activities/sports and attend some cultural event in the city. No wonder humans are exhausted in 2017. Time for rest is seldom scheduled.

In our house rest and time with family is something that we value highly and therefore we prioritize it. Last weekend we were busier than usual so this past weekend we were extra focused on making time for rest. Different people find different things to be relaxing, for me resting is to spend time with family and friends. I also enjoy spending time in nature or reading a book or magazine.

On Friday evening my husband and I had our weekly Date Night. I was tired and tempted to cancel the whole event but I'm glad I made the effort to get all dressed up because we ended up having a really fun evening out.

On Saturday we decided to leave the busy city-life behind for a day and take a drive to Wasaga Beach.

This view awaited us at Wasaga Beach. Hello September, I like the way you look this year!

When we went to Wasaga Beach on Labor Day weekend a couple of weeks ago I thought that was the last beach trip for the season. Nope. Summer of 2017 was more rainy than usual in Toronto, but September has been warmer than usual instead. God is funny, and awesome! :)

It was +29 degrees Celsius at Wasaga Beach on Saturday so I decided to cool down with an Island soda.

On Sunday morning we went to church and afterwards we had some brunch. In the afternoon I relaxed by taking a long walk in the neighborhood and along some nature trails. I love living in the suburbs where nature is never far away.

Canada, Oh Canada. Every time I see the Canadian flag in the neighborhood I'm reminded of how blessed I am to get to live in this beautiful country. I'm so grateful for the life I get to live.

New Values, New Priorities

When we find God we find peace, joy, meaning, contentment and an everlasting love. When we find God we are forever changed, the more time we spend in His presence the more our values start to change. God softens my heart when I spend time with Him, life becomes less about me and more about loving others. When I think back at how differently I used to view the world fifteen years ago I smile, if God can change me that much he can change anyone. When I see evil in the world it makes me sad but never hopeless, because I know that when God gets a hold of a person’s heart no evil will prevail. God has the power to change even the most self-centred cold-hearted person. I’ve seen many former criminals and gang members tell their story, with tears in their eyes, about how everything changed in their lives when God got a hold of their heart. One of my friends went to prison for ten years, today he is a loving husband and father of three young kids. If you met him you would never guess that this man once was a member in a dangerous gang.

When we develop a personal and real relationship with God himself everything changes. I can not change myself, only God has the power to change me. Wearing a cross around your neck won’t change you. Visiting church a few times a year won’t change you. Being religious and following all the rules won’t change you. Only God himself can change you, and He will. Nobody ever meets God and walks away unchanged. God doesn’t change us over night, but the more time we spend in His presence the more change we will see. Timothy Keller explains how our whole world view changes when we encounter God’s presence. In his book “The Reason for God” Timothy Keller writes:

“In this peaceable kingdom there is a reversal of the values of the world with regard to power, recognition, status and wealth. In this new counterculture, Christians look at money as something to give away. They look at power as something to use strictly for service. Racial and class superiority, accrual of money and power at the expense of others, yearning for popularity and recognition, these normal marks of human life, are the opposite of the mindset of those who have understood and experienced the Cross. Christ creates a whole new order of life. Those who are shaped by the great reversal of the Cross no longer need self-justification through money, status, career, or pride of race and class. So the Cross creates a counterculture in which sex, money, and power cease to control us and are used in life-giving and community-building rather than destructive ways.”

Leaders and Followers

There will come a time in life when we need to step up and be a leader, and there will be other times when we need to follow. I wasn’t designed to live this life following other people, but I often do just that. It starts in Elementary school when we learn what types of music we should listen to, what clothes we need to wear and how we should think and feel. As an adult, I’m fully aware of how I should dress, talk, think, work, play etc. Humans live in communities, which means our lives will always be influenced by how other people live. This isn’t necessarily all bad, but we need to understand what makes us unique so we don’t end up living exactly like our friends or co-workers just because that’s what’s expected of us.

I watched a video last Christmas from when I was two years old. I can’t believe how eye-opening it was to watch that video as an adult. I looked at this little girl in the video who clearly wasn’t comfortable in big crowds but who flourished when she got to spend time with her own family. That little girl is me, and guess how I have treated her? Over the years I have forced myself to spend a lot of time in crowded environments, although my whole being prefers calm and quiet. I have tried to live the way I’m expected to live based on all the current ideals my culture holds dear, but many of those ideals don’t fit me. I have thought to myself: “I should be more like this, and less like that.”

The truth is this: God didn’t make a mistake when he created me, I am who he made me to be. I need to stop trying to fit the culture around me and start being myself. I will always have areas where I need to develop self-control, strength and character, but I don’t need to change who I am. My lack of self-control is a problem, my personality is not. When it comes to the relationship between me and other people I need to learn to be a leader and stop being a follower. It doesn’t matter what other people think I should do, I need to be the leader in my own life and stop following other people’s opinions.

My relationship with God is the complete opposite to my relationship with other people. I tend to bow to other people’s opinions when I should take on the responsibility of being the leader in my own life. When it comes to my relationship with God I need to learn o be a follower, but I tend to leave God out of all the important decisions I make. A few years ago, I was still “a baby-Christian” and I honestly used to think that it was unnecessary to read the Bible every week and pray to God before making any big decisions. Fast forward a few years later and it has become crystal clear to me why I need to seek God’s counsel. I could have spared myself from a lot of unnecessary pain and complications if I had taken the time to seek God’s counsel before making my big decisions. Nowadays I try to practice asking God for what I should do before I make big decisions. It’s fascinating how well things work out when I include God in the decision-making process, even when it looks like things won’t work out God literally shows up to move mountains so that things work out after all.

I’m a perfectionist and a control-freak so to let God lead in my life hasn’t been an easy transition, mainly because it’s all about letting go and learning to trust God. The great news is that the more I have learned to depend on God and trust Him the less worried I have become. I used to be very worried about many things a few years ago, today I’m hardly ever worried. Every time I feel worries starting to creep in I pray to God and ask him to intervene in whatever circumstance I’m worried about. When I know that God has it all in His hands I can let go.

Fear is another thing that wants to creep in and hinder us from depending on God and trusting Him. My greatest weapons against fear is prayer and worship. When I’m afraid I pray to God and ask him to bless me with His peace and joy, because I badly need it. If I’m very afraid I turn to worship next and sing a few worship songs to God. As I worship God I can feel the fear lifting off me and peace comes over me. When I’m worshipping God, I’m giving Him control of my situation and at the same time I’m reminding myself of his love for me, his strength and his power. Here’s three of my favorite worship songs that I like to sing to God when I’m afraid:

“You Never Let Go” by Bryan&Katie Torwalt

“Call Upon The Lord” by Elevation Worship

“The War” by Leeland

Why does God want me to be a follower? It’s not because he’s a control-freak or some strict military sergeant. The Bible describes God as “our Heavenly Father”. God wants me to follow him because he loves me and wants what’s best for me. God will not always call me to do things that are fun or easy, but He knows what I need. One year God might ask me to forgive someone when all I want to do is stay bitter. God might ask me to give up some comfort in my life to be able to help someone else. Over the years God has asked me to do both things I just mentioned and countless other things that I did not feel like doing. Sometimes what God is calling me to do will be fun and exciting, other times it will be the last thing I want to do. Did you want to do all the things your loving parents told you to do growing up? Probably not. Are you grateful today that your loving parents taught you many great lessons that developed good character in you? Yes. Following God will not always be easy, but God knows exactly what he is doing, He always has our best interest at heart.

Today I can look back at the last 15 years of my life and see how God used many difficult situations to form me, teach me and grow good character in me. I made some bad mistakes along the way that caused me (and others) pain, but now I know better. The more I learn to follow God and His plan for my life the more joy, peace, meaning and contentment I get to experience in my life every year. Every year I think to myself: “Life doesn’t get better than this” and then it does! The following year I get to experience even more peace, meaning and joy. God truly is the giver of good gifts, when you think life can’t get any better he surprises you with even more blessings!

What you won't see on Instagram

In a world full of perfect pictures from our perfect lives on social media it hit me that there are a lot of pictures you will never see from people's real lives. The pictures you take when life did not go according to plan.

The pictures from your Renewal of Vows that turned out less beautiful than others.

The messy counters in your home. It takes a lot of food (and chips) to feed a whole family.

The "Today's outfit" picture from Love Week at Elevation Church. Hairnets might just be the least flattering piece of clothing in the whole world.

The picture you took when you realized that the location where you had planned to take your beautiful Renewal of Vows pictures is covered with bird poop. My brother has some good advice for when life doesn't turn out the way you planned: "Just embrace the poop!"

The Joy of Summer

What I've enjoyed the most this summer is definitely going to the beach and getting to spend a lot of time with family.

The Lovebirds, Mom&Dad.

Having my family from Norway and Finland come visit us was a lot of fun. Of course we also had a couple of arguments, that's inevitable when you have family come stay with you for two weeks in a row. But I don't find arguments to be a bad thing, as long as you solve them in the end. Arguments teach us things about ourselves. Each one of us learns where we still have room for personal growth. Nothing helps us grow and mature as much as human relationships do. Relationships are difficult because they challenge us to become better people every year.

Once I heard a pastor say: "God sees that we need to grow so he gives us a husband/wife. If that's not enough he gives us a baby, and if that's not enough he gives us one more baby." LOL. Yep, few things will make you grow more spiritually and mentally than close human relationships. :)

Another thing I'm enjoying this summer is the beautiful gifts we got for our Renewal of Vows. My stepson gave us a nice candle and my brother and his girlfriend gave us some encouragement to hang on the wall. "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." So true! :)

My summer obsession: Watermelon lemonade. I can't get enough of this drink!

One of my favorite summer memories: Spending many hours in the sun with family at Cobourg Beach.

The Summer bummer:

Nr. 1) The bugs. There's way too many bugs everywhere in August! Every time I try to relax outdoors the bees chase me out of my own backyard! I'm so happy that they have a very short lifespan.

Nr. 2) The rain. This summer has been much more rainy than the average Canadian summer. One minute you're enjoying a nice day at the beach and the next moment dark clouds roll in and you're forced to run towards the parking lot as the rain starts pouring down. When my Scandinavian family came to visit we went to Wasaga Beach and got about one hour of nice weather before we had to run to the car. The upside of a rainy summer is that you appreciate the warm and sunny days even more. When it's weekend and happens to be sunny you scratch all your plans, pack the car full of beach toys and head to the beach. It's called "summer priorities".

The rainy spring and summer has also led to Lake Ontario being flooded. The waterfront of Lake Ontario looks quite messy at certain places.

Know Your Season

We all wish we could live lives that are constantly happy and easy. Lives where we can continue to accomplish new things without seasons of struggle or rest in between. But life wasn't built that way, we all go through different seasons in life. Seasons of growth, rest, fruitfulness and preparation. We can't fast forward through a season of growth because God knows exactly what we need in preparation for the next stage in our lives. God will never send us into the next season of life unprepared.

You might be going through a season in your life right now that feels uncomfortable, mundane or slow, but you can be sure that God is at work in your life. What may seem like a mundane season in your life might be exactly what you need to be prepared for what will come next. It's also helpful to remember that every season is temporary, which reminds us to stop and enjoy the sweet times in life and to not give up during difficult times.

Legacy vs. Love

Self-actualization, a burden or a blessing? We have all heard the stories about how hard life was for our ancestors. My grand-parents didn't have an easy life, at 21-years old they were married with a baby and started their own business. Life was very difficult at times, especially when they lost part of their property in a fire and almost had to move to Sweden to survive. The people in the village came to their rescue and gathered together some money so that they could stay in Finland. I think about that sometimes, about how much it matters to have a loving community of people around you to love on you. Living in a small town isn't always easy but when times were tough these people had each other's back.


My own life at age 21 was completely different than my grand parents'. I moved abroad at 22, not because I had to but because I wanted to chase my dreams. When I met my husband at age 25 I was still in the middle of my "self-actualization journey" and as embarrassing as it is to admit I was afraid that my relationship with my new boyfriend was going to hinder me from making all my dreams come true. Yeah, I definitely had some selfishness-issues that I needed to grow out of. Marriage has taught me many things about life and one of the most important lessons I have learned is that the less I focus on myself the happier I will become. I need to love myself and take care of my own needs of course, but there is no fulfillment or satisfaction in living for myself. My selfishness is still one of my least attractive qualities but the older I get the more I learn to live an others-focused life, rather than an inward focused life.


In today's world we have many opportunities so it's tempting to make life all about chasing our own dreams and pleasures, rather than to look at the bigger picture. I like Chip and Jo's outlook on life and the older I get the more I long to live like they do. I don't want to live for me, focus on becoming successful/famous and end up divorced and with children who I'm too busy/tired to spend time with. My grand parents were not famous or rich people but they loved me with everything they had in them throughout my whole childhood.


My grandmother passed away a few years ago and she is one of my biggest role models in life. She was all about love and family and because of that everyone loved to spend time with her. I could visit her anytime and the moment I rang her doorbell she would stop whatever she was doing and give me her full attention during the visit. I hope to be a grandmother like that one day. I have to start by being that kind of wife, sister, daughter and mother. The love that I got from my grandparents and the rest of my family growing up is what laid a solid foundation in my life. My grandparents were happily married for more than 50 years until my grandmother passed away and I want that kind of life for myself. I know that I would have a much harder time believing in love if I hadn't seen it modeled with such excellence growing up.


Today my family from Finland and Norway traveled back home after their visit to Toronto. Some tears were shed at the airport today but I'm so grateful that I get to have these amazing people in my life. I know that far from every human-being on this planet gets to grow up in a family like mine and I want to make sure that I pass this love on to the next generation. That's my job, to love God and to love people. My purpose on this Earth isn't to make my own name famous but rather to pour as much love as I can onto the next generations. It's the love we receive (or the lack of it) that make us who we are today.

When You Decide, You Will Be Free

That thing that is holding you back in life, that thing that is keeping you in bondage, when you decide to shake it off you will be free. Many times we keep complaining about being in a state in our lives that we don't like, but we are unwilling to look within and find the real solution for our problems. Too many times we are looking for outside sources to solve internal issues. Pastor Michan Carter explains it this way: "We either are complaining that someone's not doing something for us, or we are saying someone did something to us, and we use that as an excuse to never look at us."


Here's the thing with the "issues" we carry around with us through life: "If you don't deal with it, it will deal with you" says pastor Michan Carter. It's tempting to avoid our own issues rather than to look within and deal with our stuff, but the price for issues left undealt with is high. They have the power to ruin our lives and hurt the people we love the most, unless we face them and deal with them. Pastor Michan Carter preaches a great sermon about how we can get free from whatever is holding us back and making us bitter during this season in life.

I'm Just A Girl

Ever feel unsure about God's purpose for your life? Unqualified or insecure about what He's called you to do? Watch this special teaching from Holly Furtick and discover three things you can do that will help you live out your purpose with confidence.

It's not what it looks like

A picture says more than a thousands words. Yes, but it's not always what it looks like. A few examples from my own life:

Picture Nr.1

Los Angeles, a few years ago. What a lovely day at the beach right? Not exactly. My husband and I were in the middle of an argument when we took this picture. We realized that we weren't going to solve the argument as quickly as we wanted so we said: "Let's just take some pictures of the beach first and then we can go somewhere and talk." Oh the joy of those first couple of years as newlyweds when you have many arguments that happen at the most inconvenient times because you don't know each other's weaknesses or sensitive spots yet so you keep stepping on each others' toes.

Picture Nr.2

Here we had made up and decided to go for a hike in Los Angeles. This was a nice moment but based on what you see in the picture you can't tell the huge difference between this picture and the first picture. Pictures tell you far from everything.

Picture Nr.3

I took this picture during a bike ride this spring. It looks like a wonderful day to take a bike ride but in reality it wasn't a fun day at all! The wind was ice cold and I was biking as fast as I could to get back home again as soon as possible.

Picture Nr.4

This was a very nice day during the spring. The weather was warm and I could bike in my t-shirt and I loved the feeling of being able to enjoy riding my bike again after the long break during winter. I never posted the picture of this nice moment on my blog because it doesn't look very enjoyable or pretty.

Picture Nr.5

Then there are those pictures of your home that will never make it onto a social media account. My husband kicked me out of our Master bedroom bathroom a year ago with these words: "You take up way too much of the counter space." I have no idea what he is talking about. Nowadays I treat our guest bathroom as my own bathroom where I can spread out my stuff as much as I want!

Picture Nr.6

As I was looking at the picture of this room I realized that it's about as "cozy" as a prison cell at the moment. I never intended for this room to have such an extreme minimalist decor but let's just say it's still "in process" of getting decorated. One of these days I will take the time to hang up the curtains that I bought months ago. The blinds work fine for now. The shelf that is on the bed also needs to be attached to the wall at some point. The thing is, July is a warm and sunny month and the last thing I want to do right now is spend time indoors. Home decorating will have to wait until a rainy and cold day in September.

These pictures are just a few examples of how different reality looks from our perfectly edited lives online. We have all followed people online who seem to have a perfect, beautiful and loving family until one day the parents tell the world that they are getting a divorce. The shiny pictures that the world got to see was far from reality. We also follow people online who seem to be skilled at finding something negative to complain about in each and every situation. No matter what they are faced with you can be sure that they will find a way to whine about it on their social media accounts. We look at these people's lives online and feel sorry for them since their lives seem to be so difficult and heavy all the time. When in reality the lives of these people might actually be pretty happy and awesome, they just won't tell you about those parts. They use their social media accounts as a place to spew out their negativity.

No matter if your Facebook friends' pages are full of perfect pictures or full of negativity you can be sure that reality is neither. Reality is that life is full of everyday struggles and difficult stuff but at the same time our lives are also full of blessings and beautiful things that we will notice if we look for them. Our world is both broken and beautiful. 

Slow and Steady

"Slow and steady wins the race" a wise older woman taught me this year. I tell myself this every week: "Slow and steady, you don't have to do everything at the same time!" When I met the love of my life six years ago I wanted to get married, have babies and buy a house right away. We ended up planning our wedding at the same time as we were in the process of buying a new house. Let's just say the process was quite stressful. It's natural to want it all and want it now, but it's not necessarily the best approach to life. We are only human and nobody can do too many different things at the same time, not without getting a burn out. If we keep doing too many things at the same time it's not possible to keep a high quality in every area of life, something will suffer and fail, whether it's your marriage, your health, your career or something else.

I want to strive for excellence in everything I do in life but then I can't do too many things at the same time. I wonder if one of the reasons so many people are unhappy and unhealthy in today's society is because we live such fast lives? We want to fulfill all our dreams by age 40 at the latest and we don't want to wait on anything. My mother can tell you that I'm not the most patient person in the world. Patience is something I really need to practice. Three years ago I was still a fairly new Christian and I was excited to discover what the purpose is for my life. Today I'm starting to have a pretty clear picture of my purpose in life and I know what God is calling me to do with my life. Now when I know what I'm called to do I want to do it all at the same time of course. I have to force myself to wait and not pursue every dream at the same time. If I get around 70-100 years on this planet it's evident that I don't need to fulfill all my dreams and my life's purpose during my thirties. I have all the time I need.

I like to make a one-year-plan in my notebook in January every year and beside it I have a list of all the big goals I have for a whole lifetime. I pick 1-2 things to focus on each year and the rest will have to wait until next year, or until next decade. There's no need to overbook my schedule one year when I have so many years ahead. I want to focus on quality in whatever I do each year. I don't want to be so busy that I don't have time to have a Date Night with my husband, to spend a lot of time with the family and my friends. I don't want to be so busy that I have to skip taking care of my physical or emotional health."Less is more"and "Slow and steady"are mantras I try to live by. I also find that I enjoy life so much more when I move through life at a slower pace. I have time to stop and reflect on things and feel grateful for everything that God has blessed me with so far in life. Life is so beautiful, I don't want to miss it by being too busy or because I move too fast through life.

Overcoming the storms of life

Toronto native, Cheryl Nembhard is an award winning Filmmaker, Playwright and Director who continues to make her mark in the Arts & Entertainment Industry. On Saturday I had the privilege to listen to Cheryl Nembhard speak at the Women's Conference at my church. Cheryl has an amazing story about overcoming pain and hurt in her life and finding freedom and healing through God. Cheryl Nembhard had a very difficult childhood. She was sexually molested by a family friend from the age of 5-12 and as a teenager she had become a very angry and bitter young woman because of all the pain she had gone through. Cheryl joined a criminal gang as a teenger which became a place for her to express her anger.

One day Cheryl was brutally raped by a group of young men and this experience left her completely broken. Cheryl later ended up living on the streets for periods of time and was rescued by the love of God through a street evangelist. The street evangelist would talk to Cheryl as she was living on the street and although Cheryl found him annoying he always reminded her of one thing: " You can run but you can't hide, from God's love for you."

Cheryl eventually decided to visit a church and when she became a Christ-follower she was able to heal from all the pain and hurt she had been carrying around for years. Today Cheryl is very successful in the Entertainment Industry, she is married and has three children. Cheryl is now using her story and her painful past to bring help, hope and healing to other people through her films and musicals and through speaking about God's love at different events.

Cheryl Nembhard talked about how we can overcome the storms in our life at the Women's Conference and I will share some of her tips in this post. Here's two of my favorite quotes by Cheryl:
"Hurt and pain unchecked will manifest into anger and bitterness."

"Do not mistake the presence of a storm in life for the absence of God in your life. He is with you and he will guide you through it."

Cheryl Nembhard talked about how each one of us will face many different types of storms during a lifetime. A life without hardships is a fairytale, it doesn't exist in this world. Storms will come but our God promises that He will be with us in the storm. The book of Isaiah talks about how much we mean to God and how much he loves us.

“Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.

I’ve called your name. You’re mine.

When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you.

When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down.

When you’re between a rock and a hard place,

    it won’t be a dead end—

Because I am God, your personal God,

    The Holy of Israel, your Savior.

I paid a huge price for you:

    all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in!

That’s how much you mean to me!

    That’s how much I love you!

I’d sell off the whole world to get you back,

    trade the creation just for you."

Isaiah 43:2-4 (The Message)

Cheryl Nembhard also talked about how important it is that we check our posture in the midst of a storm. The "Why me"-posture will never lead to flourishing or to freedom in our lives. Instead we can ask God: "What would you have me learn through this storm?" Storms make great teachers. There is a lesson in every storm. Storms teach us about God, about ourselves and about other people. You will learn more about God than you ever did before during a storm. Storms can tell you what needs to be removed from your life and what areas you need to work on. Storms will show you who your friends are, you will notice who is for you and who disappears when your life gets difficult.

Storms will teach you valuable lessons about life but they will also make you a teacher to others. Once God has brought you through something very difficult you can use your story to help and encourage other people. You can now become "a lighthouse" to others.