Do Something

You often hear people say I don’t believe in God because if there was a good God up there in heaven looking down on us he wouldn’t allow so much pain. This way of thinking makes sense in a way, but when I think of God as our Father in heaven it helps me understand God’s plan better. God created the earth and everything was good, then he created us and the trouble started. This scenario makes me think of how most couples have a pretty nice life together, until they have kids, then the troubles start. Just kidding! J

Although, it does help to think about how we relate to our own kids when they misbehave to better understand how God relates to us. When our kids get themselves in trouble what do we do? Do we clean up all their messes for them and let them get away with bad behavior? No we do not, or at least if we are good parents we don’t clean up all our children’s messes. We tell them to clean up their own messes, under our guidance and supervision of course. We don’t abandon them in their troubles, but we don’t do the work for them either, because we know that they need to deal with the mess themselves to be able to learn from their mistakes.

I believe God relates to us in the same way, when we get ourselves in trouble he wants us to figure things out, but he will never leave us alone in our struggles. God will always be by our side to strengthen us when we are weak and to guide us when we are lost. If we come to Him with our problems he will always offer us help, but he won’t do the work for us, because he too wants us to learn something from our mistakes and grow into better people than we were before.

It’s tempting to blame God for everything that is wrong in our world but when we think about the fact that God has created seven billion solutions for the problems in this world (us) then can we really put the blame on him? God has done his part, he has created each one of us with one or many gifts and skills. We are all equipped to “do something” in this world, but we choose if we are going to put these gifts to use or not.

 

I can choose to sit back and complain about everything that is wrong or I can turn my focus towards the particular task that God has created me for.  Each one of us is the solution for some particular problem in this world, but as long as we choose to stand still and do nothing not much will change will it? It’s time for us to do something! J

 

Do we have a passion problem?

Eunice Hii gives us an inspiring TED talk about Millennials, their interest in following their passions, and how this is viewed by older generations who want millennials to conform to their way of life. I love what Eunice says about passion and purpose. Unless we connect our passion to a real need in the world it becomes useless, but if we manage to connect our passion with a purpose we have a change at contributing to the world at the same time as we do work that we really enjoy. :)

The new beauty ideal: Natural Beauty

I have to admit that I have never bought the magazine Today's Parent before. Last weekend I was looking through different magazines at Chapters as usual when I suddenly saw the cover of the may issue of Today's Parent. I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was to discover that Today's Parent had chosen to put real women on the cover of the may 2015 issue. It's so wonderful to see a magazine take a step towards encouraging women to embrace and celebrate their natural beauty instead of hating their imperfections.

It's so great to read messages like "Celebrate You!" instead of the usual "How to look younger than you are" at the cover of a women's magazine.

We can't really escape the fact that our accepted cultural ideals set the standard for how we view ourselves. The good news is that if this natural beauty trend continues to be promoted in media little baby Estelle (pictured above) might not have to grow up in a world that is as superficial in the future. I hope that all women (not just Moms) will embrace natural beauty in the future so that together we can build a better culture, where eating disorders start to decline rather than increase.

This is how Jessica Birak describes her view of her body in the may 2015 issue of Today's Parent:

"I had an eating disorder when I was 15. I was gaining confidence in how my body looked when I got pregnant at 22. I had rock-hard abs and no cellulite, and I seriously thought I would go through pregnancy completely untouched. When I got big, red stretch marks all over my belly, I cried for a week. After I had my oldest, I sometimes felt very insecure-I lost the confidence I'd gained. Then, six months after my youngest was born, somebody asked me if I was expecting. It sunk me. I thought it must mean I'm ugly because my stomach has a little paunch. But I realized it was ruining my day because my idea of beauty was defined by something unrealistic, something superficial."

I find it so sad that so many of us women have perfectly healthy bodies that work, that take us around town every day, but still we hate them or at least we don't find them beautiful. We think that we are the problem, but isn't it time we realize what the real problem is once and for all: the unhealthy ideals we are fed daily. I'm ready to throw out all the magazines and other influences in my life that make me dislike myself rather than celebrate my body!

You can read many inspiring stories in the newest issue of Today's Parent about how these women used to dislike their bodies and how motherhood changed how they view themselves. These women all discovered that there is a greater meaning for why we are given our bodies, our bodies have the ability to produce life. After all, that's one of the most beautiful functions our bodies have, we are not only beautiful objects walking around on this earth, objects that we constantly need to criticize and modify. Our bodies deserve more respect and loving care than that, we deserve more love than that! Let's stop objectifying ourselves!

Be Lifted High

One of my favorite Christian bands right now is Elevation Worship, their songs always manage to lift my mood and help me refocus when I'm having a bad day. Life is full of struggles and obstacles that we have to overcome, you can't really escape the struggles but you can find ways to make it easier to get through them.

Music is one thing I like to use to motivate myself to continue to fight the good fight and not give up, even on days when all I want to do is quit and throw in the towel. Good books and documentaries are other things I use to stay motivated.

Minimalist Living

Lavendaire is another inspiring young woman who has embraced minimalist living. This is a video where she shares a little bit about why she wants to live a minimalist lifestyle. She also gives us a few tips on different sources where we can find out more about minimalism, like the blog by The minimalists. Enjoy! :)

When two become one

I've been writing two different blogs for the past six months. The Futuristas is the name of my first blog where I have been blogging about topics like beauty, minimalism, identity, happiness, finding your passion etc. The Life Of Love is my second blog where I have been blogging about my faith, love, relationships, my passions etc.

This spring is a special time in my life because me and my husband are expecting a new addition to the family in a few months. At the moment I'm feeling both happy, excited and nervous at the same time, but mostly I'm super excited to get to become a Mom soon! :) I'm also aware of the fact that I will soon have a lot less free time on my hands so updating two different blogs will no longer be doable. That's why I have decided to merge my two different blogs into one today.

You will now find blog posts from all the different categories I like to blog about under one roof. Today my blog The Futuristas is moving in with The Life Of Love. This move will save me a lot of time in the future and hopefully you will continue to be inspired by my blogging as I enter a whole new stage in life. :)

Why Baptism?

Last Sunday me and my husband got baptised! I'm so excited about life at this point of my journey! :) I'm thankful to God for drawing me towards himself over the past 7 years and for teaching me about who he is. He never gave up on me but continued to work through all my skepticism and unbelief and piece by piece he let me see who He is.


I'm so excited to get to join the one billion people who are already following Jesus on this earth and join in the work that God has employed to all His people; to love God and to love others as yourself. I'm excited to see where God wants to lead me in life and how he will use me as a part of his great plan; to heal all the broken people of this world through His love. I can't wait to see what great adventure God wants to take me on next. :) I've never been more excited for the future than today!