There is a cloud

Every seed, buried in sorrow

You will call, forth in its time

You are Lord, Lord of the harvest

Calling our hope, now to arise

Everything is Going to Be Okay

I love the videos by youtuber "LeahsEssence". Leah's videos are positive, encouraging and filled with wisdom. Leah doesn't just do Vlogs about her faith but she also makes videos about beauty and lifestyle. This video focuses on what we can do to overcome difficulties in our lives. Leah shares her best tips for how we can stay strong when the storms hit us in life.

Times are changing

My new blazer is my favorite piece of clothing right now. I love that it's spring and that I can wear my summer shoes and a blazer instead of my winter jacket. Lately I've been happy to see change in our society as well, and not just in the weather. I've noticed that some clothing brands have started making more and more of their clothes in countries with laws that require fair trade.

JCrew sells my favorite summer shoes, the Cece ballet flats, they are Made in Italy. I bought my new blazer from Zara this spring, it's Made in Spain. I'm hoping to see more clothing brands take responsibility in the future and start supporting fair trade rather than continue to make their clothing in factories that have child workers and other types of unethical labor. I'm proud to see many Canadian brands focus on making a lot of their products in Canada. Le Chateau is one brand that has a whole collection of clothes that are Made in Canada. I was also happy to read about the new Swedish clothing brand Miss Clarity that make all their clothing in European countries to ensure that the clothes are Fairtrade.

We like to shake our heads at our ancestors who supported slavery and we think that we are so much better people than them. Are we really? I don't know about you but I have a lot of clothes in my closet that are made in countries that I know use child workers and pay their workers very little money. I'm not okay with that. I'm not okay with supporting child labor and modern day slavery.

My goal is to buy more and more of my clothes from countries that accept only fair trade labor. The clothing brands that care about fair trade will be the brands that I choose. I don't care if my clothes have a designer label or are made by H&M, the only label I care about is the one that reveals where the piece of clothing was made. It's not a coincidence that our world lacks justice for all today, us in the West can buy cheap clothing because other countries continue to sell us products that were made under unethical labor standards. What we shop and how we shop will determine how the clothing industry continues to do business in the future.

Why are we so quick to judge?

When you spend time on social media it quickly becomes apparent that women love to judge each other. You will often hear people complain about and judge another woman because she is different than them. We easily get uncomfortable, judgmental and sometimes even jealous when we see a woman who is different from us.

The truth is that I'm not even a bit better than the woman who has completely different gifts, interests and priorities in her life than I do, God has made us different from each other for a reason. The world needs women who are gifted in different areas of life. Who am I to think that my type of personality or gifting is better than anyone else's? We are all gifted in completely different areas of life and instead of becoming judgmental or jealous of each other we can choose to rejoice in each other's gifts and encourage each other.

Community

Today we had our Women Connect meeting at church and it was a very encouraging and empowering experience. We currently have women from three different generations in my group and I love the insight and wisdom that I'm able to receive from these women. Sadly our modern society doesn't seem to value wisdom from older generations that much anymore. I find that outside of my own family the church is the only place where I've found it easy to connect with people from many different generations. I've met many wise older women in my church whose advice has been very encouraging to me. I've also met people ten years younger than me in church who are much more mature than me.


The cool thing is that when we get together in a church community God is able to use all our different backgrounds and past struggles to help and encourage everyone. When I share how God helped me overcome one of my biggest struggles in the past my story can encourage somebody else who might be going through a similar struggle. It's amazing to witness how God can use your story for good if you just let him. My story can't help anyone if I keep it a secret. When I choose to get vulnerable with others my story can be used for something greater. It's powerful what God can do through a community of believers.


Women Connect is wonderful but I don't think every church has gatherings like these, what most churches do have is Life Groups. There are many different types of Life Groups; Couples groups, Women's groups, Men's groups, Young adults groups etc. One of my New Year's resolutions was to focus more on community in 2017 so at the beginning of the year I joined a fairly new Life Group for women in their twenties and thirties. We have so much fun at my Life Group and I love the wisdom, encouragement and help that these women offer me every week. Life Groups are also a great way for each Christian to "love their neighbor". We can't help our community if we never make time to hang out with other Christians. When we gather together weekly we get to share in each other's struggles and lift each other up.


Another thing I love about my Life Group is that we just randomly happen to be from very different cultural backgrounds which adds perspective and new insights about life. We are currently five women in my Life Group and our cultural backgrounds are: Finland, Korea, The Philippines, Barbados and Guiana. Our church is very multicultural so our groups tend to have a really fun mix of people. I love it!

Christian's story

Christian tells his story about what it was like growing up without his Father present and with a Mom who had to work two different jobs to support her family. Christian developed depression at an early age and later started using different types of drugs and alcohol. He got sent to many different psych wards and rehab centers but nothing could help him get his life back on track.

Christian eventually got sent to prison and he describes this as the best thing that could have happened to him. He was humbled in prison and started reading a Bible for the first time in his life. Today Christian is a believer and he is excited to serve God and help others find the same love and acceptance in Christ that he himself has discovered.

Alicia's Story

Alicia's childhood and teenage years were very difficult and as a result she developed depression and attempted to take her own life at the age of 17. Two weeks after Alicia was let out of the hospital after her suicide attempt a stranger started talking to her in the store where she was working. The guy shared his story with Alicia and told her that he used to be very lost before he came to faith in Christ. Alicia decided to go to church that week and ended up giving her life to Christ. God started to do a healing work in Alicia's life from that day forward and today God has rebuilt Alicia from the inside out. Today Alicia is using her faith and her music to reach out to others who are broken and struggling with their mental health, depression and suicidal thoughts.