Hope is Alive

Hope is alive today.

A Beautiful Miracle

After four miscarriages, Jennifer and Chris finally conceived, but their baby wasn't expected to survive multiple birth defects. They refused abortion and prayed for the impossible.

The Blessed Life

God wants each one of us to enjoy this life and live a blessed life. It’s not God’s will for us to spend our whole lives walking around weighed down by fear, worries, anxiety or sorrow. We all want to live “the good life” and God has good things in store for us, but how we go after those things matters. We can’t manipulate our way to a good life. We can’t lie, steal, cheat or demand our way to a good life. Taking what isn’t yours to take come with some really bad consequences.

God has good things in store for our future, but He is waiting for us to do our part before we are ready to receive those blessings. What is God asking you to do this year? Is God asking you to obey him in an area where you have been avoiding obedience to His will? Is God asking you to become more generous with your money or time this year? Is God asking you to start serving others through volunteering? One thing that God is asking of all of us is to look for opportunities to do good to others. It’s easy to live self-centred lives but every single day we have many opportunities to be a blessing to someone else. No matter what God is asking of you, your obedience will need to happen before you will see things fall into place in your own life.

I have a very stubborn personality. I took a personality test the other day that said the following about my personality type: “This personality type is very difficult to lead.” Amen to that! Good luck anyone who tries to get me to do something I don’t want to do! There have been multiple times in my life that God has been very clear about what steps He wanted me to take next, but I still chose to ignore Him and do my own thing. The result of my disobedience to God was that I ended up somewhere I did not want to be.

Trusting God can be very hard sometimes, but I know by now that I’m better off following God’s lead than my own plan. I don’t want to miss out on many of the wonderful blessings that God has for me in this life, so these days I’m more willing to listen and follow God’s lead. It’s not always easy to choose trust over control, but the reward on the other side is so worth it!

Tips For Anyone Engaged!

Watch the Lindsey's as they talk about their engagement. They were engaged on Christmas Day 2009. They have vintage footage from their actual engagement, and they talk about the things they learned during their engagement.

Create Your Own Sunshine

This time of year it's easy to get irritated and moody when the weather continues to be grey, rainy or slushy and you're aware that it will stay the same for another couple of months. Ashley Brown from the Youtube channel Ashley Empowers gives her best advice on how to get out of a funk.

Discovering why God made you

Humans are naturally drawn towards money, power, status, beauty, sex, pleasure and meaningful relationships. We want what we want because we are convinced that when we get that thing it will bring us joy. Sometimes these things bring us joy, other times we end up disappointed. The good news is that there’s one source in this life that will never disappoint us and that is God himself. In God we find the deep joy that our souls crave from the day we are born.

In God we find the peace, meaning, joy and satisfaction that we have spent our whole lives looking for. The good news of the Bible is that God loves every single one of us, and that he has a great plan for our lives. Everything in our lives get new meaning and purpose once we get to know God.

Over time we discover how everything in our lives is working together for our good. God uses both our greatest achievements and our worst mistakes to bring us closer and closer to our destiny. Some of our biggest regrets in life will become exactly what God will use to bring us to where he needs us to be, to a place where our purpose in life becomes crystal clear.  

Ryan's Story

Ryan Truax from ZOE Church in Los Angeles, CA shares his story about moving from pain to purpose in this video.