Devotions (Page 13)

Last week, I had the opportunity to take Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training online. MHFA is quite similar to first aid, where you try to stablize/provide temporary relief to someone injured until help arrives, except you’re trying to help people with mental health challenges. This was my first time taking live online training, and I have to say that it was excellent. I had a great instructor who brought the course material to life and taugh us many useful…

As I was studying Matthew 26, I felt like the Lord was highlighting 2 important aspects of Patient Endurance. The context and setting of this chapter is dark and dreary. It is the moments leading up to Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. It is the Last Supper and over and over again, Jesus is telling his disciples that his life would be forfeit and that there is a traitor amongst them. In the midst of this great challenge, what did Jesus…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Earlier this week, our group discussed lesson 12 in the Lead Well study series. The title of the lesson is What Are Core Values? From the lesson, it reminds us that:  Core values can be understood through a variety of images. They are like: I made the observation that we all are guided by our core values. Whether we articulate them, write them down, share them with others, are intentional about them, are conscious about them or not,…

Last Sunday, we had our first prayer and intercession meeting of 2024. As we just started fasting together as a church family in January, it seemed fitting to start the year off with prayer. We had 19 people join us for intercession, which definitely exceeded our expectations for the meeting as we had to keep expanding our circle of seats as people joined! This was the largest in-person intercession we’ve had since the pandemic, so it was great to start…

The theme for this year, 2024, is Patient Endurance. I’m not gonna lie to you and say that I was excited to hear about this year’s journey. I’m not too sure what it will all entail but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be easy, nor does it sound like it’s going to be fun. When I was thinking about patient endurance, I thought about an analogy of what patient endurance may look like. Imagine on Christmas day you…

In a time where loads of people are making resolutions for themselves for the new year, I’ve been finding that it’s really life-giving to… not. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made plenty of resolutions in the past and have even managed to accomplish some of those goals over the years. I also have absolutely nothing wrong with people using the calendar new year to boost their journey of growth and self-improvement!! But this year, especially, I’m sensing a different focus…

A few days ago, I was working through university applications. Basically, you input your personal information, academic background, schools of choice, and supporting documents into the form. At the end, you get a summary of your application and fee. When I saw the fee, my heart skipped a beat. I’m not telling you what it was, but it was a LOT. I hadn’t even finished adding in all my university choices, and I was pretty sure that when I was…

When we talk about Kingdom Parenting we are trying to raise the huios (mature sons). Fully complete, lacking nothing. When we look at the ultimate mature son, Jesus Christ – we see a man who was raised and became a huios. He was one who did not just hear – He listened well and obeyed quickly. When we talk about Kingdom Parenting – it is not just biological children, it is the people God puts before us and care for.…

As someone who is goal-oriented, one of the first things I do in a new season and/or new year is to come up with a set of goals that I can work towards. Setting goals has been a very useful tool for me in many areas of my life from my physical goals – getting into shape and eating healthy, mental goals – reading more and taking time out of my day to sit and think, emotional goals – becoming…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Praying that all of you had a great Christmas and a time of thanksgiving, reflection and family gatherings around food. We hope that you were able to squeeze in some rest too.  Dorothy and I were invited to attend a Christmas Eve Service at Central United Church on Main Street Unionville. It was a great time to be with sisters and brothers in the Lord, celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of the…

Christmas Day is upon us! For the past few Sundays we’ve been celebrating the Advent season, which is the weeks leading up to Christmas when we look forward to the celebration of the birth of our Lord. For many of us, Christmas may seem like a sort of ending. During the weeks leading up to Christmas we are usually busy with fitting in end of year plans or preparing gifts and cards for loved ones. Christmas is also close to New Years,…

This week, BSF covered the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. A point that stood out from the night’s lecture was “[Some] Christians think that their story is not worth sharing because they feel their story is not as painful and therefore not effective as someone else’s. When we think this way, we forget that our testimony is not about us, it’s about Jesus. Because each one of our stories is unique, they all reveal different…