Welcome Back- Day 1!

5 Mar

Well hello to everyone who came back in anticipation of the Monday surprise!

I have the pleasure of being the first post of the week and giving a short explanation as to what exactly is going on. I had mentioned in last week’s post that a few friends would be joining as regular contributors, and for the next three days you’ll be introduced to each of of them. You’ll be hearing from… wait for it… Stacey! Georgie McDonald! and Amy! I’ll let each of them introduce themselves but I just want to say that all of them are women whom I have personally learned from and have been greatly blessed to know. They all come from different walks of life, different backgrounds and experiences, but the common thread between each of them is that they all love the Lord and look to know him and serve him better. I can’t wait to hear from them as they share the exciting, boring, and regular things that happen in everyday life and bring a heavenly perspective to it all!

This week is all for introductions so I’ll begin with re-introducing myself. I am 27 going on 28, a Torontonian by birth, wife to The Real Estate Guy, and a mom to one super-fun little package of joy. I share a little more about myself in the “About Me” section, which I’ll add to once my friends post their bios.

Basically- I just enjoy a lot of things. God is the giver of every good gift, and I love enjoying Him, and all that he has made! Especially food- I like good food. I love my whole family (immediate and extended), and thoroughly enjoy all the time I get to spend with them. I love my church, Grace Chapel of Markham, where I have had the privilege of being for the past 3 years. And, I love to learn. I love all sorts of learning- whether it be about history, literature, or cooking, I find it a joy to be able to see more of God’s hand in all of life. Mostly, I like to read on theology and books about the Christian life. I hope to share some of my findings in future posts!

That’s all for now and I hope you continue to read on as the week progresses to hear from the rest of the blog authors.

Until next week,

Maja

 

One more thing…

29 Feb

Just one more thing I came across today. A good read, shared from my good friend Amy via Tim Challies’ blog.

Is it wasting your life/career to stay home with your children? More on this in future posts!

The Relief of No Career

Blog Relaunch!

29 Feb

It’s true! The rumours can now be put to rest. Folks- I know you’ve all been waiting in anticipation- the blog is re-launching! And, I’m excited to say that it will be back with a bang. I can’t share all the secrets with you now, you’ll just have to come back next Monday and see what exactly is going to go on, but just as a teaser… It’ll involve 3 wonderful, insightful, funny, friends of mine that are joining the blogging world via This Passing Life. Who are they?? Well, just wait and see! Enough exclamation points for now!

I don’t want to see this blog die, which is what has been happening, in spite of my good intentions. I haven’t watered this plant every day which is why it’s withering, so now I hope that with a few other gardeners on board, you’ll see and hear a lot more. That’s all I can say for now, so please come back and see who my secret friends are that will be regular contributors to this little slice of a blog.

And, just for fun- can you check out this sneaky little blog that has made it’s way into my home? My mom found it and shared it with me because well, that’s just what good moms do when they find good things that others will enjoy- they share them! If you like to cook,or like to cook fun things, then check out Spook Fork Bacon.

WOW is all I can say. Kale & blood orange salad? Banana & bacon cookies? Roasted strawberry shortcake shakes?? I’m just gonna go and start making some of their baby chimichangas right now while you head on over there and start to drool while getting inspired to whip up something exciting for dinner tonight!

See you Monday for the re-launch!

The Family: Some great links

29 Nov

I’ve got more on marriage, coming soon, but for now just a few links that have been so helpful and encouraging to me over the past few years. I check out these blogs regularly and am so blessed to see the faithful ministries of these two families (the Mahaney’s & the Wilson’s). Really, the gospel fruitfulness that can come from a home that is dedicated to honouring and enjoying God blows my mind. The home is a place where so much important stuff can happen for the kingdom. It’s a training ground for little minds, a place of warmth and unconditional love, a haven for the weary and tired, and a source of wonderful God-given relationships. I hope that you will check these out regularly and peruse the many different categories that these women have written about in order to glean wisdom, insight and hopefulness about what the Christian home can become, by God’s grace.

Take a peak!

www.girltalkhome.com

www.feminagirls.com

And, just for some added encouragement, read what the wonderful Charles Spurgeon wrote in the November 10th entry from his devotional series, Morning & Evening:

“The eternal God is thy refuge”– Deuteronomy 33:27

The word refuge may be translated ‘mansion’, or ‘abiding-pace’, which gives the thought that God is our abode, our home. There is a fulness and sweetness in the metaphor, for dear to our hearts is our home, although it be the humblest cottage, or the scantiest garret; and dearer far is our blessed God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being. It is at home that we feel safe; we shut the world out and dwell in quiet security. So when we are with our God we ‘fear no evil’. He is our shelter and retreat, our abiding refuge. At home,  we take our rest; it is there we find repose after the fatigue and toil of the day. And so our hearts find rest in God, when , wearied with life’s conflict, we turn to him, and our soul dwells at ease. At home, also, we let our hearts loos; we are not afraid of being misunderstood, nor of our words being misconstrued. So when we are with God we can commune freely with Him, laying open all our hidden desires; for the ‘secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him;, the secrets of them that fear Him ought to be, and must be, with their Lord. Home, too, is the place of our truest and purest happiness: and it is in God that our hearts find their deepest delight. We have joy in Him which far surpasses all outer joy.  It is also for home that we work and labour. The thought of it gives strength to bear the daily burden, and quickens the finders to perform the task; and in this sense we may also say that God is our home. Love to Him strengthens us. We think of Him in the person of His dear Son; and a glimpse of the suffering face of the Redeemer constrains us to labour in His cause. We feel that we must work, for we have brethren yet to be saved, and we have our Father’s heart to make glad by bringing home His wandering sons; we would fill with holy mirth the sacred family among whom we dwell. Happy are those who have thus the God of Jacob for their refuge!

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The Family: Marriage

16 Nov

Here are two short little videos with John Piper, D.A. Carson & Tim Keller for Together for the Gospel & The Gospel Coalition on “Sustaining the Covenant of Marriage”, “The Power of the Gospel & Marital Love”.

In thinking about the family, and beginning with marriage as the starting point for family life, it’s important to ask yourself what marriage is all about or in other words, what is the purpose of marriage? Is it just another type of romantic relationship that may or may not last? Does it really matter if your marriage fails? What makes a marriage last? Just some questions to get the thoughts flowing, and hopefully I can add a few more relevant links that will give helpful insight as well as point towards some passages in scripture to help us to think through this topic.

Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love

The Power of the Gospel in Marriage

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The Family

3 Nov

Friends! Happy fall to you all. I’m now a bit late on that salutation seeing as Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween have already passed and Starbucks has made it clear that CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE!!! For my American friends, are you also experiencing the same influx of red and green into your stores?

Time just keeps on passing not giving anyone a moment to catch their breath. Or maybe it’s just me feeling like I have a million things I want to do and I don’t ever get them all done. One of those million being wanting to keep up with this blog and not being able to. No more apologies, I’ll just keep pressing on. Even though I haven’t been posting as often as I’d like, I have been reading. And studying. And searching for useful and relevant info on things that I need to learn about. And right now, the things that I seem to need to know all pertain to being a mama and wife. So that’s why I’ve decided that this next little roll of posts will be about what I’m learning in the hope that others out there, not just moms or wives, will benefit from me trying to bring together a range of pieces of info that I’ve come across or plan to spend time in.

Why the family? To be honest, I’ve wanted to post on this topic for a long time, not just because it’s something relevant to my current life situation. Family means a lot of different things to a lot of people. To some, the idea conjures up painful memories and experiences that one wishes were forgotten. Maybe a broken home, a difficult childhood with a single parent, abuse at the hands of a relative, the list could go on. To others, family might not have that same exact meaning but it might be one of more superficial interactions and detached relationships. And for some, it can mean everything wonderful and comforting about life. I would guess that for many of us it means a combination of theses things. We all have had painful experiences, we all have imperfect relationships with our families, and we all have longings and hopes for what we wish or hope things could or should be.

Regardless of your personal experience, good or bad, there are probably many questions we have about what families are supposed to be. Are they important? Can we do without them? How should families function if they are to function well and who’s to say what that should even look like? Are traditions and rituals and blood what makes a family? The list of questions could stretch miles! I won’t attempt to position myself as some sort of family “expert”, but as a person with a family, who loves her family (not just my little girl and my husband- but each and every relative and extended member), I care about finding answers to those questions and don’t want to just “see how things turn out”. I want to understand what it takes to repair broken relationships and build new strong ones. I want to find answers to questions I have about what the wrong and right ways are to go about living as a member of a family. I do believe that there are real concrete choices we make every day that have a lasting impact, for better or worse. We may not be able to see 20 years into the future as to where we’ll be with our family relationships, but looking back, there is evidence strewn along the road of time that points to the triumphs and many failures of our families. We can see how divorce deeply hurt our cousins or friends. We can see how marital strife caused deep pain for us as children (and adults). And, if we’re honest, we can see ways that we’ve acted that have alienated, hurt, and damaged our relationships with people we love. In looking to find answers as to what the family is supposed to be, and how we can make ours better as individuals and corporately, I’m starting with the presupposition that there are the right ones out there. And not just out there anywhere, but first and foremost in God’s word. And then, coming from that as the basis, there are many helpful resources in the form of helpful words from others who write/talk about this most important topic in order that people would think rightly about the family, and that right thinking would then lead to right living, for our good, and for God’s glory.

For starters I’m going to link you to a fantastic sermon series by John MacArthur called “The Fulfilled Family“. The series is fairly long but is packed with solid Biblical teaching from Ephesians on the roles of husbands, wives, children, and parents. I’ve listened to all and really learned a lot about many things, namely the great importance that God places on families. I encourage you to head on over there and download a message, or 10. Yes, yes, that’s some clicking and downloading and waiting, but it’ll be worth it, I promise! The truth of God’s word never changes, and therefore even though this was preached a while back, everything that’s said is just as relevant and needed today, even more so in a world where the family is under deadly assault. We don’t live in a society that encourages the and supports the nuclear family. In fact, the fact that we have to call it a “nuclear family” implies something in and of itself. Short-lived marriages and children born out of wedlock are no longer taboo but the norm. This to say that there are going to continue to be many forms of evidence that will begin and have already begun to display how these trends have impacted children, to their detriment and to the fracturing of society as a whole. Anyways, listen on and feel free to comment, and if possible, I’ll try to answer and relevant questions or thoughts.

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Is This All That There Is?

15 Sep

Is this all that there is? Birth. Life. Work. Death. Fun. Laughter. Food. Drink. Is life just a series of cyclical moments where people all experience the same things that have been happening since the beginning of time? If this is all there is, then the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes is right: (Chapter 1: 1-11)

1The words of the Preacher,[a] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity[b] of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens[c] to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11There is no remembrance of former things,[d]
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things[e] yet to be
among those who come after.

Read on and you will find that this book has a very depressing message. If life under the sun is all that there is, then life is vain. In other words, if life without God is all there is, then life really is hopeless. If all that we work for, all that we live for, and all that we plan for is meant to fulfill us here and now, then there is very little hope. The answer to the questions he poses, and the solution to this problem are not found in the book of Ecclesiastes itself, but rather in the rest of the pages of Scripture. We are made to live for something more than this life alone. The searching and longing for fulfilment that each person feels and strives after cannot be found in anything that this life has to offer. Not in a person, a family, a child, a job- and if you don’t believe this, it really is just a matter of time (and an honest assessment of yourself) before you experience that sense that once you’ve gone after that thing you hoped would satisfy your craving for meaning and purpose, it just wasn’t what you’d thought it would be.

Do you have those very questions? Do you ask yourself, “Is this all that there is? Once I die, will that be it?”. Do you seek after happiness and satisfaction in a thousand different things that never fulfill your longing to find meaning and purpose? This past week, I’ve been listening to a sermon series by Tullian Tchividjian. He is the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and happens to be the grandson of Billy Graham. I can’t encourage you enough to listen or watch this series  called “Life Without God” and hear him unpack the philosophical questions and truth found in this little but powerful book of the Bible. The Bible forces us to ask ourselves difficult questions, but does not leave helpless, and this series is a great start to thinking through these issues and finding those answers.

 

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He Makes All Things New

16 Aug

“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.”

Isaiah 43:18-19

This past weekend, I got to witness a miracle first hand. My mother and father-in-law, who had been divorced for almost 15 years, were remarried in front of family and friends at a celebration held on Saturday. It is not common to see two people who have been apart for many years come back together and once again take vows of marriage. This is no “fairytale” ending to a sad story. No, it is a true miracle to see how lives that were broken by sin, are now experiencing the restoration and forgiveness and joy that comes as a result of knowing Christ Jesus as Saviour and Lord. The point of all that has happened is not that they can now experience romantic love once again, but the point is that God has and continues to showcase His awesome power to take things that are broken and to transform them. He gets all the glory because He has brought many people to know Him in spite of all the sadness and suffering that has transpired. He used the pain of the events that took place in and as a result of the divorce to cause Sylvie and Younan to realize their sin and turn to Him for salvation. Being in a right relationship with God is the greatest need of the human soul that is marred by sin, so watching this weekend’s wedding was a testimony not to the fleeting and infinitely inferior expression of romantic love, but of God’s ability to redeem and restore people to himself.

I’ll explain what I mean. Why is it that I can say that this is not just a nice story of how two people who went through deep relational strife simply moved forward and put the past behind them? It is because I know what has transpired in the lives of both my mother-in-law and my father-in-law. Sylvie came to know the Lord as a result of the painful divorce. She was invited to a church by a friend and as a result of hearing the Gospel, she became a believer. For years she prayed for the salvation of her (then) ex-husband. For years there was no change or response in him and his attitude towards the Lord. But, because of God’s work in her life, enabling her to understand the great truth of the Gospel that God saved her through Jesus’ death for her sins, she was able to genuinely forgive. Her life exemplified the kind of forgiveness that a person can show as a result of the forgiveness they have received from God. Sylvie was an example to her children of patience, kindness, and love. She did not hold on to bitterness or resentment but showed Christ’s love in all she did. By God’s grace, after years of prayer Younan also came to know Jesus as his Saviour.

In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, God says to His unfaithful people Israel that in turning from their sin and seeking Him for forgivness, He forgets the former things and does a new work of bringing life to those that are dead in their sins. This is the Gospel truth. God takes the lives of sinners who are dead in their sin and transforms them. Not because they are good or seek after Him or do good things to be accepted. God loves people IN SPITE of their sin. In turning away from your old sinful ways and having faith that God, because of His son Jesus’ death on the cross on your behalf, loves you and forgives you and will do a new thing by bringing life to your dead heart, you are transformed.

This weekend’s wedding was a picture of how God loves us and forgives us and transforms us because of the Gospel. This world is broken by sin. Each person is broken by sin. We have all failed to keep God’s law, and as the book of Romans says, we all fall short of God’s glory and therefore the wages of our sin is death. Not just temporal physical death, but eternal death and separation from God. Therefore, our greatest need is to be reconciled with God and brought into a right relationship with Him. I hope that for those reading, you will see how even a small event like the wedding that took place this weekend, is another example of God’s goodness towards people who don’t deserve it, and in seeing this, you would also turn to God to know Him, to know the forgiveness of your sins, and to know the hope and reality that only through Him are all things made new and restored.

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Back from a Blogging Hiatus

9 Aug

Sooo, apparently having a baby makes it hard to keep up with a blog. My timing was off! I started with big plans and saw my blog begin to kind of take off, and then simply hit the ground. Hard. But now, I hope to get this back up and running and add a post once a week, if not more.

Many good things have happened in life since I last wrote! As mentioned, I did have a baby- Emma Ailina Younan. She is almost 9 months old, and I can just say that truly, every day has been a blessing and a joy. God is so good and He is amazingly powerful. To think that this little life wasn’t around a little while back, and now there is a high-pitched, dog food eating (ok not eating but attempting to eat), busy 22-pound package of fun is beyond me. And, another great thing? Serge & I just celebrated our 2nd anniversary just a few days ago! Wow time flies. And the more it flies, the more I’m thinking about how I don’t always use my time the way I want to or should. Which is why I decided that even if I hadn’t posted in quite a while, I’d revive my blog. Even if I can’t keep it up the way I wish I would, I want to still use this opportunity to do what I’d originally intended which is share resources, stories, Bible lessons, that I hope others can benefit from.

To get things started off, I was on a favorite site of mine called GirlTalk and was watching a wonderful video from Desiring God Live with an interview of Nancy Guthrie, a woman who lost two small children to a rare disorder called Zellweger Syndrome. I won’t explain more because it’s worth listening to her story as she tells it, but I’ll just say that her wisdom on suffering and God’s sovereignty was powerful. I can’t imagine the pain and difficulty of loosing one child, let alone two. And yet, as Nancy shares, God is good in all He does, and he uses even the deepest and greatest pains for His good purposes.

Feel free to comment or share thoughts on the video.

Until next post!

Overcoming Trials

17 Sep

I have gotten to know the book of James in a special way over the past two years. In my grade 11 English class, we studied it in depth and just as an aside before I get in to the main focus of this post, we can never exhaust our study of God’s word! There are gems to be mined and I was so encouraged that in teaching it for the second time this past year, there were still new things to learn.

One simple point I want to share from lessons in James is his teaching on trials. Trials are defined as troubles, or something that breaks the pattern of peace, comfort, joy, and happiness in someone’s life. James tells his readers that we are to be joyful when we face trials. James 1:2-4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing”.

Joyful? Does James really expect us to rejoice when we suffer or go through some painful experience? That is not the natural human response. We would rather anything than be downcast or go through a difficult time. When I am suffering, my response is often not the one James calls for believers to have. In fact, I am usually depressed, disheartened, and anxious. So, how is it and why is it that he calls believers to be joyful? How can we obey this command to “count it all joy” (note the word all) and in doing so bring God the glory he deserves?

For one, as a Christian we need to use our minds and think, rather than be subject to our feelings and emotions. Our tendency is to look to our situation rather than at God and his character and mighty deeds. We can quickly forget who he is in light of our difficulties, and just like Peter who initially kept his eyes fixed on Jesus while walking on the water in the midst of a terrible storm, begin to look at the waves and sink under the pressure. God’s word is full of examples of his faithfulness to his people and his sovereign control over all things. We need to read his word and recall to mind WHO God is so that rather than believing that our situation is outside of his control, we can put ourselves in the right place and trust in him who sees all things and works them together for our good.

Why should we be joyful? Is it not easier to resign ourselves to anger or resent God for allowing us to go through pain? The interesting and thing James says about trials is that they are for the “testing of our faith”. Why does God allow our faith to be tested? A test determines what someone or something is really made of. Is it not easy to make a claim to something, yet without it being tested, have no proof of the truth? Someone might claim to be an excellent basketball player, NBA quality even, and until you place them in a game situation and see what they’re made of, there’s no way of proving the truth behind their assertions. The same goes for those who claim to be Christians. The book of James addresses the characteristics of genuine saving faith, and one of the tests he puts forth to determine whether or not someone is truly a believer is the test of trials and a person’s response to them. A trial has a unique way of weaning the true from the false. For a believer, the right response when faced with a difficulty will be to turn to God and seek his wisdom and guidance. A believer will rely on God’s strength and his promises through times of difficulty. A believer is someone who will not be put off or turn away from God and blame him or become resentful because of their trial. In the believer’s response to trials, God receives much glory because we are able to exhibit the truth that knowing God and having him is more to be treasured than peace and security in our circumstances. King David said in Psalm 63:3, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you”. Only those who truly know the joy of knowing God as “better than life” will be able to rejoice in their trials because he is more precious than all the false assurances of comfort and ease.

So ask yourself when you go through a trial, “What is my response to the difficulty God brings in my life? Do I turn to him or turn away?” A trial can reveal much about who you are. If you are a believer that is struggling to have a joyful response, read his word, remember who God is, and ask for wisdom because he will give it generously as James goes on to say in chapter 1. And for those who aren’t, King David’s words are still true regardless of what you believe. Knowing God is better than life itself, and I pray that you will come to see that true peace and joy that is lasting comes only from him.

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