Devotions (Page 4)

On Sunday, we covered a really powerful lesson in Rapha, our Gr 4-6 class at Kingdom Kids, which was “God can do the impossible”. That’s a tall order. Impossible is impossible, right? One thing I loved about this lesson was that it wasn’t just theory. We (mostly Joe Chong) brought the kids into service to hear Amanda’s testimony about her journey to pregnancy. I shared about my experience getting into university and Joe shared about a seriously/terminally ill kid with…

This past Sunday we got to hear a message from Jon & Gabby (Leaders of Peace House in Greece) and a testimony from Steven & Amanda (members of the LifeSpring family). One of the themes I picked up from both the message and the testimony was the theme of Grace. Jon & Gabby shared their personal testimonies of how God met them in their darkness and brought them out into His wonderful light. They shared about how the grace of…

We had the privilege of having Jon and Gabby Tirla as our speakers on Sunday. As you may know, this past October, a team of five people from LifeSpring had an opportunity to go on a missions trip to Greece. As part of that time, we ran a trauma care workshop out of a centre called Peace House. Peace House is a short walk from the refugee camp on Lesbos island. Jon and Gabby are the leaders of the ministry at…

Dear LifeSpring Family, In the past two weeks, God has brought Zephaniah 3:17 (ESV) to my attention: The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. God reminded me of the promises and truths in this verse, and I was also able to use it to encourage friends on two occasions. As we…

It was so special to hear Abby and Elise’s testimonies and see them get baptized this past Sunday! I had grown up with both of them in the church and, in the years leading up to their baptisms, had gotten to see different parts of their journey and how they led up to that moment. One of the things that stood out from what they shared was how they found safe space in the church. You can hear their testimonies…

On Sunday we got to celebrate the baptisms of Abby & Elise. After hearing their public declaration of faith and their confession and commitment to following Jesus Christ, I realized that they had encountered a true and living God. Their testimonies were filled with stories of encounters with the unfailing love of God. Whether it was in the mundane or the hard times, the love of God had impacted them to the point of making a public declaration of faith.…

Sometimes, life gets busy. We can get so caught up and overwhelmed with work, school, life, and even serving God that we lose sight of God. However, Jesus repeatedly invites us in our busyness to come to Him and rest. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke…

Last Sunday, I had an opportunity to visit Mississauga LifeSpring with Ada and her family to share about our mission trip to Greece. I always enjoy visiting MLCF; along with the much shorter commute, getting a chance to see family friends and worship with the LifeSpring family at MLCF is great. One thing I always appreciate when I visit is the unity at LifeSpring, and the same sense of the Holy Spirit at both Toronto and Mississauga sites. Though we…

We had the privilege of having Samuel Lai, deacon of Wildfire, speak to our church family this past Sunday. Sam taught about being present in the present. We often look back and long for ‘the good old days’ or we look to the future in hopes of better days. But in doing so, we miss the blessings right in front of us. For anyone who has a teenage child and up, we can all truly relate. Every time I see…

Dear LifeSpring Family, Dorothy and I recently returned from our longest mission trip to Thailand, which lasted just over a month. In our 20 years of service there, we had never stayed for more than two weeks at a time. This extended trip allowed us to serve alongside a family that included three children; aged 15, 13, and 10. We anticipated an interesting and challenging experience given the diverse age range of our team. During this time, the Lord Jesus…

In Joshua 22; the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar by the Jordan River. This was right after the promised land had been divided up between the tribes of the Israelites and they were settling in the land. Readers could assume, like the Israelites did, that those tribes had forgotten the nation’s covenant with God, even after all that they had gone through in their journey through the desert. What the Israelite leaders found out…

Last Sunday, I had a chance along with our missions team to share about our trip to Greece last October. Our team had the opportunity to travel to Lesbos, Greece to work with a ministry there that was serving the refugee community on the island. As I shared in September, Lesbos island is at the heart of the ongoing refugee situation in Europe. Since the beginning of the year, over 3000 refugees have landed on the island, with a large…