True North Missionaries Journal

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under the heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.”

– Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8

This beautiful verse affirms me of how perfect the Lords plans are. His timing should never be rushed or forced. Everything is made purposely. The only way we will find peace in our lives is if we believe that whenever something happens it will happen accordingly only in Gods time.

Lord, please grant me a patient heart.

It’s that time of year again, Conference prep is a go. the ONE thing that always boggles my mind is…everytime I run into some sort of problem, some sort of situation…

Why is it that EVERYTIME, things get resolved or answered at the most perfect times? Not just in service, but just the overall timing of just things falling into place can only be from God…

With that said, I really do encourage taking the time at the end of the day to just think and sit about how the day went…trust, there are lessons to learn every single decision we make.

Just a small something.

God, allow me to remember Your presence in everything I do.

Desiderio Domini

The last two weeks have been an amazing experience for me, while sleep has not been high on my agenda for my more than a week vacation, I feel so energized, boosted not by some caffeine overloaded product but by the Holy Spirit.

CFC CANA Weekend, July 12-14, Vancouver

A weekend like no other weekend, probably the best CFC conference I have attended with my partner in life.  Don’t get me wrong, all the CFC Conferences I have attended were amazing, but for only for me in a personal way.  This year’s conference was so affirming for us as a “couple” for Christ.  Before I saw the Miracle at Cana as just a story of where Jesus did His first miracle.  This time I saw many things at Cana, Mary’s personal connection with Christ, her faith in what He will do and Jesus does listen to His mother, even though He is God!  The significance of the miracle at the wedding feast for me speaks volumes.  He chose the wedding feast for a reason, that our marriages are a great celebration and that He and His mother would always be there for us even in our most difficult moments as a couple to turn our water into the finest wine.  The weekend totally affirmed us that God has always the husband and wife in His great plan for humankind and He continues to have this for us through Couples for Christ.  I have never been so affirmed that this is the community my wife and I will serve for the rest of our lives.

CFC-Youth Eastern TNC, Jesus Expo, July 19-21, University of Waterloo

The Lord’s exposition with me started on Thursday when I was hosted by this amazing couple from the area, who has a son with Down Syndrome.  I truly saw Jesus in the way they hosted me and other youths and the amazing chats I had with them.  Their son, even with his disability, had a knack for music, no ordinary music but music from the old days, 40’s-60’s.  His compilation of music from artists I have never heard of was completely astounding.   It just humbled me that he had an appreciation of the better things in life than I did.

I am always blown away by the passion for serving the Lord that our youth have.   When they serve, it’s done out of innocence and purity, I truly can feel they do this because its what they want to do.  I had to force myself to wake myself up each day at 4:45 am so that I could join the service team worship at 5:30.  If the youth can do it, it’s the least I can do for them.  Honestly, it wasn’t easy, I’m physically far from what I used to be.

From the Liveloud, the worships, talks, sharings and until the last praise fest, I saw Jesus everywhere I looked.  I am truly affirmed that the Lord uses the youth to do His work in the most powerful way.  Just look at the Bible, Joshua, Jeremiah, David, Daniel, Joseph and many more.

Thank you Lord!

When my family returned home from the Philippines in May, I knew I was faced with something that I had no motivation to do. Job hunting. Oh dear. Post-grad life. I was fortunate because when I came back from vacation, I hurled into RYC prep that was happening a week away. After RYC, a certain Calgarian flew in to attend my University convocation the week after.

Before I knew it, those two weeks of what felt like an extension to my vacation were over, it was June, and I still had no job. All of my friends told me that it could take weeks –even months to find a job, especially as a new graduate. MV Shout was slowly approaching, and even without funds, the Lord still showered me with the means to go through the love and support of this community.

The search continued, and as conference was getting closer, I started to feel a heaviness in my heart because it seemed like there was no chance of me going. Even with all the offers of support, I knew that choosing not to accept them in obedience to my parents wishes of me finding a job first was the better choice. I kept telling myself “I did attend ILC, and experienced JESUS Expo already, so really, don’t be sad Lara.”

Still, the Lord had something prepared for me that conference weekend. On the Friday of conference, I received a call from a job I applied, asking me to come in for an interview on Monday. Saturday, I was able to spend the morning and afternoon with my parish of St. Patrick’s in celebrating our annual parish picnic. Sunday was spent with family, enjoying some BBQ and watching movies.

I went to the interview on Monday, and about two hours later, I received a call saying that they wanted to hire me. How the Lord works!

I had my own Jesus Expo that weekend. I experienced Mass from Fri-Sun with my parish family of St. Patrick’s. I had “Awake Fair” and “Competitions” at our parish picnic on Saturday. I had my personal “Sessions” and “Workshops” in my prayer time. I even got to have my own mini-Liveloud, courtesy of my Liveloud CD. And of course, a “Victory Party” at my family BBQ.

I held onto this verse during my job hunt, and after ETNC: Jesus Expo, everything fell into place:

God himself will provide you with everything you need, according to His riches, and show you His generosity in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:19

Praise God.

Apart from the Sacraments, what better way to remain in the state of grace than to remain in Mary who is full of grace? She helps us live a consistent life in her Son, full of beauty and integrity. She helps us to love and be like Jesus.

Mary, help of Christians, pray for us.

Totus Tuus

In the story of creation, we can already see how God loves us. He created first all necessary prerequisites in order for a human being to live. The history of salvation is a story of Gods faithfulness and human beings infidelity. It’s a story of God always seeking us out, forgiving and loving despite of our capacity to easily forget his goodness and do our own thing.

The history of salvation is an assurance for the future. God never fails even if we do. He was the God who created, guided, provided and protected us. He was the God who sends his son to reconcile us to Him. He is the same God who takes care of us today and He will be the same God who assures us of a future full of hope. He is a God we can trust.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” – Matthew 6:21

I was reminded that when we discern, it is important to really reflect on what our passions and desires are. More often than not, these are God-given and lead us to holiness. Sometimes these desires pass because we did not do our part to help it grow or because they were earthly, but other times they just never go away. These ones are the ones that point us to God, His love for us, and how we were created to respond to it.

I opened up to a brother about my discernment for FTPW and after sharing with me his thoughts, he told me that each of us are created with a unique thorn that pierces our hearts. This is not something to run away from, but to seek. This is where we can find where our treasure, where we can find our hearts, and where we can find the Lord. It makes a lot of sense because this piercing was designed to unite our suffering with the Christ and give us the conviction to never give up, just like Him.

The thing that pierces my heart are father wounds. These are wounds that have been inflicted by earthly fathers. I have been blessed by the Lord to witness people with those wounds and I can’t help but feel compassion for them. My heart aches. I feel that my God-given mission is to be the best father i can possibly be. To father my children as God fathers me. To love my children and God loves me. And I will never stop doing that.

Tying this into my discernment for FTPW, it affirms me of my belief in this community and its anointing. CFC is about building the Church of the home. I want to be part of that mission for the rest of my life.