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Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. —Ephesians 4:29 "I hate you!" "Why do you have be that way? You're awful." "All you'll ever be is someone who drinks too much!" "She's good for nothing." Have you ever heard such phrases coming from the mouths of people who should be loving one another? I have. And it broke my heart. At one point, I had to excuse myself from the room and go release the pain. Through...
Of course! I have spent enough time looking at the unfavorable circumstances surrounding me. It seemed that I needed the reminder to look at who God is, instead of hyper-focusing on the dark and hard circumstances my family was walking through. Since joining Indian Life Ministries, I have been intentional as I read the books that we offer. They were all new to me, and I'm an avid reader, so it made perfect sense to know more about the encouraging testimonies and books that we...
When I was walking into our local grocery store the other day, a man was approaching the entrance from the opposite direction. Seeing him look towards the parking lot, I did the same. A woman had parked in the handicapped parking stall and was exiting her vehicle. Thinking nothing of it, I looked away and continued into the store. The man however, must have thought something different, because he said, "She sure doesn't look like she needs to park there!" I wasn't sure I heard...
Spring is in the air in our little home community in central Alberta. Snow is melting, and everywhere you look, signs of seasons past have left their mark. Roads are filled with the leftover signs of snow-gravel. Brown grass is now exposing the "sleep" of winter, just waiting for spring showers and signs of new life-green grass and leafy buds on trees. Children are anxious to get out their bikes and are willing to do so, donning gloves to protect their fingers against the...
From July 17 to 21, Todd and Krystal, the ILM director team, had planned to travel some distance to help facilitate a Vacation Bible School. Two weeks before the event both Todd and Krystal started to feel unsettled about attending. This feeling didn't make sense, though. Details were solidified. The event had been advertised locally. A team of volunteers had booked the time to attend. And most importantly, the children knew they were coming. So why, two weeks prior to the...
If you haven't heard the news yet, we're excited to announce that we at Indian Life we are working on putting together a 365-day devotional! The devotional will be split into three volumes to make it more accessible. It will include submissions from 42 indigenous followers of Jesus, who are from 15 indigenous nations, 30 indigenous communities, 8 provinces and 4 states! Can you believe it! Wow! We are so excited! We ask for prayer regarding the development of this devotional....
I've got this pineapple water bottle. The pineapple itself is yellow, with the lid and straw being green. It's really nothing special. I bought it from the dollar store when all the summer stuff started coming out. I think I was just so tired of winter and so eager for spring and summer, that once I saw it, I thought I could somehow will all of the snow to melt. At least that's what I pictured. During this season of my life, I work part time at a preschool in the mornings....
In less than a month our baby boy will be 18, and then in another three months, he will be graduated from high school and off to a polytechnic school in Calgary, Alb. It's hard to believe he was a delicate four pounds when he was born. I was discharged from the hospital before he was. Leaving him there while I went home was the hardest thing I had ever done in my life at that stage. His tiny foot was smaller than my pointer finger. I remember taking a picture of his first litt...
Have you ever noticed that we can be encouraged by someone's words at one moment, and then utterly discouraged the next? One parent may celebrate with a child who comes home with an 80 percent on a test. However, the other parent may ask what happened to the remaining 20. Your boss may discipline you for the way you handled a customer, but a co-worker may empathize with you over how hard the customer was. One teacher may point out all of the things a student is doing wrong, wh...
Prescription eyeglasses A wedding ring Nose ring Dog tags These are four items from our family that now call the bottom of Buffalo Lake, Alberta home. For the last 14 years, our family has headed out with special friends to go camping each year. This is a special time for us, and there isn't much, if anything, that gets in the way of these plans. Our kids have grown up at the campsite. They've fallen asleep under the stars, surrounded by the sounds of nature and a crackling ca...
We don't know about you, but we feel like 2021 has been a tad of a whirlwind. We accepted our roles with Indian Life Ministries just over a year ago! And COVID-19 has certainly kept us on our toes almost every day. But, we have been so blessed and are so thankful. Now that we have been with Indian Life for a full year, it doesn't feel like our learning curve is so very straight up. Instead of straight up, perhaps the angle of the line is more at a 45 degree, not 90. We've...
Here's the thing about dreams. I think that some people need to learn to dream. Especially after they have been taught not to. For six years, our family lived under the assumption that we would be leaving the country and moving to a developing one, literally around the world. Our children were young when we started the process to move. But when one year turned into two and then three, we saw them starting to withdraw. We saw them change. Though once they were free, fun loving...
Indian Life Ministries is excited to announce that in the upcoming few months, we get to be a part of two events! Native Youth Conference Over the May long-weekend (May 19–22), at Camp Nakamun Alberta, NYC (Native Youth Conference) is back! With special musical guests, exciting speakers and unique activities, we are thrilled to get to help plan and roll-out events like this that will help us feel young again. Even if at least only for the weekend. If you are a youth (aged 1...
I've been thinking a lot about forgiveness lately. The kind of forgiveness that feels like, if I extend it, and choose to consider actually forgiving, that I am the one who is losing. You know the kind of forgiveness I'm talking about, right? The kind where you've been hurt so deeply, on such a core level, that you can't possibly consider forgiving the other person? The kind that causes a physical ache in your heart and is accompanied by anger when the ache subsides. The kind...
