Blog

FJ 10: Emily Wierenga: Finding Joy in Losing Yourself

June 15, 2016 • 9 Comments

Finding Joy is a podcast dedicated to bringing you encouragement and inspiration in all of life’s moments — the good, bad and everything in-between.

I can hardly believe it but today the Finding Joy podcast celebrates its 10th episode! YAY! Thanks so much for tuning in and for all of your support, dear readers. I hope as the podcast grows that we all continue to grow along with it — stronger and more united in Christ. To celebrate the 10th episode, I’m giving something away to one lucky listener. All you have to do is head over to iTunes and leave a review by June 20. Then I’ll randomly select a winner. It’s that easy!

Now … onto today’s episode! Today’s guest is Christian author and speaker Emily Wierenga. Emily lives in a small Dutch hamlet in Canada and is a wife and mom to three kiddos. She’s also the writer of several books, including her most recent, Making It Home. Two years ago Emily went on a blogger’s trip with World Help to Uganda, where she fell in love with the people of Africa. Shortly after her trip she founded a non-profit called The Lulu Tree, where her team works to prevent tomorrow’s orphans by equipping today’s mothers.

In this episode, Emily and I talk about:

Her battle with anorexia and infertility.
How sometimes you have to lose yourself in order to discover who you really are.
The release of her newest book, Making It Home.
Why she made the hard decision to take a break from blogging.

Emily encourages us to confront our demons, and let go of fear and control in exchange for the freedom and fullness Christ offers us. Read More

Purple Power Smoothie Bowls

June 13, 2016 • 33 Comments

Turn breakfast into a protein-packed work of art with these creamy, dreamy and healthy Purple Power Smoothie Bowls — ready in just a few minutes!

I ran across the apartment like a giddy schoolgirl, shouting to my husband, “Look! Look! Look at how pretty they are!” In my hands were two servings of these purple power smoothie bowls, which I’d spent the last hour making, decorating and photographing. “I wondered what you were doing over there,” my husband said jokingly. I looked at the clock, unaware I’d spent an hour developing and capturing this recipe. Somewhere between the actual making and styling of the smoothie bowls, I lost track of time.

Time is irrelevant when you’re living in the moment and doing something you love.

No one was paying me to make this recipe. There was no deadline or project guidelines. For the first time in a long time, it was just me and the food, and I was loving every minute of it. Do you have a hobby that feels like that for you? What brings you joy? What makes you lose track of time and truly live in the moment?

I have a theory, and it’s that we as a culture spend too much time looking at the clock just waiting for time to pass. We spend our workdays waiting for 5 p.m. to roll around. We spend our work weeks waiting for Friday night. We spend our weekends waiting for the rat race to start all over again. Instead of living in the moment and being present, we’re always looking ahead. Always thinking about what’s next.

I wonder what would happen if we chose to invest ourselves in every minute of every day the way I invested myself into making these smoothie bowls. Maybe you’re not working your dream job. Maybe you’re not exactly where you want to be right now. But God has you there for a reason, and there’s beauty to unearth wherever you are.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

As Far As the East is From the West

June 10, 2016 • 1 Comment

I don’t have a long post for you today, just a verse to share and three words to remind you: You. Are. Forgiven. Happy Friday, friends!

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. {Psalm 103:12}

A Prayer for Confidence

June 8, 2016 • 7 Comments

I originally wrote this blog post for iBelieve.com, where it was published a few weeks ago. View the post on iBelieve here.

The popular girls snickered as I walked by their table in the cafeteria. I could hear whispers of words like “brace face,” “twig” and “smarty pants,” but I just held on to my tray of lukewarm Papa John’s pizza and chocolate milk and kept moving.

Back in junior high, I was a thin, book nerd and band geek with glasses, braces and what I like to call frizzly hair (both curly and frizzy). I was also on the swim, track and cross-country teams, but people seemed to pay less attention to the fact that I was little and smart.

Junior high is hard for a lot of people, but by the grace of God, the words, thoughts and opinions of others didn’t faze me. I had confidence – not just in myself but in the things I was passionate about. I knew I was loved by my parents, family members and most importantly, Jesus. That was all that mattered.

I don’t know when, where, why or how it happened, but somewhere between my junior high and high school years, that strong, simple confidence began to fade away. The world as I knew it grew bigger. The voices of my peers became louder. And competition felt more intense.

Without a mature enough faith to stand on, I started to doubt what I had always thought about myself. What if what other people say about me is really true? I wondered. What if all I am is a skinny, dorky, not-that-pretty girl? And … what if that’s all I’ll ever be?

True Confidence is Found in Christ

Maybe you can relate to these kinds of doubts and lack of self-assurance. Somewhere along the way, you stopped relying on what Jesus said about you and started looking to what the world said. Somewhere along the way, you stopped seeing yourself as a beloved daughter of the King and started seeing yourself as a woman that’s too opinionated. Too loud. Too fat. Too skinny. Too pale. Too smart. Too different. Too silly. Too _____ (you fill in the blank).

The truth is we aren’t born with confidence. If you really think about it, we pretty much come into this world unsure of anything. Nothing is definite; nothing is guaranteed. Confidence is uncertain. Until we encounter the love of Jesus, that is.

As a child I had encountered the love of Jesus and that perfect love empowered me to be strong and confident. I knew what it meant to be safe in His arms. I knew who I was in Him. But like I said before, somewhere along the way I forgot about that encounter. I forgot about the truths that had set me free. And I tried to find that confidence elsewhere.Read More

Easy Homemade Guacamole + Making Time to Celebrate the Little Things in Life

May 31, 2016 • 15 Comments

If you ask me, I think we need to give ourselves more reasons to celebrate in life. Parties shouldn’t just be reserved for holidays like Cinco de Mayo and Memorial Day. They should be a regular thing. Don’t you think?

Growing up, I had the privilege of getting together with family every. Single. Sunday. After church, we’d all drive out to gramma’s for one big family party. Sometimes we’d celebrate birthdays or other exciting life happenings, but oftentimes we would just celebrate Jesus, life and each other. It wasn’t anything too crazy. It was actually quite simple. But it made life even sweeter.

Now that I’m older and moved away from gramma’s, we don’t get together as often as we used to. But no matter where Mr. MLS and I move, we’ve tried to carry that tradition of celebration with us wherever we go. Because life is too short not to celebrate all of the wonderful things we have, no doubt thanks to Christ: salvation, love, beauty, wonder, hope, joy and peace. Can I get an amen?

One of the ways we try to celebrate life and each other on a regular basis is by planning a date night every week. (It doesn’t matter what night it falls on as long as it happens.) We take turns making plans and get dressed up and talk about life, reminisce old times and dream of the future. Sometimes we go to parks; sometimes we go speed racing; sometimes we watch a movie; but we always, always, always share a meal together and give thanks to God.

Sweet Potato Falafel Burgers

May 23, 2016 • 38 Comments

If you’re craving a veggie burger, you can’t go wrong with these insanely delicious Sweet Potato Falafel Burgers. They’re not just healthy. They’re melt-in-your-mouth fantastic.

You want to know a secret? The first time I made sweet potato burgers, they were a total flop. One of my friends was visiting me during a college weekend break, and she had recently gone vegan. So, I thought it would be nice to make sweet potato burgers. They were so messy they fell apart, and we were so distracted talking to each other that one of the sides slightly burned. (GASP) What tragedy.

I can assure you if those burgers were a 2 on a scale of 1-5, these are definitely at least a 4.99! 😉 After years of experimenting, this sweet potato falafel burger recipe is my veggie burger pride and joy. Hopefully I’m not setting your expectations too high here, but either way I think you’ll be delighted when you make these at home.

The key to a great sweet potato burger is:
1) Not overcooking the potato.
2) Making sure you have the right ratio of ingredients to hold it all together.
3) Refrigerating the patty mixture before cooking.

You do those three things and you’re well on your way to sweet potato burger bliss. Read More