If you know Jesus, you have a story to tell! I am assisting in hosting a training event at my home church on Wednesday April 26th 6-9pm. This is a 3 hour training hosted at Forest Grove Community Church with E3 ministry leader Sean Cruickshank. For more details, visit this link!
Journey to Restoration is the personal website for Jodi Kozan where she shares recommended resources, speaker information, blogging and contact information.
2024 came and went. I am choosing to hold onto hope as the year brought many blessings and also a heaping dose of pain and grief as well. How about you? It seems to be how life goes, heh? Some years, there is more joy to be found If we could plan out life perfectly on our own terms, we would naturally go for less pain and suffering, right? But we can’t. If you struggle with any ounce of perfectionism tendencies (which I admit, I do), we can be thrown for a loop when life doesn’t go as we had first hoped. Through it all, I am remembering to count my blessings. I pray you can too.
It is with heavy hearts, my family announces the passing of my dad Richard. Known to my kids and grandkids as “Boppa”, “Bop”, or “Boppy”, we both grieve and believe by faith we will be reunited once more. Who knew but God that when I sat down to help write my dad’s memoir with him 4 years ago during the pandemic, I’d be helping our family plan his funeral this week?
Grateful a sister in Christ reached out yesterday and asked if I was going (to the WJOF Conference), and a half hour before the event started, I said yes. I texted back asking if I could sit by her and she greeted me at the door and introduced me to her group. One of the women said “I hear you were her mentor for a time, how long have you been a mentor”?... It was a joy to see my former mentee thriving in her relationships, stepping out in faith in leadership and embarking on a faith adventure that is in line with her unique calling. I recognize the hand of God on her life and I consider it such an honour to have played one small part in fanning the flame in her heart to press into God’s plan for her life.
I have pondered lots about heaven since I was a little girl. Been reading and reflecting on it more so this past decade. No doubt we experience a little bit of heaven on earth now as well as witness or experience a little bit of "hell" too. It's fascinating learning what various cultural or religious perspectives are on this topic throughout the ages. For me? Christ Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. I have experienced too many "resurrection stories" of the soul to believe otherwise.
Seeking to be in His presence more and more has helped me maneuver some pretty life altering situations. Grateful for the imagery we find in nature to point us to the truths we find in God’s word. The Ocean speaks to this. It “mirrors God’s love- deep and endless.”
Only by the grace of God can I say with full confidence: “My story is His story”. One that reflects His story of Creation, the Fall, and focusing on His Redemption story in my life and the ongoing work of Restoration in Jesus name. This year, I am pumped to link arms with Women’s Journey of Faith to offer the Faith Stories workshop!: Since the organization officially began with our first conference in September 2000, my most rewarding times in leadership has been sharing testimony myself, hearing testimonies from our speakers, our team and the women in our community.
No wonder I’m drawn to palm trees! It’s not just the vacay vibe my Minnesota/ Saskatchewan prairie girl craves, it’s much deeper than that. In my faith tradition, palm leaves symbolize victory (along with peace/ wholeness & eternal life.) I waved them in Sunday school on Palm Sunday as a little girl without knowing fully what it meant- but it was fun to jump around and have fun!
2024? Like it or not, we are here. I say, out with the old and in with the new! What do I mean by that? It’s not just new years resolutions that we more often than not fail to keep . No. I am digging more into the root meaning of the scripture found in Isaiah 43:19.
They say art is both objective and subjective. Objectively, you can look at a piece of art and state the facts: The objects in it, the colours, texture or medium used to create the art. Subjectively, one can read into an art piece given the emotions it evokes or in my case, the prophetic insight it conveys deep within.
The war in Isreal is heartbreaking.🇮🇱🙏 With all that’s going on in the world, the pain, the suffering, the wars, divisions…There is a verse in the Bible that has stood out to me these past few years as a reminder of the gift of lament. “. . . Teach your daughters how to wail; teach one another a lament.” — Jeremiah 9:20 If I hadn’t learned the biblical gift of lament yet, my soul would be tormented by the devastation. The images. The what ifs. The cognitive dissonance with what should be to what is.
2024 came and went. I am choosing to hold onto hope as the year brought many blessings and also a heaping dose of pain and grief as well. How about you? It seems to be how life goes, heh? Some years, there is more joy to be found If we could plan out life perfectly on our own terms, we would naturally go for less pain and suffering, right? But we can’t. If you struggle with any ounce of perfectionism tendencies (which I admit, I do), we can be thrown for a loop when life doesn’t go as we had first hoped. Through it all, I am remembering to count my blessings. I pray you can too.