Answered Prayer | Laurie Coombs

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Sometimes It’s Just Hard

Posted on: November 13th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

I was following Jesus into the unknown––into my scary places. Places I did not want to go. He was calling me to walk on the water with Him––to do things I did not want to do––but I knew those very things would bring me to the place He intended, a place of blessing. Still, I was scared. It was hard, laying myself down like that. Ridiculously hard. I knew my God. I knew who He is. I knew His heart toward me. And I knew where I’d end up if I followed, but what I did not know is what that narrow rocky road would look like along the way, and quite honestly that scared me. “I feel like I’m falling apart,” I wrote in my prayer journal, sometime during this season. “[The girls and I] have been sick, my emotions are all over the board, I feel weighed down by…

Watch “Heaven: A New Message from Billy Graham!”

Posted on: November 6th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” – Isaiah 40:9 “Heaven” has been released! The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has done an incredible job with this powerful, thirty minute message, and I wanted to take a moment to share it with you. Quite honestly, I am still humbled to have been a part of this project. It’s unbelievable, really. Billy Graham has been an inspiration to me in my faith, as he has been to millions of others, since my early days as a new Christian. I remember reading his book, The Journey: Living by Faith in an Uncertain World (affiliate link), just about one year after coming to Christ. I was looking for answers, trying to figure out how to do…

A Story of Hope

Posted on: October 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

My family and I attend a church here in Reno called Life Church. It’s an amazing church full of people sold out for Jesus. And I love that! Our pastors have been teaching a series on hope, using the recently release book The Hope Quotient by Ray Johnston. Shortly before the series began, my pastor and I had spoken to one another about bringing my story to our church. And after a while, he asked if I’d be willing to film a short video to be used during this series to illustrate the truth that hope can be found on the other side of tragedy. To show that God does, in fact, work all things for good for those who know and love Him. I’m sharing that video here with you today, and I pray God uses it as He intends to bring greater perspective and hope and light to those who need it. Laurie…

The “Parable” of the Lost Keys

Posted on: October 20th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

Jesus often taught through stories. He spoke in parables––stories intended to teach a spiritual truth––to the crowds gathered to see Him. Scripture tells us that Jesus “told them many things in parables” (Matthew 13:13). All throughout the gospels, we read words like, “He put another parable before them… He told them another parable….” (Matthew 13:24, 33). While He walked the earth, Jesus frequently illustrated truth through the use of story, but I don’t think God’s use of story ended with Jesus’ ascent to Heaven. I believe God continues to speak through story today. Now of course, the Word of God is complete––nothing can be added or taken away from it. It’s inspired by God, and so all things are not only subject to it but must be measured by it. But I do believe Jesus still whispers truth––truth confirmed by scripture––through the stories of our lives. A Little Background My girlfriend…

All is Grace

Posted on: August 21st, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

It’s easy to see the grace of God and be thankful for it in all that is good in our lives. But can we recognize His grace and be thankful in our trials? In the midst of uncertainty and pain? Can we see that everything––the good, the bad, and the ugly––all of it, is grace? Like many of you, my story is not one I would have chosen for myself. For years, I found it difficult to embrace the life I found my self living. But over the course of the last few years, God has opened my eyes to see the thread of grace He had been weaving throughout each and every moment of my life from the beginning. Grace, it turns out, was there all along––through the good and the bad. Grace was there, guiding me throughout my childhood. Grace was there, strengthening me through my parents’ divorce….

{Fight for Faith} Sanctified Stubbornness

Posted on: July 9th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

If you’re anything like me, your faith is not static. You may have times of great faith––faith so strong you’re absolutely convinced your unwavering trust in Jesus will quite literally move mountains. But oftentimes, that very faith seems to diminish over time. It goes out from you, like the air of an untied balloon when let go. Seasons of great faith are simply amazing, and I always think I ought to stay there. I seem to measure my level of Christian-success by how audacious my faith is, but I’m starting to think I have it all wrong. Downswings of our faith can be frustrating, alarming even, but I’m not entirely convinced these challenging seasons are a bad thing. I think we’re all bound to experience moments of failed faith. Times when we seem to be holding on by a thread. When we feel weak and discouraged by our lack of faith. But ultimately, every challenge, every…

Do We Need to Rid Ourselves of Our Weaknesses?

Posted on: June 18th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

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I’m a starter. When called to something, I jump on it and get the ball rolling. But I have to admit, I’m not very good at finishing. That’s not to say that I don’t finish, but for me, finishing what I start does not come without a fight. All I kept thinking during those last few weeks finishing my manuscript was, “I want to quit! I want to quit!! I want to quit!!!” I knew I wouldn’t let myself quit, but I wanted to. I wanted to give up the fight. I wanted to take the easy road. I wanted to sit myself down in front of the TV or read a book or do just about anything other than write––all things I hadn’t done for months. But I was determined to finish even though it took every bit of will I had and a strength that truly was not my own. A…

A Gideon Moment

Posted on: June 11th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

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I’m back! Thanks for hanging in there with me while I took some time off to finish my manuscript. Here’s a post about the last few months. I hope you enjoy! Have you ever had a Gideon moment with God? You know. The kind where He makes the very thing He’s called you to increasingly impossible? The kind where He just keeps putting more and more on your plate as a deadline approaches? The kind where time is taken away when you actually need more of it, not less? I have. In fact, this is precisely what’s been going on in my life over the last few months as I’ve worked to finish my manuscript. If you’re not familiar with the story of Gideon, let me fill you in a bit. Gideon was commissioned by God to lead Israel into battle against the Midianites, the Amalekites, and “all the people of the East.” Israel was armed…

Letters of Hope #3

Posted on: May 6th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

With permission, I’ve decided to anonymously share some of the correspondence I’ve had with readers about their struggles with anxiety and/or depression over the coming weeks. I think some of you may be able to relate with these individuals who are currently battling fear and darkness, and it is my hope that you find comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in this. And I also thought my responses may be of some use to you as well. To those readers who aren’t struggling in this area, I’d like to encourage you to hang in there with me for a few more weeks! I’ll be back writing as I had before long. Thank you for patiently waiting this topic out! I am sitting at work, at my desk, in tears over your article on depression/anxiety. I’ve been experiencing this for some time now and I just started going to a…

When Anxiety and Depression Threaten to Pull You Under

Posted on: March 19th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 21 Comments

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It occurred to me the other day that I haven’t written much about anxiety and depression. If you’ve read some of my early posts, you know that I experienced severe anxiety and depression about five years back, which was ultimately what God used to bring me to Christ. Prior to this, I had been able to get through everything on my own, but I couldn’t seem to get myself out of this one. Honestly, I think God needed to present something to me that I had absolutely no control over for me to finally turn to Him. And though I would never want to return to this terrible place, I am thankful that God did what was necessary to bring me to Himself. But it was such a horrible, dark place to be, and I didn’t know any other person who had been through what I was experiencing, which made…