Answered Prayer | Laurie Coombs

Archive for the ‘Answered Prayer’ Category

Receiving from God

Posted on: February 6th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

Receiving, Receive, Gift, gifts, gifts from God, faith, by faith, grace, belief, unbelief, striving, will, self will,

Receive healing, God told me. I’ve already given it to you. You simply needed to receive it. “Okay. I receive,” I prayed, trying to will myself to receive. But nothing happened. “I receive your healing,” I prayed with greater passion, “I receive!” Still, nothing. “I don’t get it,” I complained to God. “I’m trying to receive! What am I doing wrong?” For many months, I continued to try to will myself into a position of receiving yet saw no indication that God was moving. I was stumped. I have a hard time receiving, in general. Especially from other people. But I do know how to receive from people. It’s pretty cut and dry. To receive from people, you simply take what’s been given to you. But how do you receive from God? Though I know all we have is ultimately from God, the gifts we are to receive from Him are…

An Intense Season of Growth

Posted on: January 28th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

lessons, learn, spiritual growth, growth, character growth, Jesus, Christ, God, truth, season of growth, refined, refine, surrender, relationship with God, relationship with Jesus, receiving, God's love, love of God, Satan, Spiritual attack, worship, thanksgiving, praise, miracles, fasting, biblical fasting, sabbath, rest, weakness, impossible

God has had me in an intense season of growth over the last month or so. It has been a time of refinement through trial that started the moment I began praying for God to work absolute surrender in me. And though life has been a bit more difficult lately, I have been blessed greatly during this time by the presence of God and by an outpouring of truths He has spoken over me. Last week, I began compiling a list of all God has spoken over me during this season, and as I did, I felt compelled to share the list with you. Some of you may have learned these truths already; others may be learning these truths along with me. But either way, I believe these truths are powerful. So, no matter where you find yourself, I ask that you take these truths in and contemplate them. Pray for God to…

Can Jesus Really Redeem Our Losses?

Posted on: November 21st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

I’ve been finishing my book proposal this week, and it’s almost done, which means it should go out to publishers within the next few weeks! It’s super exciting; I’m just so close, which is why I chose to focus most of my attention on my proposal this week. And it is also why today’s post is a repeat, of sorts. I originally wrote this piece for another blogger as a guest post a while back. Some of you may have seen it, but most probably haven’t, so I hope you enjoy and are blessed by it. I’ll be back with all new posts next week. Thirteen years ago, I sat on top of a houseboat next to my dad watching the sun set behind the towering canyon walls of Lake Powell. Dad half-heartedly joked about how he was getting older, and I was sure to poke fun at his old age. I…

Do You Believe God?

Posted on: October 22nd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

Peter, one of Jesus’ apostles, walked on water––though it was only for a little while. Peter had faith. Enough faith, in fact, to believe Jesus would enable him to do the impossible. Yet, Peter’s great faith wained quickly. “He saw the wind” we’re told, and fear trumped faith as he began to sink (Matthew 14:30). Peter cried out to Jesus, “Lord, save me” (14:30). And Jesus did, “saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’” (14:31). Why did you doubt? Peter is known for quick bursts of great faith that would often slowly dissipate into doubt. And I wonder, how many of us are just like Peter? Just as the apostles cried out to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” so too, we should cry (Luke 17:5). We need great faith––a resurgence of faith. Every one of us. We need, quite simply, to BELIEVE GOD. We need to believe that He is, in fact, who…

Pray for the Impossible

Posted on: October 17th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

My girls are off this week for fall break, so I’m taking the time to be with them. Today’s post has been recycled, so to speak, but it’s still new to this site. Just like Tuesday’s post, I originally wrote this one back in 2012 to be a guest post for a friend. I hope you enjoy it! And I’ll be back next week with all new posts. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. – Matthew 5:44 Three and a half years ago, the Holy Spirit challenged me with this scripture. Love your enemy. This is a difficult command, and when confronted with it, I could think of only one person––Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. Jesus was calling me to love my enemy, and one of the only insights I had on how to do this was to pray. So, out of obedience, I began to pray. I prayed good…

{Lessons Learned} Sometimes God Leads You Into the Fire

Posted on: September 26th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

Christ follower, following Christ, Following Jesus, Jesus follower, God calls us into the fire, God leads, following God's leading, God leads you into the fire, fire, trials, trial, suffering, why do we suffer, why is life so hard, into the fire, better place, redemption, beauty, blessing, trial by fire, Joshua, Joshua 1:9, Daniel, Daniel and lions den, Esther, Shadrach meshach abednego, cast into the fire, rescue from fire, rescue in fire, joseph, jesus, christ, christian, peter, paul, prison, cross, isaiah 43, john 16:33, keep going, don't stop. will you follow jesus, god,

Being a Christ follower is hard. And if you’re truly following Jesus (i.e. submitting your life fully to His leading, praying, asking for His continued guidance), He’s going to ask you to do things you don’t want to do. This was certainly the case when I was called to have correspondence with Anthony, the man who murdered my dad. You see sometimes, God leads you into the fire. Sometimes He asks you to trust Him enough to follow Him into your unknown, scary places. But His intent is not harm. Oh no, His intent is to use your time in the furnace for His purposes in your life. To bring you to a better place. A place rich in beauty and blessings. I, personally, don’t know anyone who has been strengthened through the calm, peaceful seasons in their life. Just as a tree cannot stand until it’s properly “hardened off” by…

{Love Your Enemy} Fight Darkness With Light

Posted on: September 17th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

overcome evil with good, good vs evil, good v evil, good evil, good, evil, sin, light dark, light darkness, darkness v light, light, dark, darkness, martin luther king jr, love, love your enemy, loving your enemy, enemy, Jesus, God, Christ, Christian, Christianity, devotional, children, children's devotional, childlike, hate, love hate, darkness drive out darkness, light drive out darkness, hate cannot drive out hate, truth, god satan, Satan, Romans 12, Romans 12:14-21, Marks of a true christian, overcome evil with good, lord will repay, vengeance is mine, wrath of God, grace,

Jesus taught his followers a new way to treat people. Usually when people hurt you, you want to hurt them back. If people don’t like you, you don’t like them either. But Jesus tells us to love our enemies. It’s never easy but Jesus can help you. If you do good to your enemies you could change your life and theirs forever. – Avery (right before her 6th birthday), quoting one of her children’s devotional books. I came across this piece of paper a few weeks back and had to share it. As I busily cleaned the house one day, my daughter, Avery, decided to grab her “devo” and copy down one of its entries. This is what I found. Now, I don’t know if her selection was intentional or not, but out of the 365 entries in her book, she chose this one, and of course, you all know how…

{Lessons Learned} “Strike That from the Record”

Posted on: September 12th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

writing a book, writing, John 16:33, my story, story, stories, elements of story, life is hard, Jesus, Christian, Christ, God, peace with past, past wounds, healing from past, healing from wounds, know your god, know god, knowing god, trust, trusting jesus, trusting god, pain, loss, tragedy, trials, sorrow, murder, dad murder, forgive, forgiveness, freedom, strike that, strike that from the record, author, author own story, omniscient, all knowing, omnipotent, able to do anything, God can do all things, omnipresent, immutable, unchanging, god is unchanging, righteous, holy, sovereign, god is love, god loves you, merciful, fight story, embrace story, all was grace, grace, Romans 8:28, all things work good, god's plan, God's plan vs my plan, my plan

Last week, I began writing my book again. It’s been a little while since I last looked at my manuscript, and to be honest, it needed a lot of work. I’ve known this for quite sometime, and at the request of my agent, I began working with a professional editor to reorganize and make the necessary adjustments needed to bring the manuscript up to publishing standards. Once this is done, it will be pitched to Christian publishing houses, so over the next few months I can certainly use some prayers for my book to find its home so that my story can reach the masses. I bring all this up to tell you where my head has been lately. I’ve been immersed in the story God entrusted me to tell once again, and what’s emerged is a new sense of one of my story’s main themes which is that God’s…

{Lessons Learned} Sometimes You Need to Do It Scared

Posted on: August 15th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

Joshua 1:9, Joshua, Psalm 23, Psalm 23:5, Jesus, Christ, Christian, God, Faith, Fear, following jesus, follow peace, do it scared, how do i get peace, how do i find peace, scared, murder, murderer, contacting murderer, inmate, prison, God's will, Jesus leading, leading, Jesus is in control, God goes before us

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9 “Follow peace,” I was told. It sounds like good advice. It’s a nice sentiment, and it certainly sounds spiritual. But I’ve learned that, sometimes, peace doesn’t show up until later. Sometimes you need to do it scared. [Tweet that] And boy, was I scared. I had just contacted a murderer––one that had spent close to a decade in prison at that point––and I had anything but peace in my heart. Perhaps he’s really good at conning people, I thought. What if he deceives me? What if I’m led astray? Fears flooded my mind. But I knew what I heard. I knew what God was calling me to do. This was God’s will and Jesus’ direction. I was sure of that. I prayed for a word from God to ease my mind and was given Psalm 23….

It’s Been Thirteen Years

Posted on: August 6th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 6 Comments

Anniversary, death anniversary, Anniversary of death, dad died, dad murder, dad murdered, tragedy, storyline, story, God, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Forgive, Forgiveness, Forgiveness Christian, Forgiveness God, Forgiveness Jesus, good life, gift life, I miss my dad, i miss dad, joy, blessing, heartache, letter, letters, peace, correspondence, forgiving the unforgivable, heal wounds, heal, healing, wounds, pain, tragedy, grace, Satan, what satan meant for evil, satan evil, God works good, God works all for good, Romans 8:28, God's grace, Jesus victory, Jesus victor, Jesus redeemer, redeemer, redeem, redemption, goodness of God, God accomplishes impossible,

My dad died thirteen years ago yesterday. It’s hard to believe thirteen years have passed. It’s all still a bit surreal. My life seems to be somewhat of a paradox. Tragedy weaves throughout the storyline of my life, yet God has given me a good life––full of many joys, many blessings, and yes, much heartache. Honestly, I miss my dad. I think I always will. But my dad’s absence is always a bit more real on the anniversary of his death. Three years ago, on August 5th, I found myself writing my fourth letter to Anthony. All doors had closed. I wasn’t going to be able to visit him in prison as I was hoping to. Yet, I was committed to pursuing forgiveness and peace through our correspondence. In my letter, I wrote: Ironically, I’m writing you on the tenth anniversary of my dad’s death. While in a way, it does…