Faith | Laurie Coombs

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{Lessons Learned} Your Faith Requires Action

Posted on: May 31st, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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I’m seeing that the Christian life is NOT a life of passivity but a life of choices empowered by the Holy Spirit. – My prayer journal, May 13, 2010 The Christian life is not one marked by passivity, but instead, it requires that we step out in faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to do whatever it is Jesus calls us to. Following Jesus means that we get off the couch and do something. [tweet that] When I first became a Christian, (only about a year before I was called on my crazy journey with Anthony) I was under the impression that Christianity should be characterized more by a “let go and let God” theology than one that requires action. But, when Jesus called me to love and forgive the very man who murdered my dad, this paradigm was shattered. I was presented with commands. Forgive. Love your enemy. How…

{Lessons Learned} An Intentional Life

Posted on: May 28th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16:14 All that we do should be motivated by the love of God. As you may have noticed, I’ve been hung-up on this topic lately. Many of my most recent posts have had this theme, or a variation of it, threaded throughout them. But this has been a mega-theme of my life recently. Honestly, I have to confess. I think I’ve been missing the mark on this one for quite some time now, but God’s giving me grace, and He’s renewing the love I had at first, which I am unbelievably grateful for. It All Begins With Love As I’ve mentioned time and time again, my journey with Anthony began with God’s whisper, showing me my need to forgive. But then He told me I needed to love my enemy. You see, it all began with love. All the craziness that happened, all the tears,…

{Lessons Learned} Healing the Broken Places

Posted on: May 16th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

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I didn’t want to go digging around my past, but I knew I needed to. I knew some residual effects of my dad’s murder had to still be there. As I walked through some of the most difficult times in the weeks, months, and years following the murder, I remember thinking I sure hope this doesn’t screw me up. My dad wasn’t married at the time of his death which meant that my brother, sister, and I were legally responsible for picking up the pieces when he died. Our extended family helped quite a bit––as much as they could, really, which I am so thankful for––but there was only so much they could do. My mom, however, was the backbone that held us all together, and I will forever be grateful to her for that. She played an integral part in the process of helping us wade through all the mess. (Thank you,…

{Lessons Learned} Forgiveness Flows Out of a Changed Heart – Part 1

Posted on: May 9th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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Forgiveness––true Biblical forgiveness––requires that we have encountered and experienced the risen God. [Tweet that] It requires a changed heart. Truly, prior to forgiving one another, we need to understand and receive the forgiveness of God. For, we cannot give something we have yet to receive, and we cannot receive apart from understanding. [Tweet that] As I’m sure you know, the term Gospel––which refers to the work of Christ––literally means “good news.” I’ve heard many pastors say that in order for there to be good news something bad would have to be true. And until we understand the bad news, we cannot fully grasp how good the good news is. [Tweet that] This is why we all must come to understand who we are apart from Jesus. We need to understand just how sinful we are so that the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf––and consequently, the forgiveness He made possible––can be understood…

Romans 8:28 Rings True

Posted on: May 6th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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Last Thursday began like most days. Toward the end of my quiet time with Jesus, my girls came into my bedroom in all their morning cuteness, blurry-eyed and hair a fright. We cuddled together for a moment before beginning our morning routine of showering, dressing, and the like. My girls usually finish getting ready before I do, so they ran downstairs, busying themselves with coloring and drawing in the kitchen. Moments later, however, I heard Avery, my younger daughter, yell, “Mom, Ella poked me with a pencil!” To which Ella replied, “But it wasn’t very hard!” Really?!? I thought. It was all going so well. Turns out, Ella intentionally “poked” or stabbed (to be more exact) Avery with a pencil. Not okay in my book. But after disciplining Ella, we had a serious talk about hurting others. Ella is seven. Up to this point, we have taught her about Jesus, we’ve talked…

Love Comes First

Posted on: May 2nd, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 10 Comments

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I received a letter from Anthony (the man who murdered my dad) a couple weeks ago. In it, he said, “I also know you feel as I do, if only one person read [our testimony] and came to Jesus because of it, because of our pain, tears, repentance, and forgiveness, all of it was worth it.” Anthony is right. And He got me thinking. If our story saves one––only one––I do believe my efforts to share what God has done is all worth it. Yet, I also believe Jesus called me to share this story with many. In fact, I believe I’m called to write a book about it. What It Takes to Publish Today When writing a book, you hear a lot about the need to build a “platform” or establish a “tribe” of followers who engage with you both on your blog and on social media (Twitter, Facebook,…

{Forgiveness} Make No Mistake, Justice Will Be Served.

Posted on: April 18th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

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I’ve written about misconceptions about forgiveness before. But I believe one of the largest hindrances to forgiveness is a misconception that stems from childhood. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve negotiated peace between two children who are mad at one another. Regardless of what caused the issue, our peace talk usually goes something like this: Me: “Tell her you’re sorry.” Child (usually one of my daughters): “I’m sorry.” The other child: “It’s okay.” But it’s not okay. Many children are told by their parents (as I mistakenly did as a new parent) to respond to an apology by telling the other child that it’s okay. But it’s not okay to bite one another. It’s not okay to hit one another. Simply put, it’s not okay to sin against one another. And when we tell children to say “it’s okay” in this context, we are not teaching them forgiveness, but instead,…

I Don’t Need Help! or Learning to Receive

Posted on: April 11th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17 A couple months ago, I found myself sitting at a small table in Starbucks. Across from me sat my leadership coach. “I don’t think I can do this any more,” I told her. “I’m burnt out. I’m doing too much, and honestly, I don’t think I’m doing anybody any good at this point.” I came to this meeting to quit. I had been leading a small group of women from my church in a weekly meeting for over two years. But at this point, I was exhausted. I didn’t feel I could do it any longer. After I explained the situation, she said, “Honestly, I don’t think you know how to receive very well.” Yes, I do. I thought, perplexed. “You’ve done a great job of making yourself a commodity,” she continued, “but you don’t allow others to pour into you.” Ouch. I…

{Repentance} Wanna Be Empowered Today?

Posted on: April 8th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs

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I’ve been talking a lot about repentance, and I know it can become a weighty topic, to say the least. But I feel like God has empowered me in this area recently, and I just have to pass this along. I’ve been feeling convicted lately about several sins in my life. And maybe it’s just me, but do you ever feel like you need to repent but you need to wait for the empowerment of God to do so? [Tweet that] Well, this is where I found myself last week. During my quiet time with God, I decided to begin reading Romans. I opened it up, read the first paragraph, and that was just about enough for the day. I needed to digest what I read, so I read it again. And again. Toward the end of that paragraph, Paul says, “through [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship to…

{Lessons Learned} Repentance Can Be a Process

Posted on: March 28th, 2013 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments

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When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. – Martin Luther, The 95 Theses In one of my letters to Anthony, I wrote, “I simply believe that we all need to take full responsibility for our actions and blame-shifting isn’t representative of that! Until we come to this point of taking full responsibility for our actions, I don’t believe we can come to a place of true repentance.” I still believe this to be true. But I now know that repentance can take time. Though God is certainly able to bring us to repentance quickly, it seems to me that repentance is, oftentimes, a process. [Tweet that] This was certainly the case with Anthony, and I’ve found this to be true both in my life and in the lives of other Christians as well. Repentance Now, I…