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Archive for the ‘Obedience to God’ Category

{Love Your Enemy} The Letter

Posted on: September 14th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 9 Comments

It was May 18, 2010––close to 10 years after my dad was murdered––when my husband, Travis, came home from work with a letter in his hand. “You’ve got a letter,” he said. “Thanks,” I said smiling as he handed it to me. I looked down to see a bold stamp on the backside of the envelope reading, “NORTHERN NEVADA CORRECTIONAL CENTER.” Looking up at Travis, I spoke in a faint whisper, “I gotta…I gotta go. Take care of the girls.” I ran upstairs and into my bedroom, closing and locking the door behind me. I didn’t want my girls to see me like this. I heard my daughter ask, “What’s Mommy doing?” “She just needs to take care of something,” Travis said, “Wanna help me with dinner?” “Yea!” she said with glee. I sat there, on my bed, for what seemed like hours simply holding the letter, tears pouring forth, willing…

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{Forgiveness} What Biblical Forgiveness IS

Posted on: September 7th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

I am well aware of the fact that we’ve been dealing with some pretty heavy stuff so far. But I’d like to encourage you to hang in there. Don’t let the weightiness of these difficult topics deter you from the blessings that awaits you on the other side of forgiveness. To be completely honest, healing is hard work. It’s painful. It requires you to go to the hard places––to the deepest darkest crevices of your soul––and to allow Jesus to mine out that darkness and replace it with His light. This is no easy feat. It hurts, but beauty is left behind when we allow Jesus full and complete access to our wounds, our walls, our pain. Oh, how I love our God! As mentioned before, I am no expert, and I too, find myself struggling with forgiveness from time to time, but the Lord has taught me much on…

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Simply Me

Posted on: September 5th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs

Today, I am blessed to be sharing a bit of my story on the blog Simply Me. Be sure to stop by Simply Me and see my new friend, Veronica, as she explores being content in who God made us to be. Many gems can be found in Veronica’s posts! If you’re visiting my site from Simply Me. I’m glad you’re here! And I hope you’ll enjoy, explore, and stay a while… Blessings to you all!

A Bit of Repentance…

Posted on: September 4th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs

Okay…I’ve been taking on too much of an authoritative voice in my blog up to this point. That said, here’s my commitment to alleviate this problem (call it repentance if you will). To lay it all out there, I am someone who has been through the ringer, so to speak, but I have by NO means “arrived.” And I never will (no matter how much I want to) in this life. I fear that I’ve been painting this picture of myself that is simply not true. I am not perfect. In fact, I am far from it. So, who am I? I am a Christ follower who attempts to follow Jesus in all I do and all I say, yet I continually fail. Time and time again, I fail, which frustrates me to no end. But I am oh so thankful for these failures, for it is through them that Jesus…

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{Forgiveness} What Biblical Forgiveness is NOT

Posted on: August 30th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments
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Along the way, speaking to those around me, I’ve come across many misconceptions about forgiveness. The word forgiveness has been tainted by culture. Biblical forgiveness, in fact, differs from the forgiveness that the world offers, and I believe many misconceptions are birthed out of these cultural falsehoods. Yet, before we explore what Biblical forgiveness looks like, I’d like to look at what it is not. Biblical Forgiveness is NOT: Justifying/diminishing/approving of/enabling sin or saying that the wrong committed was in any way acceptable or okay What happened to you or what happened to me will never be okay. Sins were committed, and Biblically, sin is never justifiable. In fact, the wage of sin is death. Yet, while no sin will ever be justified, all sin is forgivable. Simply look to the cross and you’ll see the son man dying a bloody death, suffering like no one before or since. It is…

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{Forgiveness} Why We Forgive – Part 2

Posted on: August 27th, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment
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As explored in Why We Forgive – Part 1, we are called to forgive because we have been forgiven. In respect to forgiveness, God simply asks us to give that which He so graciously gave us. And that’s just it. God asks us to forgive, which means that forgiveness is not an option. [Tweet that] Colossians 3:13 says, “as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” It’s a command. Jesus tells us during His Sermon on the Mount, For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. – Matthew 6:14-15 While this command may seem harsh, we need to look at the heart of God to gain understanding. We know God is not just loving, but that––as the bible says––God is love. That’s simply who He is. It’s part of His character….

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Forgiving a Murderer

Posted on: August 2nd, 2012 by Laurie Coombs 5 Comments
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As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. – Genesis 50:20 I read an article this afternoon telling the stories of those who died during the “Dark Night” shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Honestly, there are no words to describe a tragedy like this, so I won’t even begin to try. Twelve people died, in a matter of moments. Twelve people! The youngest of which was a six year old little girl––a girl the age of my own daughter. Not to mention the dozens of people left wounded. A tragedy like this leaves behind it a wake of destruction. It affects so many. It affects not only the victims, but the families, the friends, and even the acquaintances of those who died or were wounded. They have all been changed by this senseless act and will never be the same. Certainly, there were physical wounds that…

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