Spiritual Battle | Laurie Coombs

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Letters from My Father’s Murderer is out today!!!

Posted on: June 27th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

Hi friends! Today’s the day Letters from My Father’s Murderer is released! I must say, it’s a bit surreal. This project has been in the works for three and a half years, and it’s finally out for the world to see! If you haven’t ordered a copy yet, you can grab it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble or wherever else you like to buy books. It’s available on Kindle and Nook as well, by the way (but not iBooks––whah, whah). If you’re still not convinced enough to pick up a copy, perhaps hearing what others are saying (outside of my friends and family) will give you the nudge you need: “Truthfully, I could not put the book down.” – Dan “Powerful! …This is a must read.” – Page “Been reading every spare minute…. I honestly had a hard time putting it down.” – Patty “Cannot put the book down! I started it last…

A Sneak Peak of My New Book, Letters from My Father’s Murderer (releasing June 27th!)

Posted on: June 1st, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked over the last couple years is, “When does your book come out?” Over and over, I have given the same answer: “June 2015.” Quite honestly, June 2015 seemed like it might never get here, but with time flying by as it has a habit of doing, June 2015 has most certainly arrived. Can you believe it? You probably can, but I can’t! It’s hard to believe I’m nearing the end of this three-plus-year writing journey. Letters from My Father’s Murderer: A Journey of Forgiveness will officially be released on June 27th!!! (Though if you pre-ordered the book on Amazon, you may get it earlier, but you didn’t hear that from me!) To celebrate the month of my book’s release, I’m giving you (my readers) a sneak peak of the book today, one that’s not included in the official excerpt provided by my publisher, found here. I do…

Twenty-One Days: A Glimpse Behind the Curtain

Posted on: April 15th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

There’s an incredible account of God answering prayer in the tenth chapter of Daniel. I was amazed by it the other day and still am today. At first thought, most of us think only of Daniel in the lion’s den when we think of the book of Daniel, but this book has many more gems to mine than we may know. Now, I’ve always believed the truth taught in Daniel chapter ten conceptually, but even though I’ve read through this book several times before, I have never seen it for what it is. For some reason, I have been blind to what this passage shows us. As you read through the book of Daniel, it seems Daniel sought the Lord continually, but at this particular time in his story, Daniel decided to fast. For three weeks, we’re told, he “ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered [his] mouth.” He was mourning, as he considered the…

Expectation v. Expectancy

Posted on: March 17th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 7 Comments

There’s a vast difference between expectation and expectancy. These two mindsets can be applied to just about any part of our lives. They can be applied to our life-long dreams, our marriages, our children, our friendships, our careers, our ministries. And they can also be applied to our relationship with God. Expectation expects things. It expects a certain outcome. Or that the outcome will be derived a certain way. Expectancy does not expect things. Expectancy hopes. It has faith that good will come but releases the expectation of what or how it will come about. Expectations lead to disappointments and frustration and disillusion. Expectancy leads to faith and joy and thankfulness. I recently had the privilege to attend a weekend “Encounter.” The entire purpose of the weekend was to meet with God. To encounter the One and Only. I had heard stories of others going to their Encounter, coming home saying things like, “It changed…

Will You Hold onto the Faith? #PromisesOfGod #Adoption

Posted on: March 6th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 8 Comments

All it took was one word! How amazing is that?!? I have to admit. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy here in the Coombs’ household. Good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. I’ve been buried in piles of paperwork, all to bring our little ones home. Now, I know it sounds super cliche, but God truly has done the impossible once again. “Shell-shocked… Speechless… Dumbfounded… Ecstatic… Terrified… These are but a few of the emotions that I have been experiencing these past 48 hours….” my husband Travis wrote after receiving the news. But in order to understand the significance of those words, I must tell more of our story. We began our adoption journey four and a half years ago, full of hope and conviction for what we believed God was calling us to. Travis and I had been blessed with two healthy, absolutely amazing biological children already, but…

Fully Convinced

Posted on: February 13th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 6 Comments

I held my Bible as I sat with one of my girls on each side of me in bed. “Do you see a pattern?” I asked. They looked at the passage and said, “What pattern?” “Look at what I’ve circled and highlighted.” Almost in unison, they read, “‘And God said…’” Pause. “‘And it was so.’” Fingers ran down the page, “‘And God said,’” they read. “‘And it was so.’” Over and over, their little fingers stopped on each of my markings. “‘And God said… And it was so.’” “Do you see it?” “I think so,” Avery said. “What do you think it means?” “It’s like God says something, and then it happens.” “Yes!” I said, with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm. “Nothing is too difficult for our God. He speaks, and it is so! Just like He did in the beginning here in Genesis. Isn’t that amazing?” Both girls nodded….

It Is for Freedom That We Are Set Free

Posted on: January 29th, 2015 by Laurie Coombs

There’s a song that I just can’t get out of my head. It’s called “I Am Set Free” and is written and performed by All Sons and Daughters. The chorus is what keeps playing a loop in my mind continually. In fact, I’ve even woken up hearing the lyrics several nights in a row: “I am set free oh oh oh oh I am set free oh oh oh oh It is for freedom that I am set free.” It is for freedom that I am set free––words echoing a truth, written by Paul long ago to the churches in Galatia, that said, “For freedom Christ has set us free…” But I love what comes next in this verse–– “…stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (5:1). I think we all have a tendency to slip back into old habits, back into things we’ve been freed from. When I read the…

A Strange Dichotomy

Posted on: January 21st, 2015 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

There’s a strange dichotomy that goes on in this head of mine. The moment I gave my life to Christ, I felt a strong, relentless desire to abandon myself to God’s call to ministry. A desire to proclaim the excellencies of God to this world. To shout His praises from the highest of high mountains that all may know and see that Jesus is who He says He is. So that, as 1 Kings 8:60 says, “all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God.” I wanted to lift my voice and proclaim boldly, “Behold your God!” (Isaiah 40:9). I had been plucked out of the mire, out of a deep dark pit of despair, and I wanted others to know what I had come to know. “People need to know this,” I’d say. “God is who He says He is. He is real. And He actually does, today, what He…

The Cost of Discipleship

Posted on: December 5th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs

Jesus came that we might have life. And life to the full. He came to bind up the brokenhearted. To bring good news to the poor. To proclaim liberty to the captives. To provide for our every need. To love us. To care for us. To provide a home for our wondering heart. He calls to the people. “Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). “Come, follow Me,” He says (Matthew 19:21). “Learn from Me…and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Promising to guide us into His will for our lives, He beckons us to follow. We’re called to be disciples. Followers of Christ––the living God––but discipleship comes at a cost. All that stuff I wrote above is pleasant to the ear. We like hearing the truth of God’s promise to love and care for us. To restore us to wholeness and healing. These…

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…