Laurie Coombs

The Billy Graham “Heaven” Trailer Has Been Released!

Posted on: September 3rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 13 Comments

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It’s here! The trailer for Billy Graham’s newest film, “Heaven,” was released recently. It’s the one I had the privilege to be a part of. The film is intended to be used as an evangelistic tool and will be released just in time for Mr. Graham’s ninety-sixth birthday in early November. If you’d like to get involved or if you’d like to see how you might be able to pre-order and use this resource, please go to the My Hope with Billy Graham website. What an honor it was to be included in such an amazing project. Be sure to check it out! If you’re having trouble viewing the video, click here to watch it on YouTube. Any thoughts? Share in the comments.

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….

At the Very Heartbeat of Jesus

Posted on: August 7th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

Moment by moment, I’m kept in His love; Moment by moment, I’ve life from above; Looking to Jesus, the glory doth shine; Moment by moment, Oh Lord, I am Thine. – Andrew Murray I started reading a book––well, I guess it’s actually more like a long essay––written by Andrew Murray called Humility. Murray was a pastor, evangelist, educator, and writer during the nineteenth century who was educated in Europe but primarily lived in South Africa. Honestly, if you have a chance to get your hands on any of his writings, I highly recommend them, but I do have to admit, they can be a bit dense. As I read Humility, I was having a hard time retaining what Murray was saying simply because of the way he writes, and so I began to rewrite his writings in note-taking form to be sure I’d be able to internalize this important message. Humility is something to…

Choose Life

Posted on: July 31st, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 4 Comments

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. – Deuteronomy 30:19-20 We don’t often like to talk about obedience. It’s simply not a popular topic to address. Quite honestly, I don’t think any of us naturally want to obey God. We all seem to have this thing in us that wants to go it alone. To do our own thing. To be masters of our own domain and live our lives however we so choose. Even the thought of having…

Fail Fast and Forget about It

Posted on: July 23rd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 3 Comments

I recently heard a pastor say, “Fail fast and forget about it.”* It made me smile and think about what Paul wrote to the Philippians, the scripture I used in my last post, where he said, Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14 I know I’m stating the obvious, but we all fail. Everyone of us has failed in the past, and more failures are sure to come to us in the future. Failure, after all, is a given. We are imperfect sinners in need of God’s…

{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…

What Do We Do With Our Freedom?

Posted on: July 4th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

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Are you ready for a history lesson? Alrighty here we go. Stick with me. I promise, I’ve got a point coming! Heroes or Criminals? On July 4, 1776––two hundred thirty-eight years ago today––56 colonial men signed a document challenging Great Britain’s rule over the thirteen colonies. The Declaration of Independence declared these “United Colonies” to be free, independent states. But the war had not yet been won. In fact, it had just begun. Touted as heroes by many colonials, yet deemed criminals by the British crown, the signers “pledge[d] to each other [their] Lives, [their] Fortunes and [their] sacred Honor,” confidently assured of “the Protection of Divine Providence” (Declaration of Independence). Yet, with the signing of this document, each of them effectively signed their own death warrants as they opposed the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world. And for what? Freedom. As we all know, freedom was won. In…

{Guest Post} Loving Your Enemies as Yourself

Posted on: July 2nd, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 2 Comments

Loving Your Enemies as Yourself Written by Sophia Reed I cannot tell you how many times I have been deemed weird or seen as too forgiving because of my Christian ways. The natural, human thing to do when others do you wrong is for you to come right back at them and treat them the same way they treated you. I am not ashamed to admit that this is how I use to be. If you had something to say that I perceived as mean, I would fire back at you and bite your head off. I behaved this way even when I was Christian. Now, I am quite the opposite. I have grown. I know how to let things go and forgive, not because I want to, but it is because God wants me to. People who do not know how I used to be perceive this as a…

{Orphan Advocacy} Children in Families First Bill (CHIFF)

Posted on: June 26th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 1 Comment

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27 Everyone of us wants to be wanted. We all want to belong. But all around the world, there are children left to fend for themselves––orphans. Over 147 million of them, not to mention countless others who live on the street. My family and I have been in the process of adopting from Ethiopia for close to four years now. The process has been an incredible one, but it’s been long and difficult for numerous reasons that I won’t get into here (for the sake of brevity). What I will say, however, is that our difficulties have largely been due to bureaucracy that could be streamlined and resolved if our lawmakers were informed of the current issues….

{Anxiety and Depression} Losing Your Life to Save It

Posted on: June 25th, 2014 by Laurie Coombs 12 Comments

Anxiety and Depression Losing You Life to Save It

I think my anxiety was brought on by the many years of heightened stress I experienced after my dad’s murder. It seemed the stress built up slowly over time until my body simply couldn’t take it any more, and I just sort of fell apart. But it wasn’t just the murder. I think it was a combination of many things––my type-A personality, my need for control, additional stress caused by a high-risk pregnancy, and the normal stresses of daily life––that contributed to my downfall. I was confused when the physical symptoms of anxiety finally came to a head. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me, and this was when the depression hit. All the medical tests ordered by several different doctors came back normal. In hindsight this was a good thing, but it didn’t feel like it at the time. Not finding a cause for my many troubling symptoms left…