Laurie A. Coombs's Blog

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

Show me who I am, Lord, I prayed. Show me how You see me.

Though I knew the truth, my mind was riddled with lies. And I just needed to hear Him say it. I needed my God to confirm what I knew in my head but doubted in my heart––that I am righteous and good and pure and beautiful in His sight, that I am accepted despite my many shortcomings, and that He is pleased with me regardless of my performance.

“You a child of God, Momma,” my two-year-old would not-so-randomly say to me at the time as the lyrics “I am who you say I am” continually played in my mind (Hillsong Worship). 

Whispers of grace.

I am who you say I am, I’d echo in thanksgiving. It was a time of remembering. A time of speaking truth over myself. A time of coming back to where I began. 

These lies had slowly crept in without notice and had proven to be an effective distraction from the things God was calling me to. I had been called to proclaim truth. To shine light in the darkness. To love as Christ loves. But I wouldn’t be able to fulfill the call on my life if I didn’t believe God’s truth for myself. If I allowed a works based mentality to cast a shadow on the light of Jesus within me. If I was not completely taken by the truth of God’s unconditional love for me.  

This was a strategic play by the enemy. And I’m not the only target. If our enemy can’t stop us from pursuing God’s call on our lives, he’ll do his best to dull our senses and distract us with His lies.

“You’re being tempted with legalism,” a friend told me, and it was true. It all made perfect sense. I was like the Christians of the church of Galatia who had begun their walk with the Lord by faith and had somehow muddied the gospel with their own effort to please God.

They had lost their way. And I was starting to lose mine. 

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he wrote, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3).

This was me. Having begun by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8), I had unintentionally started adding my own efforts to the mix, feeling like a failure every time I didn’t measure up. I was keeping score. But God wasn’t. 

Are we called to good works? Absolutely. But grace awaits when we fall short, not condemnation. Lamentations 3:23 tells us, “[His mercies] are new every morning.” Romans 5:20 tells us, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” And 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us God’s grace is “sufficient” and His power is “made perfect in weakness.”

I love Psalm 103:13-15. It says, 

“As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
   He remembers that we are dust.”

He knows our frailty. He knows our bent toward folly and sin. He knows we’re prone to wonder. And yet He is pleased with us despite our track record. Remember, we are made righteous (or right with God) by faith in what Jesus has done on our behalf, not by what we do. This is what makes the gospel such good news.

The sweetness of God’s grace. 

For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.             

– John 1:16-17

[image error]I recently had the opportunity to sit down to speak with Jim Daly and John Fuller of Focus on the Family about my story in Colorado Springs during their daily radio broadcast that airs tomorrow, July 13th! I’d love for you to join me on the show.

There are many ways to listen. You can visit the Focus on the Family’s broadcast page to listen online, download Focus on the Family’s Daily Broadcast App from the App Store or Google Play, access the program by podcast in iTunes or RSS, or look for the “Station Finder” to find a radio station that carries the program in your area!

I’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the program! Be sure to come back to share in the comments.

Happy listening!

[image error]All through the book of Deuteronomy, the people of God were told to remember. Remember where God found you. Remember His faithfulness. Remember that He spared no expense to deliver you out of slavery that He might bring you into your promised land.

Each time I read Moses’ words to the Israelites as they stood on the edge of their promise, I cannot help but hear these same words spoken over me.

“Remember.”

We are all prone to forget. One moment we stand in praise of Jesus after He did some crazy awesome thing in our life. And the next moment, fear comes when we face uncertainty, and we forget that Jesus had just parted the Red Sea on our behalf.

Just like the nation of Israel, we are called to remember. Remember who our God is. Remember His heart toward us. Remember the gospel and the cross. Remember His mercy, His love, His kindness, and His grace toward us.

John 1:16 tells us, “…from [Jesus’] fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” The grace of God is often spoken about in church circles, but how often do we stop to consider the significance of that grace? Again, John 1:16 says we have received grace upon grace. Grace greater than anything we can think or imagine.

Think about that for a moment.

It was the grace of God that relentlessly pursued us in our rebellion. God had every right to abandon us, but instead, He made a way back to Himself––a way that required Him to lay down the life of His Son––that we might be with Him.

We are called by His grace.

It is by grace that we believe and are saved.

It is by grace that we are forgiven and reconciled to God.

We are justified by grace.

We are strengthened and sustained by grace.

All the promises of God rest on His grace.

And His grace is given in spite of us. Truly, how many times have we turned away? How many times have we sought other things? How many times have we turned to the world or other people or ourselves or things to satisfy our longings that only He can satisfy?

Instead of going to Jesus, we call a friend. We go shopping. We go to our pantry looking for something sweet or salty when we’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. Or maybe we have an extra glass of wine or take those sleeping pills or pain pills.

All to in an attempt to feel full. Complete.

And yet He’s still there. He’s been there all along, just waiting for us to turn and be saved.

Saved from our sinful ways.

From the lies were told by Satan or the world.

From ourselves.

We were once rebels and enemies of God, but we have been adopted into the family of God. Let that sink in for a moment. Jesus loved His enemy, both you and I, to the point of death, and because of that, we are now children of God. We’re chosen, made holy, and set free as the mysteries of the great exchange take place within out heart, mind, and soul. We’ve been made clean––white as snow. His righteousness is now ours.

Jesus tells us as He told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 9:8). And so we rest in His grace. We allow Him to cover us. To fill us. And we remain in Him. Because after all, this is the place of blessing. The place where the grace of God is poured out.

Grace upon grace.

And in this place, I pray each of us echo Paul’s words when he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Remember, God is so very good to us. He is for us in ways we can hardly fathom.

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16

[image error]

I sat with some family members a number of years ago to tell them what Jesus was doing in my life. How He was redeeming all the losses we share. Taking our moments of indescribably pain and using every bit of it for good not only in my life, but in the lives of others as well. My hope was that Jesus would give them eyes to see Himself for who He truly is, to see what He was doing in my life, and to want it for themselves.

I told them about it all. How I was bought to my knees when the anxiety and depression threatened to pull me under. How I was quite literally drawn “up from the pit of destruction” and was saved (Psalm 40:2). How my faith ignited the moment I answered Jesus’s call to follow Him and was transformed by the power of His Word. How He called me to love and forgive my family’s common enemy, the man who murdered my dad, which led to correspondence that still continues to this day. And how our God had not only healed me in the process but had brought this man to his knees in repentance and was now living to the glory of God in prison.

They all looked a little stunned, when I finished my lengthy monologue. I’m not sure they knew what to do with what I had shared. This was a weighty topic no one really cared to discuss in my family. And so my aunt seemed to search for words for a moment before she finally said, “I’m glad you’ve come to a good place again, Laurie.”

But then my cousin jumped in to say, “No Mom. Laurie’s not saying she’s come to a good place again. She’s saying she’s better than she ever was before.”

You see, the world often labels the ability to overcome hardship with the word resilience. It’s a fine word, I think, but it doesn’t take the work of God in our lives into account. Webster defines the word resilience as 1. the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens 2. the ability of something to return to it’s original shape after it has been pulled, stretched, pressed, bent, etc.

But what if when something bad happens we were never intended to return to our original shape? What if the very thing we thought would destroy us is the thing God intends to use to strengthen us and allow us to live more fully? What if it’s the platform God intends to use for us to bring light and hope to others?

What if it’s grace disguised?

My pain has made me better, there’s no question about that. And I am beyond thankful we get to walk with a God who gives purpose to our pain. A God who works all things for good for those who know and love Him (Romans 8:28).

So, bring your pain to Him today. You will be amazed at what He does with it!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

– Ecclesiastes 3:11

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share them in the comments.

I addressed the question, “Who do you say that Jesus is?” in my most recent article. This was a question Jesus, Himself, asked His disciples after spending some time with them during His earthly ministry. In this article, I wrote of the importance of this question. How your very life hinges on the answer you give to this question. And that if your response is that Jesus is who He said He was in scripture. That He is the Messiah. Immanuel, God with us. The living God. Our Savior. Our Shepherd. Our Counselor. Our Comforter. Our Healer. Our Peace. Our only Hope. Our very life. If this who you define Jesus to be, then it demands every bit of us.

We’re to be all in. Not wishy-washy. Not lukewarm. But all in.

Shortly after Jesus posed this question to His disciples, we read, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Matthew 16:21).

Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You” (16:22).

To which Jesus replied, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a hinderance to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (16:23).

Peter rightly confessed Jesus as the Christ a few short verses before this. But like the rest of the Jews of his day, and perhaps you and I, they still had many misconception about what that meant. This is the first of three times that Jesus told the disciples He would suffer, die, and rise again, dispelling the worldly notions of who the Christ or the Messiah would be. You see, the ways of God don’t often make sense to our earthly, fleshly way of thinking. First Corinthians 1:18 tells us, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing…” The cross didn’t make sense to the people of Jesus’ day nor does it make sense to many today. But as the second half of 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us, “…but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

The Cross is the power of God.

Understanding who the Christ was and why He had to come is humbling. It requires us to understand the depth of our own need. As John Piper once said, Christ coming to die for the sins of man, “…means I’m cursed and need a savior. Lost and need a shepherd. Sick and need a physician. I’m a rebel, and I need a reconciler. Dirty and need a purifier” (sermon title unknown).

This is who we are. Both you and I stand in desperate need of a Savior. In desperate need of Jesus. He is our Greatest Treasure. Our Pearl of Great Value.

And it is only when we take Jesus for who He really is and understand the implications of what He has done for us and what that means about who we truly are apart from Him that we can truly be saved. These difficult truths lead to repentance and forgiveness of sins. They lead to humility and surrender, which is the foundation of the abundant life promised to us. These truths are messy, yes. But this is the incredibly messy, amazingly wonderful redemption of God. Redemption looks like God taking a bunch of dirty, cursed, lost, sick, rebels and turning them into His redeemed people who are His chosen, precious possession (1 Peter 2:4, 9).

By grace we have been saved! And how thankful I am for that.

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord'” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31, emphasis mine).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10).

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share them in the comments.

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven….'” (Matthew 16:13-17, emphasis mine).

All of life hinges on that one question asked by Jesus–“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus says, never mind what others say about Me. Who do YOU say that I am?

This question was asked of the disciples at just the right time. If we go back to the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, we see that Jesus is born. He is baptized. He’s tempted by the devil. And then He enters into public ministry. He calls His first disciples, and from that time forth, Jesus begins to turn the world on its head as He teaches the ways of the Kingdom. Things people thought they knew crumbled in light of His teaching.

The first are the last.

The greatest are the least.

The rich are the poor.

Life is found in death.

Strength is found in weakness.

And then we see that Jesus not only taught the ways of the kingdom, but He brought the Kingdom as well.

He cleanses lepers. Heals the centurion’s servant. Calms storms. Casts out demons. Makes the paralyzed walk, the blind see, and the mute talk. He brings the dead back to life. Walks on water. Heals many of every sickness and disease. He challenges the religious culture of the day and its leaders. Feeds the 5,000 and the 4,000. And He calls His disciples, saying, “Come, follow Me…”

He claims deity. Claims authority only held by God. Says He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), says He is the only way back to the Father, rejecting the popular notion held even today that there are many ways to heaven. And He tells us He came that we may have a full or abundant life (John 10:10).

But do we believe it? Do we believe Him?

Who do YOU say Jesus is?

I heard a quote once that said the most important thing about a person is who they say Jesus is, and I believe this to be true with every part of my being. From the time of His death and resurrection, people have wrestled with this very question. Some claim Jesus was simply a good moral teacher. But I love what C.S. Lewis had to say about that. He said:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.” (Mere Christianity, 55-56)

If we continue to define Jesus as a great moral teacher, we reduce His teachings, namely all of the New Testament, to a moral guide that we can subjectively embrace or reject.

But if you have come to define Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. As Immanuel, God with us. As the living God. As our Savior. Our Shepherd. Our Counselor. Our Comforter. Our Healer. Our Peace. Our only Hope. Our very life. If this is the answer you give when Jesus asks you, “Who do you say that I am?” then it demands all of us. If you and I say that Jesus is who He says He is, then we must lay down our lives and be all in.

Being all in means we surrender to Jesus, giving Him control over every part of our lives, not part of it. It means we live a life of repentance, turning from sin to Jesus on a daily basis. It means we choose to seek and do His will over our own. It means we receive the Bible as the infallible Word of God and submit to its authority. It means we receive Christ for who He really is, not who we’d like to make Him out to be. It means we actually do the Word of God and obey God’s commands. And though this is a far cry from an exhaustive compilation of what it looks like to be all in, it means both you and I follow Jesus on His terms, not our own.

So, what do you say? Want to be all in with me? Let’s do it. Let’s jump in together and see where Jesus takes us.

…

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share them in the comments.

Some of you have been with me for a long time and others are just tuning in, but regardless of where you fall in that spectrum, I’d like to invite you all to join me in the work God has recently called my family and me into. But before I do that, I’d like to give some context.

As I’ve mentioned before, we brought our little girl home from Uganda in April 2016 after a five and a half year long wait. Baby girl’s name is Joy, and she lives up to every bit of her name. She has not only brought joy to our family, but quite honestly, she spreads her little light to just about everyone who sees her.

Prior to coming home, Joy was loved and cared for by the people at Happy Times Childcare Initiative, an incredible institution run by Ugandans who have a heart to help not only orphans but those in need within their community as well.

We spent a lot of time at Happy Times while in Uganda. We came to know the people there. To see their mission and vision and the love they continually provide to every child who comes into their care.

David Platt once wrote, “We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes” (David Platt, Radical). I cannot even begin to explain how true this statement is. We have held and played with and loved on the beautiful children of Happy Times, and they have stolen our hearts. Their names and stories will never be forgotten.

There’s Ndaula (pronounced Nawla), a three year old little boy who stole my heart with his great big smile. A boy who grabbed my hand the moment I stepped out of the car at Happy Times and rarely left my side. A boy whose mother died of HIV when he was one and a half and his brother was three, and whose father left the boys at a neighbor’s house and just disappeared.

There’s Trevour, a fourteen year old boy who just might be the most humble, hard-working boy I’ve ever met. A boy who was born to a teen mother and is “not welcome” in his step-father’s home simply because he was born prior to his mother’s marriage.

There’s Florence, a two year old little girl who my daughters and I nicknamed “banana girl” after we saw her sitting on the curb outside the babies home munching on a banana. A beautiful little one with scars all over her body who was tortured from the time she was only a few months old by her mother and father. A girl who was found in a pool of her own blood after her parents tried to kill her and successfully murdered her brother.

There’s Jane, the fifteen year old girl who chose to care for our little Joy as her own until we came for her. A girl who took the role of mother at the age of ten to her six sisters when their mother died suddenly. A girl who used to spend her days digging for enough food to fill seven empty bellies while her father drank alcohol and tried to sexually abuse her at night. A girl who bravely fought for she and her sisters by approaching the authorities to escape their father.

There are children with HIV like Ruth and Nassanga, both five years old, who lost their mother to HIV a couple years ago and lost their father this month to the same disease after having been bedridden for some time. Girls who were rejected by other family members who fear the girls will transmit HIV to them. Girls who lived on the streets, alone with no one to care for them, before they were brought to Happy Times.

And then there are all the babies––Abigail, Lylah, Reno, and others––who have joined the Happy Times family this past year after being abandoned. One was found naked in a swamp. One in a drainage ditch filled with human sewage. Another left on the side of the road.

There are so many stories. These are just a few of the children of Happy Times, and there are more to come. Happy Times has become a safe haven for children in need within the Luwero district.

Beauty and tragedy intertwine somehow in Uganda. Despite countless heart-wrenching stories, Uganda is a beautiful place with beautiful hardworking people. People who know things we don’t. People who never ask for a handout, who have no sense of entitlement. People who have faith like I’ve never seen before. People who don’t always know when or where their next meal will come from, and yet I’ve had these people look me in the eye and say with sincere faith, “God is good. He always provides.”

And He does. Continually.

Quite honestly, we have fallen in love with this country, and its people. It has changed my family and me forever. We will never be the same. It wrecked us in ways we cannot put words to. But this is truly a good thing. We’re broken for the very things that break God’s heart.

In fall of 2016, just about six months after we arrived home with Joy, I awoke to a message from Happy Times. They sent a picture of a one year old little boy named Joshua, a little boy the same age as our baby Joy, who had died that morning of malaria. They said they tried all night to find a doctor for little Joshua but found none. In the morning, they gave Joshua a bath and fixed a bottle for him, but Joshua took his last breath as his caretaker returned with the bottle. Joshua was buried that day in a local dump, the only plot of land available. And this was the last straw for me. It was simply too much. This could have been our Joy. This was a preventable death. And I knew in that moment that it was time to do something.

Happy Times asked us to partner with them shortly after Joshua died, and after prayerful consideration, we said yes. This was clearly God’s leading. A couple of our closest friends have joined our mission, and A New Song International was born.

The needs of Happy Times are many. And if there’s one thing we know, it’s that we can’t do this alone. We need others to catch our vision and join our mission. People who would like to make a real difference in the life of a child. People who would like to share the love of Jesus with “the least of these.” People who want to combat poverty and help provide sustainable solutions to the problems Ugandans continually face.

We need people to join our team. People willing to use their gifts and talents to further our mission. People  willing to spread the word about what we do. People who are willing to give financially–businesses or individuals who would like to partner with us by giving a one time or a reoccurring donation or by sponsoring a child.

Let’s see what Jesus can do in and through us as we serve the children of Uganda. Together, we can make a difference!

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27

…

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Share in the comments.

It’s been a while, my friends, and I’m glad to be writing again!

After we brought our little girl home from Uganda over a year ago, I felt Jesus telling me it was time to take a break from writing. I continued to speak as the Lord led and pursue ministry, but for a time, writing was put on hold to make room for the things I was called to in that season. Things like settling into being a mommy of a sweet baby again, pouring myself into my relationships with my husband and my big girls, taking the time to process all I had seen and been through during our adoption and my time in Uganda, pursuing speaking as the Lord led, and starting our new nonprofit–A New Song International, (which I’ll tell you about in my next blog!).

A lot has happened in my life since I last wrote, but I now feel the Lord telling me to write again, though I don’t exactly know what that will look like in this season. And it is my prayer that you will be blessed as I begin to serve you through writing again.

Until next time,

Laurie

Today is another day. A day full of choices. We can gloat in victory or drown in our sorrows in response to the election results, or we can choose to believe in who God is.

Regardless of whether or not your candidate won last night, we can’t let individual preference or fear divide us. In a climate of hate or strife, let’s choose love. Let’s check ourselves continually to ensure that our thoughts and speech build one another up, that what we say and think is honoring to God and to one another. As followers of Christ, it’s imperative that we keep ourselves in check to ensure we’re promoting unity instead of contributing to the worldly divisiveness we see so much of in our country right now.

It’s not about who our president is. It’s about who we are as followers of Christ, first and foremost, and who we are as Americans. Christians are ambassadors of reconciliation, not division (2 Corinthians 5). We are the light of this world.

There is so much fear running through the veins of our country right now, and if we have any chance at unity, I believe we need to commit to listening to one another with compassion, without trying to push our own agendas forward. There’s a lot of uncertainty, which makes us all squirm, but let’s choose faith over fear and choose to believe that God does in fact make all things beautiful in its time (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I pray for each of us to be a beckon of light during this time. For our country to return to God, ask for forgiveness, and be healed. For unity in the church that spreads like gangrene throughout the rest of our society. For everyone who calls him or herself a Christ follower to take hold of proper perspective. To believe, and I mean TRULY believe, and act like Jesus is still on His throne.

Remember, He alone rules the nations (2 Chronicles 20:6, Psalm 22:28). Let’s abandon our worldly perspectives in exchange for Truth.

“For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28).

“’O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you…'” (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

(I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Romans 13:1-2).

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12).

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (1 Timothy 1-6).

“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14).

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

Psalm 146

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,

in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;

on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the Lord his God,

6 who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them,

who keeps faith forever;

7 who executes justice for the oppressed,

who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;

8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.

The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;

he upholds the widow and the fatherless,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the Lord!

Any thoughts? Share in the comments.