Posts by Laura Puiras (Page 10)

I don’t know about you, but my family is FULL of all sorts of different characters… we have the clowns/jokers, the serious ones, the ones who need loads of attention and the ones who thrive behind the scenes! We have a whole slew of political and religious views, hurts and failures, life experiences and lessons learned. Despite us all being VERY different, there is a certain bond that exists among us that simply cannot be broken! We are family. Whether…

Last week, my roommate’s dog pooped in our apartment. Gross, I know. My first thoughts, after “OH COME ON!!” were about if she was okay! The only other time Shy had pooped in the apartment, she had been sick and I was concerned she wasn’t feeling well again… I found out later, she had been rushed in the morning and simply couldn’t hold it any longer. (I promise this is going somewhere!!) As ridiculous as it might sound, I feel…

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones…

I’m not quite sure how we already got back to the first day of a new year… or how it took SO LONG all at the same time! With 2020 finally in the rearview mirror, there seems to be a certain amount of closure taking place – a certain type of relief. We’ve made it through one of, if not THE most difficult year, many of us have known in our lifetime. As challenging as it has been, I really…

A few months ago I was feeling especially sad… tragedy had hit the home of a very dear friend and the weight of pandemic realities seemed unbearably heavy at times. I found myself crying way more than usual and for a little while I wondered if something was wrong with me. After all, depression and anxiety had been very real struggles for me in the past… but this sadness was different. The best way I could describe how I felt…

Take heart, Beloved. Take heart in the midst of your struggles and striving.Take on, instead, my burden which is light.Take upon your back My yoke… Which is easy.Take my strength and my support. I am longing for nothing more than to be your everything.Your everything!So take all of me!Take everything that is mine and make it your own!It is all your very own!!For we are one… What is mine is yours and I long for you to extend all that…

Hey Lifespring, I really wanted to write you guys a note of encouragement for today’s devotional. I feel like the Lord simply wants to cheer you up today. To lift up your eyes and have you look upon his loving smile. To pause for a moment and hear him call your name; to receive the short and sweet, “I love you, Child!” In times of accelerated growth and excessive changes it can seem counterintuitive to slow down or to shift…

“…and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:5 In Finland during the winters, people will create something called a ‘lumilyhty’ which directly translates into English as a ‘snow lantern’. You make a whole bunch of snowballs, all the same size, and then pile them up to build what looks like a mini fort or tower. Once you have built…

Spend some time reading and reflecting on this poem by Hanna Glover: OUR JOURNEYBy Hanna Glover We meet again,in the stillness of my soul.I hear a door openand footsteps come toward me. Here we are again,here I have come again,waiting for you. In beds of flowers and leaves,I rest.I am choosing to remember thatI was made to be lovedand I was made to just be. I followed you across fields,mountains and lakes.I have never tasted anythinglike this valley I have…

Having grown up with memory verses in Sunday School, as well as in my Bible classes at school-school (shout out to NTCS!), meant that there are certain phrases that have made themselves at home in my memory banks… Every now and then they pop into the forefront of my mind and it happened again the other day! I was in the backyard enjoying some fresh air and realized that the flowers I’d been caring for way back in August were…

The more we speak about maturing and growing in our spirituality, the more I see us being called to action! One of the most beautiful things about the Gospel – the Good News – is that it can/will look like so many different things! There isn’t just one way to live out and experience the Gospel. Good News to me might look a little different to me than it does to you… Even though it might be a bit of…