laura gould

Abba, Daddy, Creator Who lives beyond time and space; dwelling  in the infinite, You are holy, That is, you are perfect in Love Bring your kingdom to us who are hurting, fatherless, afraid, oppressed Free the captives Establish Peace, satiated in Love Heal the brokeness in our hearts and the earth We cry out for Zion A community living inside the least of these Today we ask for an abundance of wisdom, We thirst for your living waters Quench us Forgive our tiny acts of hatred and selfishness For the pain we have inflicted to our brothers and sisters May we remove every plank in our eyes Every act of selfishness, disrespect, unlove, unpeace Judgement In our words, in our glances, in our communication We are not victims, we have perpetuated the Curse Forgive us Lord.  Bring to our minds the faces of those we have violated That we may repent and beg forgiveness Father, we, in turn, forgive those who have done us harm Remove these encumbrances ...

Yesterday I was walking after a 4 mile run (I am training for a half marathon-who knew?) and I was thinking about how alive and energetic I felt, how I'm really excited about the path that God has me on, and how I got here.  I have found a contentment, joy, peace, and happiness that seemed to evade me for years.  This is a definite contrast to where I was in 2010... I am pretty sure I was experiencing what John Mayer would call a "quarter life crisis." I felt lost, afraid, uncertain, ugly, insecure, and honestly, useless.  I was working an insane amount of hours, barely making over minimum wage, and I had a degree!  Wasn't that nice $20,000 + piece of paper supposed to make me more marketable?  I think for years I just thought I would meet the right guy (he was going to be a COG pastor, of course, or a music minister), we’d get married, and I would start popping out babies.   There was no need to find any career because the church, ...

This just makes me reflect on differenct experiences I've had within the church.... "Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. "The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God's Law. You won't go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don't live it. They don't take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It's all spit-and-polish veneer.   4-7 "Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in...

I am currently working at a Dental office in Greencastle, PA.  It's so much fun I can hardly contain myself.  :)  I never thought working as a receptionist would challenge my views of the poor/helping the poor but it has.  I spent a year in the DC/Baltimore area and got to spend a lot of time working with homeless and outreach ministries.  My heart has been stretched and I feel made like God's in regard to helping the poor.  I am reminded of the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25 and there's some pretty strong language in there about not helping the poor.  BUT What does that mean exactly?  I see people come into our office every day that have been living on the Pennsylvania Access (welfare) card for YEARS.  They do it, they teach their kids to do it, and their grandkids do it.  It's a way of life.  There is actually a form that the doctor can sign proving they drove to the office in order to get reimbursed for the...

Have any of you seen anything on the Oprah Winfrey Network yet?  There are some interesting programs on their.  I recently watched Lisa Ling's "Our America", which was about faith healing.   She documented a healing retreat at a healing ministry in South Carolina.  I must say I was really nervous watching it.  Of all of the arguments I have heard against faith in God, one of the strongest is the lack of the supernatural miracles of the Bible happening in today's world.  Even though I knew the show was pre-recorded, I found myself praying that Lisa's show would capture a real miracle at this event. She followed two people closely: one woman dying of cancer and a paraplegic man.  Both were praying for total physical healing.  Both had great faith.  Both left the healing retreat with the same ailments they came with.  I was just about heartbroken at the end of the show.  I really wanted to see that guy pushing his whee...