laura gould

Ezekiel 16:49-50 "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it." This may seem contradictory because I've been posting so much about growing my income with It Works.  The reasons I decided to go for it with this network marketing business are that I enjoy helping people and I really believe that the products and the company are truly helping people.  I just read about a woman who was sleeping on the floor in a one bedroom apartment with 3 kids who has succeeded with the business and is making more than she ever though possible.  It's helping her.  What Tim and I discussed is that if we end up making crazy money with It Works and we're debt free with a home of our own (we're seriously considering building a self-sustaining Earthship ), we will live on a set amount an...

Wow.  It's been over a year since I've posted.  I knew that the last two blogs I wrote were about my search for "prince charming" and being alone.  It's amazing how things can change in a year.  Just to update, I'm now happily married and living in Columbia, South Carolina.  My loneliness continued for a while, and then towards the Spring of last year I made up my mind to enjoy being single spend time doing things I love.  I was working at a restaurant , which is honestly probably the best restaurant I've eaten at.  I dropped out of grad school, because honestly, I hate school.  It's no fun.  I'm just not an academic person.  As much as the food industry is something I enjoy, because I love food so stinking much, I was restless and wanted to be involved in a career where I was really helping people.  So my search began for finding employment elsewhere.  I applied for Children's pastor positions, various non-profit jobs, and a c...

I recently finished reading Hind’s Feet on High Places, an allegory that depicts the spiritual journey a crippled girl named Much Afraid takes to be united with God.   The Shepherd (Jesus) calls her away from her family on this long, treacherous journey to the High Places.   He gives her the companions Sorrow and Suffering to guide her on this dangerous path.   She holds their hands through much of the Journey, although she literally feels pain from hanging on to them.   One of the places she journeys through is the Sea of Loneliness.   Its winter and she just walks along in the Lonely for a really long time.   A little bit later when she makes it to the High Places (a mountain), she bathes in the healing waters (where her legs are straightened out and her bumps, bruises and cuts disappear) but she is up there alone on the beautiful mountain for a little while before the King (God) comes to see her and take her to even higher places.   What stood out t...

I jumped in to a convo some guys at work the other night were having about women.   I think they were complaining, actually.   Apparently we've been feed Disney fairy tales and chick flicks since we came out of the womb and have this skewed view about our expectations for the perfect guy.   My response to them was, "Well, yeah, I figured out over time that most guys, even the decent ones are assholes."   And I really believed that when I said it, and they agreed with me.   But then my buddy Drew brought up the point that they aren't necessarily assholes, it's just that women are sensitive to things that men necessarily aren't and both sexes have expectations that differ from one another.   And we talked about it for a while, but by the time I left work I  wanted to cry.   I have been hurt by a guy or two in my life, but I also know that it IS true about Disney fairy stories, they are in fact FICTIONAL.   At the same time I felt discouraged be...

Found these quotes about the difference between boys and men. Pretty interesting. I've dated both. "Boys are students: Men are teachers Boys are consumers: Men are producers Boys play with toys: Men work with tools Boys break things: Men make things Boys ask questions: Men give answers Boys are disruptive: Men bring order Boys run in gangs: Men organize teams Boys play house: Men build homes Boys shack up: Men get married Boys make babies: Men raise children A boy won't raise his own children: A man will raise his and somebody else's Boys invent excuses for failure: Men produce strategies for success Boys look for somebody to take care of them: Men look for somebody to take care of Boys are present-centered; Men are time-balanced, having knowledge of the past and understanding of the present and a vision for the future Boys seek popularity: Men demand respect Boys are up on the latest: Men are down with the GREATEST." PS- boys are a waste of t...

Lord, immerse me in your love that I might love others. If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Take...

written in 2007.... I'm trying to do homework right now...theology homework...but I'm thinking about other topics besides Pentecostal Soteriology. I'm thinking about truth. I'm thinking about love. I'm thinking about justice. I'm thinking about how I have come to believe the things that I believe....and I've been thinking about these things for years. I love Jesus. And I want to know Him. I don't want to develop a theology or philosophy on life...and I want to know Christ and the power of his ressurection and the fellowship of his sufferings. I think the most important thing in life is how I live it. How I love people. How I forgive people. I mean those things are the most important things. I could think and write notes and blogs and posts and go on and on about lofty ideas but if my life does not reflect any of these thoughts, I'm just a sounding brass or a clanging symbol. I get frustrated with myself because I'll talk about int...