hope – Laura Bennet

New Release – New Life

April 1, 2023

It seems fitting that with Easter right around the corner, I would release a book about new life after death. That’s what Jesus offers us through his death and resurrection. In only a week, we’ll be facing the biggest decision of our life.

Maybe we’ve already chosen to receive the love and forgiveness of Jesus that brought us into an incredible relationship with God, or perhaps we haven’t yet accepted the love and forgiveness Jesus offers.

Either way, at one or multiple times, we’ve probably faced death. Maybe the death of a loved one (praying for those in Mississippi and Nashville) or even the death of a dream or expectations of something good.

What I know from my experience, is that death of any kind hurts. We need to grieve, process, let ourselves be comforted, but only God can bring new life from death.

Both books I’m offering in the next 10 days show the aftermath of where death can take us and where Jesus can take us from there. They hold the Easter message in different ways, but with the same hope of redemption.

My prayer is that aside from the bunnies, peeps, and colored eggs we will be most keenly aware of and receptive to the power that Jesus holds over death – the same power he gives everyone who believes in him. Life is precious. New life is possible.

NEW RELEASE – Available NOW!

FREE e-book on Amazon April 1 – 5th
Charlotte Lane Murphy doesn’t remember the night that will change
her life forever. As she sits in prison worrying about the trauma to her three young children and trying to recall anything that will help her case, she wonders if she’s crazy.

But when defense attorney, Noah Rivers, is assigned to help her where her memory won’t, she’s beyond grateful. Even though Noah disappeared years ago after a mysterious suspension, he’s reluctantly returned to fight in court again. Especially now, since he’s convinced Charlotte isn’t capable of murder. But if she didn’t inflict the fatal wounds, then there must be a killer in the shadows. Is her family in danger?

Noah’s on a mission to uncover evidence to clear Charlotte while she
faces the reality of her abusive marriage and shallow faith. Trusting God to lead them, together they fight to reveal the truth. Is a second chance at a new life possible for
them both?

GET IT HERE

If you haven’t yet read Rachel’s Story and are a fan of writing or shows that bring the Bible to life ( anybody watching The Chosen? Yes!!), you or a friend might like this book.

Rachel’s only son is murdered by Roman soldiers carrying out Herod’s search for the promised king, Jesus the Messiah. Nothing can console her and in her pain, she makes choices that bring more destruction to her life.

Only Jesus can heal her wounds, but first she must learn to forgive the Forgiver. An Easter story of a broken life needing redemption.

You can get your e-book copy FREE from April 6th – 10th.

GET IT HERE

Happy Easter! He is risen!

It’s That Simple – Part 5

December 26, 2022

The Week After Christmas

It's the week after Christmas and all through the town, 
people sigh with relief and think of when to take down 
the tree and it's trimmings, the lights on the house, 
the snowflakes, and candles, or return the new blouse?

But the manger with angels and wise men afar, 
do we pack it away like we load up the car?
What if Jesus could stay in our lives all year long? 
What if joy, peace, and love were more than a song?

Could life be as simple as receiving a babe 
and believing the man who said he would save?
Does the letdown of Christmas have to stay in our hearts 
with no hope 'til next year when holidays start?

Today as you're thinking of what is to come, 
the debt-laden bills and "will there ever be sun?"
Remember that Christmas is more than a story, 
in an old book--it's about heavenly glory

Our Father in heaven loved us so much
that he sent his son Jesus to keep us in touch
He longs for our heart to respond back to him, 
with love for our Savior and faith deep within

He did all the work years ago on the cross
If we choose to say "no" we're the ones suffering loss
But if we say "yes" to being with Him, 
he'll keep us forever and save us from sin

It's simple, not easy to give up our pride
and choose to be humble and trust that he died
For every dear child he made from the start. 
God doesn't need money, he just wants your heart

He's light in this darkness, the answer to fear. 
He's willing and waiting for all who will hear
Today can be Christmas with peace all the time, 
if only we'll trust him and our ways decline

Yes, it's that simple.

It’s That Simple – Part 4

December 23, 2022

A baby. In a feeding trough. In the middle of the night.

We make it look all pretty, don’t we?

But the rough, raw truth of it – a young teenage girl traveling miles on a donkey to a town she didn’t know with the man who wasn’t yet her husband to give birth with animals in the dirt is as simplistic as it gets. No hotel with room service. No service at all. Just some straw. No midwife or hospital. A young woman giving birth with no one to attend her except a man. At that time, in that culture, the entire situation would have been embarrassing.

Can we say “awkward”?

Why a baby?

Why didn’t God sweep down from his heavenly throne and announce himself with trumpets so we’d be sure to recognize him? Why enter the world on a donkey with a donkey to a girl, not a queen?

God uses the simple things to confound the “wise.”

He wants us to love him not explain with our human reasoning why and how he can’t possibly exist. We’re intelligent. Created in his image means we have the capacity for so much creation, discovery, and understanding if we are yielded to him. But when we rely on ourselves, we miss all there is thinking that we know all there is. We only see a small part of who God is and become puffed up in pride.

I know this. I can do this. I have to figure this out. I can tell you what’s best.

Or maybe it’s as simple as God bringing Jesus into the world the same way he began the world.

What if he knew we would never be able to love him, ourselves, and others without us receiving his love first? What if Jesus coming to us humbly as a baby without claiming his creative, God rights was to show us how simple it really is to receive his love?

His love that makes a way for us to be in relationship with him for eternity – because he is beyond time.

Could it be that simple?

Do You Read at Christmas?

December 22, 2022

If so, you can get this story that begins in the little town of Bethlehem. A young mother whose baby boy is slaughtered when soldiers come looking for Messiah to kill him struggles with her grief and despair.

It’s easy to read stories in the Bible and think they are just stories, but those people lived real lives just like us. What would you do if your child was murdered?

Rachel’s story takes us through unimaginable pain. She can’t find comfort anywhere she looks. And to make matters worse, the one hope she had in life, the coming of Messiah, is tainted by the fact that he is the reason he son is dead.

What does it take for Rachel to finally forgive the Forgiver?

Journey with her to find out.

FREE on Amazon December 22-26.

My gift to you. Merry Christmas!

It’s That Simple – Part 3

December 20, 2022

“It was time I quit running.”

Two young men said the same thing to me as I led them at separate times to the restroom to change after being baptized at our church last weekend. It was my group’s task and privilege to direct the soaking wet people to the facilities so they wouldn’t get lost. I congratulated them again before pointing out the basket for their towels sitting outside the restrooms.

As we walked, both said they had been running from God for years. One said it had been a decade. They both knew God was calling out to them, pursuing them with his kindness and love. I don’t know either one personally, but at our church, each week we celebrate each person who decides to start a relationship with Jesus. Then, every couple of months, we have baptism Sunday during which time after our services, believers choose to be submerged in water to show publicly the choice they made in their heart. It’s an incredible time of hearing how God has loved his children into his arms through his grace.

I don’t know if you’ve been running from God or you know him and have just been running from something he’s told you to do. Maybe you didn’t even realize you were running until reading this, but now you feel a tugging at your heart, and you know that it’s God.

Both young men described the place where they finally let go of trying to figure out things their own way and gave in to God. Their radiant faces and excited voices proved they were so glad they did.

Another young man being baptized said he’d been in a state of deep depression for ten years. I’m not sure how old he was (everyone looks young to this aging lady now), but I thought how sad he had struggled through what appeared to be his teen and/or young adult years. He showed up at our church only a few days prior to this, said yes to Jesus, and for the first time in years was free from the heaviness of depression.

We cheered with him.

I later learned that one of the guys I walked with had been a serious gang member before he quit running and gave in to Jesus. A woman shared how she lost her son and so many other things in recent years. After turning to Jesus, she found love and peace, a community to be a part of, and the man who she claimed is the “love of her life.” The truth of this showed in the way he stood with tears in his eyes, supporting her and celebrating with her.

Story after story of young, even children, and old—a woman closer to my age who knew Jesus but had never been baptized—told of how they just said “yes.”

It’s that simple.

God created and loves all of us. He won’t stop pursuing us with that love even if we turn to a life of crime, ignore him, or think we aren’t worthy. He doesn’t want to shame us or condemn us, he wants to cover us and draw us into a close relationship with him. Jesus took all our sin on him to make the way clear for us to enter into the holy presence of God.

It’s as simple as stopping our running, turning around, and running into his arms.

If you’ve been running, you can stop now and tell him you’re sorry, you need him, and you want him to change your life with his forgiveness, grace, and presence.

Yes, it’s that simple.

It’s That Simple

December 10, 2022

The world is a complicated mess. That’s not going to change for the better. As a matter of fact, “All the stars in the sky will be dissolved and the heavens rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.” That’s in Isaiah. In the Bible. Telling of what will come some day…soon. (Chapter 34 if you want to read it.)

It’s a little hard to imagine. But maybe that’s because we as humans are pretty full of ourselves. We believe we’ve discovered, created, and figured it all out. How much we think we know, but how limited our knowledge is.

We complicate things with our discoveries, philosophies, and our opinions of them. If we just think this way or say that thing, we can make it so. It’s that master of my own universe thing.

But what if we’re wrong?

What if we were are simply created by a Being that gave us characteristics like himself, little replicas of his Divine existence?

If there is a God who existed before time as we humans know it, and he decided to created a universe in which planet Earth is circled by a source of power he made to sustain it, and then he chose to share that incredible, beauty with beings he formed to be like him, with the desire that they would care about him the way he loves them, how would that change the way we think?

The way we act? The way we live and treat others?

What if the Bible was God’s letters to us that explains it all with deep, hidden mysteries easily found by those who are willing to think outside our human box of understanding?

What if “I AM” is actually before the beginning and after the end?

Could it be that simple?

Get Both Free!

November 28, 2022

If you’ve been waiting to read the rest of our story, you can get the e-book now. For 5 days, November 28 – December 2, it will be FREE on Amazon before it goes up to the regular price.

If you’re waiting for the paperback version, pray. It’s been a 3 day nightmare of formatting issues I’ve never experienced before. But, God will prevail and I’ll keep you posted for the print version too.

Not only can you get the NEW RELEASE free, but I’ve made The Miracle of Us: Confessions of an Online Dater FREE through this Thursday so you can refresh your memory or read the beginning of our story for the first time.

If you read our story years ago and need a refresher of hope or if you’ve never experienced what trusting God for next steps is like, you can read our incredible story here. FREE this week only. November 27 – December 1

We pray you had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of beautiful memories. May these next weeks leading up to Christmas draw you into the hope, peace, and joy of Jesus as we anticipate celebrating his birth.

Why Faith?

October 13, 2022

These are days of walking by faith.

If ever there was a time in which we must cling in faith to the unseen God—YH WH, Yeshua—by the power of his Holy Spirit in us, it is now.

But why?

Unless someone has absolutely no contact with the world, the events all around us from natural disasters to various forms of political unrest, are obvious. We have entered a time when no one is immune in some way or another to many forms of destruction of property, finances, beliefs, families, etc.

And while there is nothing new under the sun, according to King Solomon’s words in the Bible, the challenges experienced by millions over thousands of years have escalated and compounded in recent years.

So what holds people together? What is it that makes us persevere in the face of multiplying hardships?

Faith.

Every night most of us go to bed without questioning whether we’ll wake up the next morning. We sit down on our favorite chair not imagining its collapse. For many, turning on the shower or lights doesn’t make us hesitate and wonder if they will go on. Every day we exhibit some form of faith.

But if we engage in all those daily activities without giving a thought to having faith, what do we do when faith actually makes a real difference in how we think, live, and treat others?

According to Hebrews chapter eleven, it’s by faith that we understand this world was created and is sustained by God. A loving God who made each of us so intricately that science is still just figuring out how it all works.

People all through the ages have sought God and listened to him instruct them in his ways, many of which seem crazy.

By faith, Noah built a massive boat to save his family from rains that had not yet been experienced. Abraham and Sarah had a child at the age when most people have already passed away. Moses raised a stick to split a sea to save his people. Rahab believed in a God she had never known and saved her family when Jericho’s mighty walls crumbled. David, as a young shepherd boy, slew a giant with a sling shot and stone, and became a king.

That’s only a few of the countless stories passed down through the years.

Some might say “tall tales.” But I’ve seen God do enough crazy and miraculous things in my life and in the lives of others to know the truth of what God will do when we have faith.

That same chapter says that people have conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained promises, shut the mouths of lions, stood in the midst of flaming furnaces, and escaped death. They routed armies, fought various battles, saw their sick healed, and some even experienced loved ones raised back to life from the dead.

In every case, their weakness or fear was turned to strength and courage because of faith.

We can certainly use some of that today, don’t you think?

Imagine if each of us had faith enough to believe that giving a bottle of water or a hug to someone might change their life. What if we gave a few extra dollars to help buy someone’s groceries or a meal? Maybe faith looks like traveling to a disaster area to help pull people from fire, flood, or rubble. (We’re seeing that happen here in Florida right now.)

Faith might be worshiping God in public to offer hope, praying for a neighbor, or running for an elected office. Even simple social media posts created in faith encourage thousands, or millions.

It’s true that some have been and are currently being tortured and killed because of their faith. Persecution is real and not only happening in Ukraine, Armenia, or China. Those who choose faith in Jesus are empowered by God so that even if their body is harmed, they will live forever.

God tells us that those who put their trust in him will never be disappointed. He will never leave us and is always faithful to us whether we are faithful to him or not.

There will come a day when we will each be in the presence of Almighty God. He knows whether we believe what his written word, and his living word, Jesus, says to us. We’ve either responded to his love for us by putting our faith in him, or we’ve turned our back in disbelief.

If now is the time for faith, that day will be the one that matters most.

What have you put your faith in?

I choose Jesus.

Don’t Be Surprised

August 27, 2022

Every day I see a new headline or post that makes me shake my head even though I know that I shouldn’t be surprised. Over two thousand years ago, Jesus told his followers not to be alarmed when famine, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, and disease would start taking place all at once in multiple areas. He said that people would hate and betray each other and many believers would be deceived.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul gives a list of how many would act. He said that people would:

Not acknowledge God
Claim to be wise
Idolize people and lifestyles
Degrade their bodies with one another
Lust for the same sex
Commit indecent acts
Have depraved minds
Be full of evil, greed, murder, and deceit
Gossip about and slander each other
Be God haters
Be arrogant, insolent, and boastful
Be senseless, heartless, and ruthless
Know the truth, but deny it
Encourage others to do the same

Sounds a lot like television, movies, social media, politics, and the news, doesn’t it?

He also reminds us that one has only to look and acknowledge creation around us to know there is a God who made everything including us, so we have no excuse.

Everyone has free will. God loves us, but he won’t force anyone to love him back. If the act of giving up himself, his son, Jesus, to die on the cross and take all our sinfulness on him isn’t enough to show his love for us, what would it take for people to respond with gratitude, praise, and love in return?

But I understand that the majority of people won’t.

It makes me sad to see the heartbreaking mess the world is in, but we shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus warned us. So did Paul, who was once someone who murdered those who followed Jesus. No one is beyond God’s grace. He doesn’t want anyone to be separated from him. But if that is someone’s choice, God loves them enough to allow their choice and let them go their own way.

Maybe things aren’t too different than they were then. Maybe they’ve simply escalated to where they are now. Perhaps, it’s just that now we have the technology to see everything all over the world as it happens so we are aware. But we’ve been warned.

And we have a God who loves us and will see us through to the moment when Jesus returns to draw those of us who love him to his side. In the midst of all the evil, heartache, and chaos, Jesus is our hope and peace.

I may be surprised when I see the things that are happening in the world because I can’t understand why people would choose those things instead of an abundance of peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. (The fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives when we receive Jesus.)

But I’m not surprised. He told us not to be alarmed. I believe Him. I’m resting there in the midst of the storm until I see him face-to face.

Bitter Betrayal

July 25, 2022

We are approaching World Day Against Human Trafficking at the end of this week. July 30th marks a day when all over the world, more people will be made aware of this atrocity. This post titled Betrayal that I read recently on Red Tent Living, took this to new depths for me. I know that evil in the world is increasing and being uncovered. We as Christians are not perfect, but being perfected by the power of the Holy Spirit. But it seems that we are seeing a wider chasm between those who truly follow Christ and intentionally live that out daily and those who claim the title, but revel in the world’s spiraling downfall of sin.

Is there a more brutal betrayal?

On a residential street lined with leafless trees, I had just reached my car, feeling relaxed from a massage, when my phone rang. My husband was coming home. He worked so much my heart leapt. Maybe we’d get take-out and watch a movie as we snuggled up. Yanked from my reverie, I heard, “I’ve been accused of sexual harassment.” Suddenly, the overtime, the snazzy outfits, and the STD he’d explained away took on new meaning. I collected my wits. This wasn’t a phone conversation.

In a panic, I called my counselor and left a message. I can never repay her for calling me back that night and grounding me as the earth quaked beneath me. I’m not sure how I drove home safely.

In the privacy of our home, I learned that the harassment my husband was dismissed for was only the tip of the iceberg. There are no words for the pain of discovering that my beloved—the one man I had begun to trust, who knew my story of being trafficked as a child—was purchasing trafficked women. How could my beloved…the charming, respected, Christian leader…be a “john”? I well knew that Christians purchase trafficked women, but I’d married a good man, hadn’t I?

I reeled from the data of his unchecked sexual addiction. It was so like my childhood abuse, and he…suddenly so like my perpetrators. The level of duplicity, lies, deception, heinous sexuality, cruelty, and remorselessness… Perhaps the most difficult of all his betrayals—he had used my story to get in with women and to fan the flames of his twisted desires.

I tried to gather the pieces of the man I so desperately wanted him to be and put them back together, but they no longer fit. I couldn’t unsee the other man. Who would believe me? I couldn’t. And yet, I knew this other man; my abusive childhood had habituated me to betrayal. I used to question how I could have married a good man. Heartbreakingly, I now knew that he fit into my story like a missing puzzle piece.

Divorce wasn’t supposed to be my story.

We were supposed to be holding hands in old age. But it became clear he was committed to not engaging his brokenness, and I began to believe I was worth more.
As a divorcèe, I have learned that even in this modern era I am an outsider. A friend once told me, “The stigma of divorce is still very real.” I didn’t want to believe that but, sadly, it’s true. A thousand experiences conveyed this; I’ll share two.
Though few knew the details of my husband’s betrayals, in a coupled world there was immense societal pressure to repair or tolerate his addiction. It was bewildering and excruciating how seldom any responsibility was placed with him. This painted for me our cultural view of women. It didn’t matter what the betrayal, how profound it was, or how repentant or unrepentant my husband—it was my fault and mine to repair.
My childhood trauma is easy to blame, but his addiction pre-dated our relationship. And even if it hadn’t, what we don’t say is that there are things that no one should ask of his or her spouse. I’m not sure how it became woven into our cultural belief that men can’t help themselves, but they have as much agency as women, and it has been used to wield great harm. Dear reader, my husband chose to break our covenantal vows. He chose how he broke them. And he chose not to seek healing.
If I may be so bold, I know some of you may have a similar story. Your spouse also has agency and you deserve to be honored. However it comes about—whether through your spouse’s repentance or your leaving—you deserve more.
As I mourned, I came to see my trauma as a death. The death of my marriage. The death of my beloved in my life. The death of our dreams for the future. The death of my hope of having children in my arms. It was the rending apart of lives intertwined for a decade and a half. But I began to realize that in our culture we have no traditions of mourning divorce. There are no flowers or cards. No meals brought by friends. No mourning clothes. No bereavement leave. No funeral. No graveside service. No marker upon which to weep. I was wholly alone. It was me and my four-footed friend trying to wake for another day, sort out how to make ends meet, and fight for the hope of a brighter future…a future too far off to see.
I am in a better place now, but it’s still a battle. Every weekend, vacation, holiday, and child’s laugh, I’m reminded how alone I am and the dreams that once were.
The author prefers to remain anonymous.

I applaud this woman for choosing to move forward in spite of horrific situations. To survive being trafficked is horrendous enough without living through this on top of it. I pray her story will encourage many others in their journey.

You can do your part in the fight against trafficking.

If you have been a part of this–whether by choice or coercion– know that it is never too late to turn around. Jesus already forgave you and by acknowledging that, he can make a way out where there seems to be no way.

If you would like to help, but you aren’t sure how, you can become educated through reading or participating in local, national, or international organizations who are in the fight. Here are some I support and learn from:

A21 https://www.a21.org/– based in Australia this international group fights with awareness, intervention, and aftercare
Not for Sale https://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ – originally based in San Francisco reaches areas that are most impoverished to create better situations to reduce trafficking where it starts
Bridging Freedom https://www.bridgingfreedom.org/ – based near Tampa, FL is a safe house where trafficked children can heal

There are many others, but these are my current personal choices which I support from the proceeds of a couple of my books that deal with trafficking. I give half of the proceeds from those sales each year.

For this week, July 25th – July 30th, by purchasing either Dangerous Ground or A Mighty Wind, you will get to enjoy reading a novel while learning a little more about this subject AND you will be giving to an important cause at a crucial time. I will donate 100% of the proceeds to these three listed organizations. It can be a way of you giving to help those in this situation. Perhaps you would like to share a copy, give a couple to friends and family, or donate some to your local organizations!

Thank you in advance from those who are healing or still need rescue.

Laura Bennet – Author

Sharing Stories of Hope, Healing & Redemption.

Tag: hope