About Me

Just like it says above, this blog is a place were I can share treasures. A place I can share Bible verses, sermons or thoughts that have helped and encouraged me. My hope and prayer is that they will do the same for you. My name is Laura and I come from Northern Ireland but for the last 20 years I have lived in Denmark with my husband and 3 children. My husband is Danish so he is the MAIN reason for me living where I do. Our children are not so young anymore, our oldest daughter Sara is 19, our son Andrew is 17 and our daughter Leah is 13.

Saturday 30 April 2011

Love is in the air....

Yesterday Prince William and Kate got married and there was wedding fever everywhere. Being totally into romance, I joined the fun. I ooohhhhed and aaaahhhhed everything. I had really looked forward to seeing William´s face as Kate walked up the aisle to him, but I had forgotten that in England the man stands with his back to his bride. Here in Denmark the man watches his bride as she walks up the aisle to him. I really like that. I usually don´t look at the bride when she comes into the church but look at the man to see his face. The love and joy that shows in his face always makes me smile. 


So after seeing William and Kate´s wedding I went into youtube and watched the Danish Royal wedding that took place a few years ago between our Prince Frederik and his Mary- an ordinary girl from Australia. I was ooohhhing and aaaahing all over again! haha

There is a short clip below. Have a look...


 I love the way Frederik is so emotional. He has a hard time keeping it together and then he sees his bride and a smile appears on his face. 

When the father and bride come up and bow to the Queen he can hardly hold himself back from going over to greet them. 

As he and Mary sit and wait for the service to begin, he whispers something to her, she lays her hand on his leg and he takes her hand and strokes it. The stroke that speaks a 1000 words. 

There is nothing he wouldn´t do for her. You can see he loves her, you can see he would protect her, you can see he rejoices over having her in his life.

All this made me think about a verse from the Bible....


Isaiah 62, 5 " as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you."

Isn´t that wonderful?!!! God rejoices over you and me today in the same way. He loves us, He cares about us. He takes our hand and strokes it as if to say, "I love you. It´s ok, I´m right beside you" There is nothing he wouldn´t do for us. He wants to protect us, comfort us, help us. He wants to go through life with us - sharing everthing. I´m glad I have that kind of God:-)

Sunday 20 March 2011

Me and my big mouth



Do you ever have a big mouth? You know, a time when you open your mouth and you just put your foot in it, or a time when you open your mouth and horrible, nasty things come out of it!?? Well if you have never been there, I sure have!! I have been challenged to do better! Let me tell you what happened.....

About a week ago I was listening to some teaching, while cleaning at work. It was really good and what the guy was saying was really speaking to me. He at one point, used a verse from James which especially spoke to me. It was from James 3,17 "Where there is envy and strife there is confusion and every evil work."  He went on to talk about how we sometimes treat strangers better than we do our own families. He talked about how we should be peacemakers with all, but especially at home with those we love. He spoke about how when we allow strife into our homes we open a door for the devil to come in and steal and destroy. So this challenged me. I thought to myself....." I am going to make sure I am a peacemaker, especially at home, I am going to keep strife out of my family"  I was totally on a high - I was going to be victorious in this!! Then came the challenge.......

I had a teaching period with my 4th graders, last hour on a Friday,  they were terrible! I went home totally drained and not in the mood to be a maker of anything, never mind a peacemaker!!  The goal of keeping strife out of my home had, temporarily, been forgotten. 

Meanwhile at home Andrew was meant to have done a list of things for me. We were having guests and he had promised he would take care of some things. When I came home I found him happily working away on the tasks he had been set. He had finished some things, but some were still needing to be done. 

Now I was expecting everything to be finished, all ready for me coming home. Things were not as they should have been and that set off the launch system for being nasty, in little old me! And because I wasn´t feeling like being peaceful, believe me, I wasn`t! 

Poor Andrew got the blunt of all my frustrations. I ranted and raved like a mad woman and after about 5 minutes, right in the middle of a raving sentence I heard, in my thoughts...."Where there is envy and strife there is confusion and every evil work!

 I wish you could have seen me! (well, on second thoughts - maybe not!)In the middle of my ranting and raving I stopped. I was creating strife in my own home, I was causing confusion, I was opening a door for the devil to come in and steal and destroy. I immediately stopped, right  in middle of my sentence. I told God I was sorry. I told Andrew I was sorry, I explained to him about the verse and all I had heard that morning. I asked him to forgive me, we hugged and then together set about finishing the tasks. The atmosphere was totally different. It was an atmosphere of love and joy, not strife and grief. I was so thankful for that verse, and that God used it to convict me. I could stop and change.

Conviction is a wonderful thing, but if we are not careful the devil takes that conviction and turns it to condemnation. He tried to do that on me. Not long after I was thinking..."You are a terrible person, you blew it again, you are a terrible peacemaker, terrible mum etc..." 

Now years ago that would have worked on me, I would have felt condemned and felt like I had to punish myself for my mistake. Feeling so unworthy I would find it hard to pray, after all I was such a terrible sinner, I had no right to ask God for anything. I would then spend 3 or 4 days telling God how sorry I was for that one sin over and over again, until I finally felt like I had "paid" for the  sin. 

Now days that doesn´t work on me. As these thoughts came I said  "Devil I am forgiven, you are not going to condemn me, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. I am forgiven...I am a child of God" and I moved on working happily with Andrew, feeling at peace. 

Conviction is a wonderful thing. When God convicts you, thank Him for it. Take a look at yourself and see how you are becoming more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. What you get convicted about now, you might never have been convicted about doing 3 years ago...praise God for that. Thank him for the fact that you are growing.  Don´t allow the devil to condemn you. If you allow him to condemn you that will keep you away from your time with God. When you feel condemned, you feel unworthy, you feel you have no right to go before a holy God, and that is exactly what the devil wants. He wants to hinder your relationship with God. 

Anyway, I got a bit carried away there with conviction, that wasn´t really what this post was about, but rather about how God is teaching me to keep strife out of my life and out of my familie`s life.

  I can choose how I will react in different situations, I can choose what I will allow to come out of my mouth in different situations. I need to choose wisely. 

To end a verse from Proverbs, which is my memory verse for the next few weeks......It´s taken from The Message Bible which I think says it so clearly.

Proverbs 18 v 21   "Words kill, words give life, they´re either poison or fruit - you choose!"

Let´s choose wisely! Let´s choose to bring life to other, to speak fruit and not poison and let´s choose to keep strife out of our lives and our homes. 

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and a wonderful week:-)



Sunday 20 February 2011

You want peace?

Isaiah 26, 3 says:  You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 




Been thinking about this verse this evening. I think peace is something we all want in our lives and this verse tells us how we can have it - by having our minds "stayed" on God. 


I looked up the word "stayed" and the dictionary said "to continue to be in a place or condition."  Ummmhh Does my mind "continue" to be on God or do I let the troubles of life take my focus of Him? (I suppose I have to be honest!! haha) 
So to be honest, I do let "life" get my focus at times. 


If I have a problem what do I usually do? (Suppose you want me to be honest again!) Well,  I "continue" on that problem. I think about it, I worry about it, I reason about it, my mind gets "stayed" on my problem and what is the result? I lose my peace because my mind is not "stayed" on what it should be stayed on - GOD!! The more I focus on God, the more I think about who He is, how great He is, how much he loves me, the more I trust him. The more peace I have!!


I thought this was a good verse to start the week on. Who knows what this week will bring, who knows what  troubles and worries will knock on our door.But I know that I am going to work on my mind, on having it stayed on God and not on life. When I do my part, God does his and the natural result is peace! A peace way down, deep down in my heart:-)

Monday 14 February 2011

Part 2


Just thought I would upload the second part of the message on "What would Jesus think" for anyone interested in hearing it.  (The first part is under Sunday 13th February.)

Sunday 13 February 2011

What would Jesus think?

This morning as I lay in bed I listened to this teaching by Joyce Meyer. I was challenged and blessed...in fact I need to listen to it again!! 


I thought I would share it on here - a treasure for the heart.


(If you have never listened to Joyce before, now is your chance. I know that for years I never listened to her as I had heard many rumours about her. For years I believed the rumours. One day I decided to judge her for myself and not listen to what others said about her. To judge for myself I needed to listen to her and hear what she had to say. At first her style of preaching didn´t appeal to me, but once I got used to that what she said started to bless me.) 


What I like about her is her practical teaching, she helps you put God´s word to work in your every day life.  She is so open about her life and things she has gone through and struggled with. She herself was sexually abused by her father throughout her childhood. What God has done in her life is amazing. He has changed her, she is living on another level with God. 


I encourage you to take time and listen.....


Have a great Sunday:-)

Thursday 10 February 2011

The reason why?

I´m being challenged these days about my relationship with God. How well do I know God? Do I only know about Him or do I REALLY KNOW Him? Is there room for improvement?  


Off course, there is always room for improvement:-) No matter how close you are.


My prayer this last while has been the verse in Ephesians 1,17


"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father, may give you (me) the spirit of widom and revelation, so that you (I) my know Him better!"


I really don´t want head knowledge about God I want heart knowledge! I want revelation!


I suppose the reason I started this blog is to have a place for me to write down things that I have discovered while studying the Bible. A place to gather my thoughts, share my thoughts, ask questions, examine new thoughts and to share the treasures that I find with others. 


I also have some sermons that I have shared in church at one time or another. I thought maybe it would be good to share them on here too. I was blessed and challenged as I prepared these, so maybe someone else will be too.