Author laralove

Dear friend, ……. So I began this Monday morning spending time with Jesus and the Bible feeling I would finally be able to come up for some air! Two-week anniversary of my ex-husband’s death, spiritual warfare almost relentless, exhaustion from being on the road for the Lord, ongoing personal decades-long challenges and battle, a call this weekend to an old friend to tell her about my ex-husband only to find out she had committed suicide, and two big losses in New York City concerning something I had loved and counted on. Just a bit of rest please, Lord? Not so! 12-year-old paralyzed Mr. Simeon woke up with a big fever, listless, and other symptoms. Had to rush to get diapers changed on him and paralyzed Miss Mercy, rush out to get the other two handicapped dogs walked, figure out how to get 2 paralyzed dogs and wheelchairs in a cab, only to discover my building would in minutes fill up with tons of firemen looking for a possible gas leak someone had called in. Trying to figure out whether to rush the dogs to the vet or wait and see if the dogs in the apartment would be okay. Gas leak was ruled out & off we went. Found a cab by God’s grace alone. Off to the vet. My third doggy emergency in two weeks, and thank the Lord waiting for test results but so far Mr. Simeon seems to be okay. Last two emergencies were about $500 total, this emergency was just under $500, winter dog coats for all 4 doggies will total about $400, ongoing BIG ministry costs, and now without the test results so far I’m told he already needs multiple visits and special medicines for one of his known problems. More bills! By God’s grace alone, I gave Gospel tracts to a fireman, the gas company checking for a leak, the people in the vet waiting room, the desk staff who took about 20 of them and gave some out to staff. Then we walked back to the apartment where we stay until our next location & had numerous opportunities on the way to pass out tracts. Oh, did I mention several cabs for us wouldn’t stop. Then Jesus sent a cab who loves the Lord and shared verses with me along the way. He got a tract also! Believe it or not, this morning before it all began I did lots of writing including starting a piece on how the best way to go through a day is to give it to the Lord and to let Him order our steps. To trust in Him and let Him lead the way. He sure did today! Exhausted? I’m too tired to even know! Thankful? Oh, yes! I believe the Lord tested my faith today. I put my trust in Him and because of Him passed the test. Friend, I sure could use prayers! I sure could use encouragement! I sure could use DONATIONS FOR THE DOGGIES & for the ministry as a whole! The Lord keeps growing and growing this ministry, and I would LOVE loads of ongoing prayers & lots more people who are led to give and help me move forward in my calling to help people to find and forever follow the Lord Jesus Christ! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GIVE! IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE WITH THE LINK, PLEASE CLICK ON THE DONATE BUTTON ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS PAGE OR CALL ME AT 843-338-2219 OR email me at lara@GoodNews.love. THANK YOU!

PLEASE BE SURE TO click on READ MORE and SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY!………. LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, I have been crying out desperately, desperately, desperately to the Lord for help, freedom, and wisdom regarding something that has been weighing me down terribly. I am well aware the devil is trying exceedingly hard to stop me and this ministry from going forth. I am 100% certain the Lord will answer my cries, that my victory, freedom, and deliverance are in, through, and for Him, and am fully confident despite this latest season of various trials that the Lord in His love, mercy, grace, and sovereignty will carry me through and lead me forth. ALL for HIS GLORY! Those of you praying for me and this ministry, please would you carry on? Thank you! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, Sin is sin is sin and all sin needs to be purged from our lives, but some sin to me sure stands out more than other sin. Like the despicable sin the Spirit of Christ recently showed me I had fallen back into. The Lord used a precious friend who talked and prayed with me to show me I had been exalting, magnifying, idolizing, and essentially worshiping a human being along with – yes, along with – loving, serving, obeying, adoring, worshiping and glorifying God. Sounds like adultery, doesn’t it? Not leaving the marriage, but acting immorally on the side. Oh, such wicked, wicked sin! To be clear and candid, I did not in any way lose my exceeding love for and passion and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in fact I believe my passion and devotion were growing in me, but at the same time I had set someone up on a pedestal and made an idol of that person. Sin, sin, sin. Sin that needed to be purged of. Just days later, how shocked I was when the Lord showed me I had also been exalting a group of people! Sin, sin, sin. More sin to repent of. I REPENTED! How indescribably thankful I am the Lord is so loving and merciful in His conviction and chastening and calls to repentance, and thankfully I repented as soon as He showed me what I had done. I want to encourage you, friend, to be very careful not to put people and groups of people where only the Lord belongs. And to realize when we do this, it can be so subtle that we may even miss it. We may not see and realize what we have done. When the Spirit of Christ brings to our attention this wickedness, WE MUST REPENT. IMMEDIATELY. And remember that THE ONLY TRUE GOD is THE LORD JESUS CHRIST who WILL REIGN FOREVERMORE! Please examine your heart, friend. Is there anything or anyone in your life you have knowingly or unknowingly made an idol? If so, REPENT. AND GLORIFY AND WORSHIP THE LORD! “Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Psalm 29:2 ““You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3 love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION BE READY TO MOVE “Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose and went.” Acts 8:26-27 “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8 “So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.” Acts 9:6-8 One thing that stands out to me in the Bible when it comes to the Lord’s servants and followers from the start of the Bible to the finish of it is that those who were totally committed to the Lord were ready to go when the Lord said go. They were prepared to move when the Lord said move. And they got up and went when He told them it was time. Those who truly loved the Lord obeyed the Lord, even when this meant going to new locations to do whatever He desired they do there. When the Lord gave them their marching orders, off they marched. No deliberation. No debate. No arguing. No resisting. No rebelling. Oh, sure, we all know Jonah rebelled before he repented and went. But those who from the start walked in love for and obedience to God almighty did what? AROSE! And WENT! For the past 2.5 years, I’ve been on the road for Jesus. I literally live day by day waiting for the Lord’s instructions. When He says it’s time to go to a new location, He knows my heart. I will go. He has convicted me when my heart was rebellious, He has led me to repentance when my heart was resistant, and He has taught me true love for Him and genuine obedience means I need to be ready at any moment to arise and go for the glory of Christ. Our culture teaches us to move when we want to move based on what’s in it for us. How will the move profit us emotionally, physically, financially, dream-wise, based on personal goals, dreams, desires, etc. But friend, we are to live for Jesus. And this means we need to be fully willing – and ready – to go when and where and to whom He sends us according to His plans and purpose. We pay a price in the flesh to deny self, don’t we? But oh, the thrill, the excitement, the joy, the wonder of being in Chris’ts forever fellowship and drawing ever closer to Him and experiencing the awesomeness of living to bring Him love, pleasure, praise, worship, and glory! AMEN! p.s. When the Lord tells us to move, it may be to another country for missions work. It may be down the street to lovingly help a widow. It may be to the living room to share the Gospel with a family member. It may be to another city for new work. It may be to move forward in the work we have been hesitating to do. It may be to move ahead in making the decision He is compelling us to make. It may be into a new relationship. It may be to move forward in our education because He is leading us to new work where we can show people the love of Christ. It may be to move to a new place spiritually by making a much deeper commitment to Him and to reading the Bible and learning to live by it. Whatever it is, wherever it is, when it is for the Lord, we need to arise and go forth! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessing #179 “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” Exodus 15:2 I memorized part of this verse years ago – long before I truly had an intimate, ever-growing, deeply personal relationship with Jesus. How much deeper is my understanding now, and oh, how much deeper is my love and thanksgiving for Him. Strength, song, salvation, and praise. There are simply no human words sufficient to describe the blessedness and blessings of the Lord. Let us speak and sing to Him from the depths of our hearts in demonstration and expression of our sincere, true, wholehearted praise and thanksgiving for Him! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL “Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.” 2 Kings 17:9 Anything stand out for you in the verse above? For me, it’s that the Israelites seemed to think their sin was in secret! But what can we possibly hide from the Lord? Nothing! Every thought, every feeling, every word, every action is in plain sight of the Lord God almighty. The more time I spend alone with Jesus, the more I read the Bible, the more I cry out to the Lord and desperately want to know Him, to grow closer to Him, to be changed by Him, to love, adore, please, and honor Him, the more aware I am by His Spirit who lives inside His followers of when I have sinned against Him. And the greater my longing to repent and do what is right instead. Let us not think we can hide anything from the Lord. We cannot. So rather than try to hide and excuse our sin, let’s come running to the Lord and purge ourselves from it and receive His blessed forgiveness for it. In our love for Jesus, yes! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23 I am so sensitive to cold that I can get goose bumps up and down my body when it’s 72 degrees outside! I love, love, love, family and friends. I like peace and quiet and cleanliness. I desperately desired for decades to have a loving man by my side. I dreamed of marrying and living happily ever after. Even in my single life after being abandoned by two husbands and being fully devoted to the Lord and ministry, at times I imagined having a loving godly man to love, worship, and serve the Lord alongside. So why am I single serving the Lord in New York City with winter quickly approaching? Why do I make this sacrifice? FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! AND FOR A WORLD IN DIRE NEED OF HIM. Yesterday, as I struggled so very much emotionally given a recent huge personal loss, spiritual warfare that never seems to end, and being so very much on my own in this big city, I walked down the sidewalk to Bible study and found a homeless woman crying. I knelt down to talk with her and quickly learned she was a believer in Christ who was struggling immensely with a number of issues and in desperate need of love, help, and hope. By the end of our conversation, she had my Gospel tract, a new devotional I recently wrote, my personal little pink Bible I love, a few hugs, a big I LOVE YOU, hope, help, prayer, and LOVE from a sister in Jesus. Our world and culture teach us to live for self and to strive for comfort, security, personal dreams, and anything that satisfies and gratifies me, me, me. I would love to be in Florida right now, I would love to visit family in Virginia, I would love to spend the winter in warm sunshine, I would love to live in an affordable peaceful, quiet, town, I would love to serve the Lord where I’m cozy and comfortable with plenty of loved ones nearby, I would love so very much what I so do not have. But I love the Lord Jesus Christ more than anything and anyone, and when we love the Lord, we obey and serve Him, and we need to be willing to make whatever sacrifices He desires we make. For His glory, friend, for His glory. Are you sold out to Jesus? Are you willing to forsake all for Him? Are you living for self, or living for Christ? Oh, live for Jesus! Live for the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, AMEN!

PLEASE BE SURE TO SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, Every which way I turn, challenges, challenges, challenges. Nothing seems to come easy to me. Never really has it seems anyway. If you ask me how I feel and what I experience in the context of this big world, I will be honest. I feel continually invisible, rejected, ignored, overlooked, forgotten, neglected, trampled over, stomped on, disregarded, left behind, burdened, weighed down, spit on and scoffed at figuratively anyway, so very much of the time. But oh, there is such a deep, deep raw beauty in this, friend. It keeps me more and more desperate for Jesus, more and more in need of Him, more and more cleaving to Him, more and more crying out to Him, and more and more desperate to help this world turn from its sins and turn to Him as Lord believing He is God in the flesh and died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead. I’ve been feeling extra burned out recently given my long-time personal challenges and the reality of being on the road for Jesus full-time with my crew of handicapped doggies, BUT I AM SEEKING THE LORD FOR HIS LOVE, STRENGTH, MERCY, BOLDNESS, COURAGE, AND PASSION TO PRESS ON IN THE LORD’S WORK FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST! Please, friend, keep me prayed up if you are so led. “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, As I go through a season of grief after losing my ex-husband a week ago who was a very significant part of my life for many years, I am reminded of how we can do two things with grief. We can turn away from the Lord in anger, bitterness, hurt, fear of more hurt, brokenness, etc. Or we can come running to the Lord and yield our hearts and lives to Him more fully than ever. I choose the latter. For I know when I place myself wholly in His hands, hurting heart included, He will use this season of my life to draw me closer to Himself, to refine me and make me more like myself, to test my faith and grow me, and to be more sensitive and helpful to others in my ministry work. Whatever season in life you may be going through, please friend give yourself wholly to the Lord. Yield yourself utterly to Him. Be entirely His. And watch what He will do in and through you. AMEN! love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION “She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness.” Proverbs 31:26 One of the blessings we miss when we don’t spend time alone with Jesus and the Bible daily is learning by His Spirit who lives inside His followers all the lessons and receiving all the wisdom and experiencing all the refining and transformation that comes in intimate fellowship with Him and study of His Word. Like this powerful nugget of wisdom in the verse above in all my time following Jesus I don’t ever remembering hearing preached. The Lord has gifted me in speaking, He has called me to streets ministry, I am constantly ministering to people, and He has blessed me with much wisdom from His Word and from life’s experiences to sow into people’s lives. But friend, for every time I have spoken without the love of Christ, and without the kindness of Christ, I have failed at most and fallen short at the very least in my mission for Christ. For God’s wisdom is to be received from Him and His Word and distributed to others IN HIS LOVE and IN HIS KINDNESS! This DOES NOT mean we won’t sometimes be called by God to be very firm, to be very stern, to rebuke someone, to confront boldly and strongly, etc. But it does mean the heart behind it and the way we speak still needs to convey THE LOVE AND THE KINDNESS OF CHRIST. I need this reminder. Do you? TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessing #177 “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 1:1 How easy it is to rush through what we read – even in the Bible, yes – and miss God’s countless treasures in His Word if we’re not enormously careful. Like these words I missed for years. “promise of life”. Jesus promises us everlasting life. Life with Him forever. Life in fellowship with Him now and everlastingly in heaven. When we repent and turn to Him truly as Lord. Nobody in the universe can offer us the “promise of life” as Jesus does. What greater blessing is there than the Lord and the “promise of life” forever with Him? NONE! Thank you, God, thank you Lord, thank you King, thank you Savior, for the “promise of life”! Oh, how glorious you are risen God! Risen King! Risen Lord! Almighty, almighty, blessed forever King! Jesus! AMEN! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL THE WATER PITCHER STORY “If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”” Luke 11:11-13 “But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”” Matthew 4:4 Once upon a time there was a water pitcher that was filled with water. The water was filthy. So every time a hand grabbed onto the pitcher and filled up people’s cups with the water, the people received filthy water. One day, the water pitcher realized the problem and decided to empty itself of all the filth. No more, no more, the water pitcher decided. Then the water pitcher turned to a source of pure, clean, delicious, refreshing, fulfilling, hydrating water and filled itself up with this water. The water pitcher was delighted to discover that now it would be able to pour into people’s cups wonderful water! The water pitcher made a mistake, however. It assumed this would be the case from thence forward. But not so, not so. The water pitcher found out if it didn’t continually empty itself of any filthy water and fill itself up with clean, pure water that it would go right back to pouring out filthy water. So the water pitcher, with this new discovery, made a commitment from that time forward to be diligent and devoted to purifying itself whenever necessary and continually being refilled with fresh, clean, and pure water for all the cups that it would henceforth fill! Friend, we who follow Jesus need to continually purge from ourselves anything ungodly, dishonoring, and displeasing to the Lord and to spend time each and every day at the feet of the Lord with our hearts and Bibles open being filled afresh with God’s Spirit who lives inside His followers, with God’s Word which is the Bible, and with the wisdom, love, mercy, grace, hope, peace, joy, and direction He pours into our hearts and lives each and every day. Let’s get rid of the filth and be continually refilled with the Lord so we can pour out onto the world around us the love, grace, mercy, peace, hope, etc. of the Lord Jesus Christ! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” 1 Thess. 2:4 “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.” Proverbs 29:25 Oh, how dangerous it is to fear people instead of to fear God as we are called to do. This is true in any and all areas of our lives INCLUDING IN THE AREA OF SERVING THE LORD. INCLUDING IN THE AREA OF PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE TO OTHERS! In the first scripture above, the apostle Paul and two of his co-laborers tell the Thessalonian believers they shared the Gospel message despite persecution and with boldness not trying to please the people but but instead pleasing God. Do you hold back from sharing the Gospel message because you’re afraid of people’s responses? Afraid of upsetting them? Afraid of rejection and persecution? Afraid of being laughed at? Afraid of upsetting them? Christ’s followers are called to tell others that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to a forever relationship with God. That we need to turn from our sins and turn to God and His ways. That we need to believe Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead. That true faith in Christ as Lord produces a lifestyle of living for Christ and no longer for ourselves and this world and the devil. Don’t fear the people, friend. Fear the Lord and proclaim Christ to this world in dire need of Him!

PLEASE BE SURE TO click on READ MORE and SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY!………. LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, Time for a handicapped streets ministry doggies update. Fourteen-year-old Abigail is shockingly healthy considering her age despite slowing down lots with her walking. She has had a tummy upset a few times in days past but seems to be on the mend. Twelve-year-old paralyzed Mr. Simeon is still struggling with chronic severe skin and ear issues but is otherwise doing miraculously well considering his paralysis and age. Eight-year-old paralyzed Mercy is wonderfully healthy despite being hit by a probable truck years ago and then almost dying several years back due to major health issues. Eight-year-old Gracie who had a veterinary emergency last weekend is doing beautifully well by God’s grace alone as I monitor her carefully. I confess having four handicapped dogs is A LOT of work especially on top of my normal ministry work and bein on the road for Jesus full-time, but the Lord gives me the love, mercy, grace, and strength to press on. I would greatly appreciate prayers for me and my beloved streets ministry doggies as we carry on, and donations for the care of the doggies and the ministry as a whole are always greatly appreciated! p.s. Never a dull moment in my life! Not too long after writing this, I had to bring Gracie back into the vet for a repeat of last week’s emergency bringing on another vet bill, more fatigue for an already very tired me, and careful continued monitoring of her condition! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, Sometimes when we’ve been really badly hurt by someone, or some people, or when we’ve gone through great trials and tribulations that broke our hearts, we may recoil from the world around us and try to protect ourselves from more hurt by putting up a wall around our hearts and keeping people at a distance if not physically at the very least emotionally. We think somehow we can keep ourselves from any more hurt by keeping any potential heartache further at bay. We may even distance ourselves from the Lord feeling somehow if we try to protect our hearts, they won’t be broken again. The Lord didn’t give us hearts to stay in hiding. He gave us hearts – and lives – to use to love, serve, worship, praise, honor, adore, lift up, exalt, magnify, and glorify Him and to love and serve others and to help them find and follow Him. He created us to be in intimate fellowship with Him through faith in Christ as Lord and to be in relationship with others. He created us through our lives being devoted to Him to live in FOREVER FELLOWSHIP with Him and those who follow Him in His everlasting Kingdom. The Lord has reminded me my heart isn’t mine anymore. It’s His and needs to be surrendered to Him accordingly. I am not to hold back my heart from Him and others for fear of more heartbreak. I am to give it wholly to Him for His use, plans, and purpose. How about you? Do you have some surrendering to do? love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION”Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you— therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith.” 1 Thess. 3:1-7 What did Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have to say to the Thessalonian believers in these verses? Lots. But one thing stands out to me right now. That they should not allow their challenges – their afflictions and tribulations – to shake their faith in the Lord. They sent their co-laborer Timothy to check on these believers and to encourage them IN THEIR FAITH. Friend, we need to learn that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ needs to stand strong no matter our trials. And we need to encourage one another as followers of Christ to persevere through our tribulations and afflictions. We don’t have to stand strong alone, do we? We have the Lord to give us His love and strength, His grace and mercy, His hope and joy. And we can love, encourage, help, support, and pray for one another as we learn day by day to walk in faith and love in Christ for the glory of the Lord, AMEN! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessing 176 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 Who is our strength? Who is our redeemer? Who frees us from the curse of sin that leads to death, hell, and the lake of fire forever apart from the Lord Jesus Christ when we repent and believe in Him as Lord, truly giving Him our hearts and lives? Who grants us eternal life we don’t deserve because He died on the cross to take the punishment we deserve on Himself? The Lord Jesus Christ! And should it not then be our privilege, our honor, and a blessing to cry out to Him to help us speak words and have thoughts that please our Savior and Lord? Oh yes! Clean our hearts, our words, and lives, oh Lord! Help us to be pure for you, dear Lord! Bless us with purity! Purify us! Bless us with holiness! That we would be honoring to you! Yes, oh Lord, we are so blessed that you desire we be in your forever presence! And that you would desire us to be pure for you, precious God almighty! Forever King, thank you, Lord, oh, thank you! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:” John 1:12 ““I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”” 2 Corinthians 6:18 I was going through a pretty hard little season of my life when the Lord stopped me in my tracks and spoke this to my heart by His Holy Spirit who indwells His followers. “YOU ARE MY DAUGHTER, MY CHILD, MY SERVANT, MINE FOREVER. MEDITATE ON THIS,” He said.  Friend, the Lord ONLY and ALWAYS speaks in line with the Bible. Anything we hear that does not line up with the Bible is NOT from Him. I knew immediately this was from the Lord because I have learned to recognize His voice and study the Bible daily so am able to discern what is from the Lord and what is not. Those who turn from their sins and believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross to pay our sin penalty and was raised from the dead, truly turning to God and His ways and enduring until the end (Mt. 24:13), are His forever. His children. His servants. FOREVER. The Lord wanted me in the thick of my trial to meditate on the fact I am His forever. His daughter. His child. His servant. Forevermore. If you have committed your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are His child and servant forevermore! Led to meditate on this? I most assuredly am! What an astoundingly precious and beautiful promise we can meditate on even as we walk through the trials of this life! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE “For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain. But even after we had suffered before and were spitefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict.” 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2 What is the most natural thing we want to do when we are treated terribly? Run the other way? Lash out in vengeance? What did the apostles do when they were persecuted for preaching the Gospel? Run the other way? Lash out in vengeance? THEY CARRIED ON IN THE LORD”S WORK! Friend, when we share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, rest assured we will face hatred, rejection, abandonment, ridicule, and persecution in one way or another and sometimes to exceeding extremes. Some will simply be hated. Others will lose their lives. There is a cost to doing the Lord’s work. What does the above scripture show us we should do? SHARE THE GOSPEL NO MATTER THE COST. Are you?

PLEASE BE SURE TO click on READ MORE and SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, I am pressing on in life and ministry day by day despite great spiritual warfare and much challenge personally, and I give the Lord the glory for the strength and perseverance. I could quit all and everything in a heartbeat given the degree of challenge right now, but instead I walk forward by faith in the love of Christ for the glory of Christ. Just this week, when I opened my heart and asked for prayer, a reader lashed out at me nastily making a rude and angry accusation essentially telling me what a horrible job I’m doing in my service to the Lord. My prayer request today is that you would pray for her and all the people worldwide walking in darkness who need the light and love and mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ and who need to turn from their sins and place their faith in Him as Lord fully entrusting their hearts and lives to the Lord and His ways. And, yes, please continue to pray for me and this ministry! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, I just found a note I had written after the Lord had spoken to my heart not long ago. This is what He told me. “I am not going to lessen your responsibilities because I am using your responsibilities to make you more like myself.” If you read my writing on a regular basis, you’re well aware that the Lord has given me a great deal of responsibility in life and ministry. He also thus far has given me very little human help. I’m on the road for Jesus full-time with 4 handicapped streets ministry doggies doing streets ministry and writing and publishing Gospel tracts, devotionals, and books that go out around the country with a bare-bones budget, no salary, no staff, just a bare few volunteers periodically, still very little financial support, and decades worth of personal brokenness and trials, tribulations, and tragic losses including just days ago. So when I cry out to the Lord He’s given me too much responsibility and not enough help, surely He will give me all the help I need, right? Right and wrong! He does not give me all the help I THINK I need. He gives me the help I DO need. HIMSELF! And HIS PROVISION. IN HIS TIMING. FOR HIS GLORY! And, as He told me that day, He uses my great deal of responsibilities to refine me. To mold me. To conform me to Himself. To teach me His ways. To test me. To grow me. Friend, I encourage you to yield yourself utterly to the Lord as He is teaching me day by day to do. To trust Him and what He is doing in and through your life. To not resist Him but instead to yield yourself so entirely to Him moment by moment, day by day, that He draws you to Himself, that He changes and transforms you, that He conforms you to His glorious self! AMEN! “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4 love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION DID YOU SHOOT THE MESSENGER? “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:12 Ever heard the expression, “Don’t shoot the messenger”? It’s a worldly term, isn’t it? It’s not a biblical one, yet I have a question to ask you. Did you shoot the messenger? From start to finish of the Bible, the Lord makes clear He uses both His Word and His children including the prophets to deliver warnings and messages to people so they turn from their evil ways and place their belief in Him as Lord whereby they genuinely commit their lives to Him. Time and again in the Bible, some heed the warnings and turn to Him. Others rebel and turn or keep their backs on Him. I have been on both side of the fence. I have received warnings and messages from followers of Christ. And I have been used by the Lord to deliver them. It hasn’t been easy on either side, to be honest. Sometimes it’s been downright hard. Many times when I received them, I rebelled. Over time, I learned to listen and obey the Lord. Many times, it’s felt virtually impossible to deliver warnings and messages. But the Lord has given me the strength. Back to my question. Did you shoot the messenger? Is there anybody the Lord has sent to you to issue a warning or to deliver a message whom you turned away, lashed out at, hurt, etc.? And did you rebel against the Lord in response to the warning or message He sent you? Friend, when the Lord shows us wrong, we need to seek His forgiveness and do what’s right. Including if and as He leads us to go to the people and seek their forgiveness. What does this take? HUMILITY. And OBEDIENCE to Christ. Let’s follow the Lord – and do what’s right. For Christ’s sake, YES! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessing #175 “You are my King, O God;…” Psalm 44:4 How utterly blessed we are that we who follow Jesus have a personal, glorious, wonderful, marvelous, loving, gracious, generous, almighty, all powerful, yes, all knowing, righteous, holy, giving, forgiving, merciful, tender, gentle, but stern and firm and stronger than imaginable, everlasting KING. King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He will reign FOREVER! Our blessed King, oh bless the Lord, how blessed we are – to have Jesus as FOREVER KING! Hallelujah! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL”The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; He is looking through the windows, Gazing through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.” Song of Solomon 2:8-10 I can’t believe a precious friend had the audacity after a long wonderful powerful conversation to all of a sudden abruptly without any warning get off the phone. A couple of quick sentences, a quick, “I love you”, maybe a few other words, another quick “I love you” in response to my “I love you,” then boom. Gone. Conversation ended. How selfish! How wrong! How – AMAZINGLY WONDERFULLY REFRESHINGLY INSPIRING! Not wrong! Not selfish! Absolutely INCREDIBLE – and GLORIFYING TO THE LORD! How so? My friend had a sudden strong realization in his heart that the Lord wanted his full attention and wanted him off the phone so he could focus on HIM. Yes, HIM. Yes, the Lord. And my friend wasn’t concerned about my feelings. He was concerned about the Lord’s call to him to give his ear and heart and eyes TO THE LORD! So off he went to Jesus. Friend, there should be NOTHING and NOBODY as important in the ENTIRE WORLD than THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! He should be our NUMBER ONE how often? ALL THE TIME! When He desires us to fellowship with people, we should. When He wants us to minister to people, we should. When He wants us to go to work, we should. When He wants us to talk on the phone, we should. WHEN HE WANTS US TO STEP AWAY FROM EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE, WE SHOULD! Need some alone time with Jesus? Need to step away from your everyday life and spend time with Jesus and the Bible? This is something we should do every single day – and every single time the Lord calls us to even if it’s multiple times a day or even in the middle of the night. Always, always, always we should be totally devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Filled with His Spirit and led by His Spirit living to bring love, honor, praise, joy, pleasure and glory to His holy most precious forever blessed everlasting name! AMEN! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE”But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.” Jude 20-22 “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1 Today, I had the privilege, honor, and, uh, honestly, the big scary task of being used by the Lord to deliver both a warning and message to one of His children. I went against my flesh and submitted to Christ. I obeyed, picked up the phone, and in His love by His grace in His mercy and strength did what He asked me to do. This time around, unlike so many other times, I wasn’t met with hatred and rejection. I was met with love and an open, humble heart. So very many times over the years, the response I received was bad. Even awful. But I learned something vital along the way. We need to fear the Lord. We need to not fear the people. We need to obey the Lord. We need to not obey our flesh. We need to humble ourselves before the Lord God almighty, seek Him, be filled with His Spirit, be led by His Spirit, and speak the messages and words He gives us. Two people I loved dearly hated me for speaking the truth in love to them so much so they turned away from me before they died. Yes, you read that right. They didn’t want to hear what the Lord gave me to tell them. They wanted to be loved and patted on the back and comforted and encouraged – but they didn’t want the truth along with it. When we serve Jesus in our everyday lives, we may well have times the Lord desires to use us to confront people with the truth in His love. Their responses may be painful, hurtful, even devastating. But at the end of the day, when our lives are over, and we stand before the Lord and have to give an account, we will be held responsible for the times we obeyed Him and delivered the messages He gave us – and responsible for the times we did not. Let’s take responsibility now. Let’s be faithful when we calls us to deliver messages in love to people. Let’s remember whom we serve. The Lord! The Lord who deserves praise, honor, glory, worship, service – and OBEDIENCE. Yes, let’s obey the Lord in all things!

PLEASE BE SURE TO click on READ MORE  and SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, Oh, how I sobbed when I learned just days ago my ex-husband had passed away. The Lord had blessed us with an amazing love, peace, mercy, and forgiveness in recent years despite an incredibly trying marriage, so the depth of my emotions that day and still just days later is great. But know what happened just a few hours after I received the news? I walked a good ways on the New York City sidewalks with two heavy packages jam packed with about 650 new devotionals I recently wrote to send to prisons elsewhere in the country. Why then? I wanted to make a statement! I will NOT be stopped from telling this world about the Lord Jesus Christ, not by the devil, not by my emotions, not by anything other than if one day the Lord tells me to stop! And given that I had spent years praying for my ex-husband and imploring him to make a full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ to ensure he had a forever relationship with the Lord and would end up in heaven the day he took his last breath, my fire and passion the day I lost him felt greater than ever. He did in fact make that ultimate surrender, praise the Lord, but there is a world full of people who are on the highway to hell right now many of whom even call themselves Christians but don’t understand eternal life s for whom? For those who turn from a lifestyle of sin, believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross and was raised from the dead to pay their sin punishment, AND FULLY DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO FOLLOWING JESUS NOW AND FOREVERMORE! It’s not about a simple quick prayer, or church attendance, or reading the Bible, but it’s about GENUINELY COMMITTING ONE’S LIFE TO CHRIST AND HIS WAYS! Friend, by God’s grace alone and in His strength alone, I am pressing forward in the work to which He has called me with a fiery desire that through my little heart, life, and ministry the Lord brings more and more people into His forever Kingdom and I have the opportunity to encourage more and more people in fully faithfully humbly and lovingly following Jesus day by day and forever. Please keep me prayed up! I need prayer like never before as I follow the Lord as He leads me forth! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, “Don’t take the bait,” the Holy Spirit who lives inside Christ’s followers told me early one morning as I lay in bed thinking about someone who had lashed out at me with nasty false accusations for no reason whatsoever. Why the warning? Sometimes the very best thing we can do when someone rails against us with anger, meanness, hurt, rudeness, etc., is to love, forgive, and TO BE QUIET. To shut our mouths and let the Lord be our defense and deal with the person. Yet sometimes the last thing we do is to be silent. Sometimes the first thing we do, in fact, is to engage in battle with the person verbally. And who wants us to hate and fight against and seek vengeance and get into vicious battles with those who hurt us? The devil! Friend, we need to NOT take the bait of the devil who wants us to fight instead of to love and forgive and let the Lord lead the way. There is a time and place to speak in return, and that is when the Lord leads us to do so and gives us the words to speak. There is also a time and place to be quiet in response, and that is when the Lord wants us to keep our mouths out of battle as He steps in to address the person in whatever way He desires. When people hurt us, how to respond? Love. Forgiveness. Mercy. For that’s the way of the Lord. As for our mouths, we need to seek the Lord and obey. I encourage you to take your battles to the Lord and let Him be your commander in chief. As for your mouth, if you’re His follower, your mouth is yours. Surrender it to Him as to if and how and when you respond. And I encourage you to do a study in the Bible if you are so led on the mouth, on words, on speech, on battles, on anger, on forgiveness, on whatever the Lord places on your heart to study in the way of how to deal with when people attack you! “You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.” Psalm 31:20 “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17 love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION OBEDIENCE IN THE HEART “And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” Hebrews 5:9 “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” 2 Timothy 2:20-21 One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned about obedience doesn’t come out of the pages of the Bible for me as much as it comes out of my very own life. And sad to say it’s what I have done WRONG in the eyes of the Lord that is what the Lord has used to teach me an exceedingly important lesson about obeying Him. Several times in the past year, including in recent days, the Lord showed me that while I was willing to obey Him in my physical actions, MY HEART WAS WRONG. I was willing to do what He called me to do, BUT MY ATTITUDE WAS TERRIBLE. I WAS RESISTING HIM IN MY HEART. I WANTED TO SIMPLY GET MY OBEDIENCE OVER WITH AND RUSH FORWARD WITH MY LIFE. I WANTED TO RUSH THROUGH THE OBEDIENCE BECAUSE I KNEW HOW HARD IT WOULD BE. In my heart, honestly, I was like a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum shouting, “I don’t want to! I don’t want to! No way! No way! Don’t make me! Don’t make me! UGH! No! Don’t make me do this!” Kicking and screaming in my heart! I wasn’t joyful, thankful, and yielded in my heart. My heart was filled with angst, self-will, worry over what the consequences of my obedience would be, and the wrong thinking that my life belongs to me, me, me instead of to the Lord. Oh, how I didn’t want to go forth in His will. He straightened me out. He led me to repentance. I needed His forgiveness. And I needed a changed heart. The Lord sees our hearts, friends, just as much as He sees our actions. And we need to desire to love, honor, and please Him IN OUR HEARTS – AND IN OUR ACTIONS! This doesn’t mean obedience will be easy. It may be gut-wrenchingly hard in fact! But those who love the Lord obey the Lord (John 14:15), and we need to do so in a way glorifying to Him – hearts included. And THE LORD WILL GIVE US THE STRENGTH when we choose to obey Him! Can you relate? When the Lord shows us anything in our hearts that displeases Him, there is only one right way to respond. GET RID OF IT! So that our hearts – and lives – are fully pleasing to Him! AMEN! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord! Please contact me if you’re interested in getting a copy! Blessing #174 “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.” Psalm 42:5 When we are down and feel unsettled, depressed, discouraged, even hopeless, we are blessed we can put our hope in Jesus and find reason to praise the Lord. For no matter our trials and troubles, He is greater than them all. And we who belong to Jesus will be with Him forever. And one day all troubles, all tribulations, all trials, all pain and tears will be no more. In His presence we who follow Him will be forever. Let us hope in the Lord! Let us put our hope in Him! How blessed we are in Him we can place our hope! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL “Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.” Romans 6:1-2 This passage is from the book of Hosea the prophet in the Bible, and it refers to the Israelites being called to repent and return to the Lord, but please don’t miss the message that may be in it for you. Friend, are you fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ in every area of your life, or do you have some surrendering to do? Do you have some returning to do? Please don’t wait any longer. When the Lord calls us to repentance, we must not wait for some future date. When He calls us to return to Him, to fully yield ourselves to Him and to His ways, NOW IS THE TIME TO REPENT. Please, if He’s calling you, REPENT, REPENT, REPENT! Return unto Him, AMEN! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE FIFTEEN MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 After a recent Bible study, I walked through the turnstile to wait for the subway only to find a homeless man sitting on the floor eating his meal as he cried. I went to him, and he told me very simply, “I want God.” Or was it, “I need God”? Either way, the message was clear. He needed someone to tell him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I needed to get back to care for my dogs and hopefully get some much needed rest, so I rushed back to the Bible study and begged two of my brothers in Christ to hurry and come and help the man. One of my brothers in the Lord hurried to him. I watched as my friend ministered to the man as the man cried and cried. Then my friend prayed for him and walked off to get a Bible for him. Know what the man told me? He couldn’t believe that a man had taken 15 minutes of his life to talk to him. He was literally in awe that a human being would give him that much of his time. Friend, in serving Jesus in our everyday lives, we must give of our hearts absolutely. We must also give anything the Lord desires we give whether the Gospel message, encouragement, love, mercy, a hug, food, clothing, shelter, medical help, etc. But let us not forget the exceeding importance of the GIVING OF OUR TIME. Is it not true some of us are selfish with our time? We who follow Jesus belong to Jesus. Time included. So let us give of it generously to the Lord and to others in His name. Those 15 minutes of my friend’s life were used by the Lord to help change a man’s life. Please give your heart and time to the Lord and whatever else He desires and let Him lead the way!

Dear friend, ………….. I apologize for not sending my GOOD NEWS DAILY to you in the past few days. This past Saturday, my ex-husband whom I dearly loved for many years and who was one of the most significant people in my entire life passed away. The other two most significant people in my life outside family members, my beloved long-time pastor and father in Christ, died tragically several years ago. My closest female friend who was like a sister to me was found several years ago dead with a shotgun wound to her chest. These are just several of numerous losses, trials, tragedies, and tribulations through the years. One day after the loss of my ex-husband, I had a dog veterinary emergency which cost a fortune. By God’s grace, thus far, Gracie is doing well. Nevertheless, it was exhausting to deal with this when I was already worn from the emotions of such a big loss. I have been under virtually relentless spiritual attack for quite some time now, have been dealing with a personal trial I am not led to describe at this time, and am exhausted from my ministry work and being on the road for the past 2.5 years for Jesus. Additionally, despite numerous announcements to thousands of people including just a week ago that I am in extreme need of more financial sponsors and donors for this ministry, only an extremely small number of people have donated for the past few years. In fact, on my birthday, after sending out a message to thousands of people asking for help, I received one donation from someone who I do not believe yet believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe one other person who believes in the Lord may make a donation in response to that request. You can only imagine how worn I am, how challenging each and every day is for me, and how I feel being in New York City with friends and family far away and facing winter knowing that I sometimes have goose bumps at about 72 degrees. I am in one of the most expensive, noisy, dirty, wild, crazy, and ungodly cities in the United States with 4 handicapped streets ministry doggies, an overload of work, not enough sponsors and donors, and a grieving, burdened, overloaded heart. So now you know what’s coming, right? That I am going to tell you it’s time for me to throw in the towel and give up my ministry work, find a little comfortable house in the south near the beach, get a little part-time easy job, find some new wonderful friends, and cozy up with my new safe and secure and lovely little life. Right? Isn’t that what I will now tell you? By no means! I AM 100% SOLD OUT TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND TO TELLING THE WORLD ABOUT HIM, AND IN HIS STRENGTH, IN HIS LOVE, BY HIS GRACE, IN HIS MERCY, FOR HIS GLORY, NO MATTER THE COST, I WILL PRESS ON. Please pray for me. Please pray for this ministry. Please pray for the dogs. Please pray for my ex-husband’s family. Please pray for all those who the Lord reaches through this ministry. Please pray for those on the front lines of serving Jesus worldwide. Please turn from your sins and surrender your life utterly to Jesus. Please tell the world about Him. p.s. What’s in my heart right now? Sadness? Yes! But more than anything else, LOVE, HOPE, PEACE, and JOY – ALL because of the Lord Jesus Christ, hallelujah, AMEN! “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:7-14 “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:39 In Christ’s love, Lara

PLEASE BE SURE TO  click on READ MORE & SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, If you read the book of Nehemiah about how the Lord used Nehemiah the King’s cupbearer to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and if you’re willing to dive deep with the Holy Spirit who is promised by the Lord to teach His followers His Word, you may notice something rather interesting about the enemy of Nehemiah and those rebuilding the wall. The enemy – a group of people in fact – are relentless in trying to come against Nehemiah and the builders. As a matter of fact, the enemy tries to STOP the builders from getting started, the enemy tries to STOP the builders from continuing in their work once they get started, AND the enemy still is coming after the builders AFTER they have built the wall! Friend, Satan is the enemy of God’s children. And he despises when God’s children are sold out to loving and serving Him. And he will go to any lengths to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He will use anyone and anything he possibly can to come against Christ’s followers and their service to Christ. He will try to stop us from getting started in what the Lord assigns us to do for Him, he will try to stop us in the midst of our work, and he will come after us after we have completed an assignment for the Lord. Some Christ followers experience less of this. Some experience a moderate amount. And some an extreme. But it all stems from Satan, and the only answer to it all is victory in, through, and for the Lord Jesus Christ. I am in the midst of fiery spiritual warfare right now, and it is exhausting and quite frankly hurts like heck. But in the strength of Christ for the glory of Christ I will persevere. And my prayer request today is that you would please if you’re led pray for all those Christ followers around the world who are missionaries, evangelists, pastors, any people at all who are on the front lines of helping to build and strengthen the Lord’s forever Kingdom of followers. I could use prayer beyond measure, but so could my brothers and sisters worldwide who are totally sold out to serving Jesus now and forever, AMEN! Thank you for praying for us all! p.s. I encourage you to consider reading Nehemiah, but most importantly to make and keep a commitment to spend time alone with Jesus and the Bible daily! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, Know what the Spirit of Christ who lives inside His followers tells me sometimes? He says: “You may do this BUT…” I emphasize the BUT. Here is why. Sometimes I have a strong mind to do something. The Lord makes clear He WILL ALLOW IT. But He also makes clear IT IS NOT HIS WILL. I feel strongly compelled to share this with you right now, and here is why. Is there something in your life you’re doing, or something you’re planning to do, or even simply thinking of doing that IS NOT the will of the Lord? Please seek the Lord. Please read the Bible to make sure you are in the will of the Lord as He will never speak to us anything against His Word. Please seek counsel from Christ followers strongly grounded in the Bible. Please pray. Please pray. Please pray. Please hear the Lord. PLEASE OBEY THE LORD. Life as a Christ follower is not about our will. It’s about the Lord and His. Just because the Lord allows us to do something doesn’t mean it’s His will. Let’s strive day in and day out to live our lives in a manner pleasing and honoring and in obedience to Christ! love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION LOVE’S RECORDS”Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV “does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs.” HCSB per Biblehub.com 1 Corinthians 13:5 I was heading right down the pathway of rehearsing in my mind all the wrong things a friend had done in the way of hurting me when clear as day I heard the Spirit of the Lord bring to my remembrance the scripture above. Strong conviction. Strong correction. Strongly necessary. Why? Friend, the Lord makes clear in His Word we are to live a lifestyle of love, forgiveness, grace, compassion, and mercy. Not of anger, hurt, bitterness, self-pity, holding grudges, being obsessed with others’ wrongdoing, judgment, condemnation, bad-mouthing, and vengeance. The Lord stopped me before heading further down that wrong pathway. He set me right back where I belong. On His way. The way of His love. What did I need to do? LOVE. FORGIVE. PRAY FOR THAT PERSON. And press on in following Jesus and fulfilling the Lord’s will for my life. How about you, friend? Got some loving to do? Some forgiving to do? Some letting go of the past to do? Wish I could say I do any of this perfectly. I have such a long, long way to go. Perhaps you do also. But when we’re on the path of Christ, yielding ourselves to the Lord and His ways, we can trust His Spirit will lead us forth, bring correction when we need it, empower us to do what is right, and remind us when we need reminding that the life of a Christ follower belongs to the Lord. Now – and forever. AMEN! Please note I normally in my writing use the NKJV version and sometimes KJV version. With 1 Corinthians 13:5, a number of times in different translations the original Greek words are translated into essentially love not keeping account of wrongdoing. Please consider doing your own study on these verses using a Bible dictionary, Strong’s concordance, or however the Lord might lead you. Bottom line, we are called to love and to forgive as the Lord Jesus Christ so blessedly modeled and models to us! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessings #157-173 “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth— Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, And does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.” I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness In the great assembly; Indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth From the great assembly. Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; Let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me! Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion Who seek to destroy my life; Let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor Who wish me evil. Let them be confounded because of their shame, Who say to me, “Aha, aha!” Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.” Psalm 40 Seventeen blessings in a single psalm? Absolutely! Honestly, you will likely find plenty more than 17 even in this single psalm if you dig deeper. The Bible is so full of blessings a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to find them all, would it? Just look at – and be thankful – for some of the blessings in this particular psalm. * We can and should wait on the Lord, and He will hear us! * When we cry out to Him with humility, with repentance, and in faith, He will bring us out of the pit of discouragement, despair, hopelessness, etc. * He will give us something to sing about – HIMSELF and His greatness – in PRAISE! * He blesses those who trust in Him and do what is right! * His “wonderful works” are endless, aren’t they? * He teaches us to desire to please Him by doing His will! * We can read the Bible and fill our hearts with His Word – His law, His truth, wisdom, promises, etc.! * We are blessed when we tell others of the Lord and do not hold back proclaiming Him and His greatness! * It is a blessing not to hide but to declare to others His faithfulness, salvation, lovingkindness, and truth! * God’s mercy, lovingkindness, and truth are without measure in their awesomeness! * We can be overwhelmed by our sin and its consequences, but the Lord will forgive us when we repent! And we can cry out to Him for His mercy and deliverance! * The Lord will deal with our enemies! We don’t need to seek vengeance nor should we! We need to forgive and hand them off to the Lord! * Those who seek the Lord have reason to rejoice and be glad and celebrate for the greatest joy of all is the Lord! Everlasting joy we find in Jesus! * We can magnify and exalt and lift up and proclaim the Lord and find happiness in doing so! * When we humble ourselves and confess our poverty and need, we are blessed for we can be confident the Lord cares for us, loves us, thinks of us, and desires to provide for us! * He is our help and delivers us! * As patient as we must be in waiting on the Lord for He is the one we need, we can cry out to Him in utter desperation and beg Him to hurry and answer our cries – and rest assured He will answer when we humble ourselves before Him! In His timing, of course, for His glory, absolutely! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 “Do you want what’s easy, or do you want what will please me?” the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as I knelt on the ground with my face near the floor huddled and humbled before Him pouring out my heart to Him. I had just finished telling Him what I – yes, I – felt would be easiest in a particular situation. Very much easiest in fact. For He had given me something hard to do. Very challenging. To my heart. Something in which I needed to be exceedingly vulnerable in one of the hardest of ways for me. Now there I was telling the Lord how I thought things should go. Never a good idea. Oh, sure, we can speak our hearts to Him. But, ultimately, HE IS LORD. And we must – yes, MUST – bow down before Him. Not just on our knees, if we so choose to do when we pray – but IN OUR HEARTS. YIELDED TO HIM. SURRENDERED. To the Lord. And to His will. I knew what I needed to do. I needed to persevere in obeying Him in this particular area of my life. No matter the cost to my flesh. No matter how much day by day I would have to die to self. To live for Him. Do you see the intimacy in this, friend? Do you see the communing with the Lord? Do you see the closeness? The nearness to Christ? That I can hear His very Spirit speak to my heart. That I know in His chastening, in His corrections, in His refining, in His call to obedience, in His conforming me to Himself is His love, grace, and mercy? Do you see how I can recognize His very voice? Knowing He always and only speaks in line with His Word which I read and apply to my life daily? Friend, this is not because I am anyone special. Not because I am better than. Not because I have done anything incredible. I am nobody. I am nothing without the Lord. I consider myself the worst of all sinners saved only by His grace. I am not special. I am simply surrendered to Jesus and to the Bible. Wholly His. And, as such, I am blessed with an incredibly intimate and ever-growing relationship with the Lord. You can have the same, you know. Turn from your sins, believe in Him as Lord who died on the cross to pay your sin penalty and was raised from the dead, and truly commit your life to the Lord and His ways. Spend alone time with the Lord and the Bible each and every day. Surrender yourself utterly to Christ. Learn to pray to Him and to hear from Him and to measure what you hear against the Bible. Live a life of obedience to Christ. Praise and adore and worship Him. Serve Him. LIVE FOR HIM! And know the beauty and rawness and sometimes so very much hardness and incredibly indescribably wonderful blessedness of being in intimate fellowship with Jesus – now and forevermore, AMEN! TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE THE HEART BEHIND GIVING “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”” Luke 21:1-4 Some people believe the Lord calls His followers in the New Testament to tithe. To give 1/10 of their income toward the Kingdom of God. Some believe the tithe goes to a church. Some believe it needs to go to a church, ministry, missionary, etc., in other words to some aspect of the building of the Lord’s forever Kingdom. Some believe followers of Christ are to simply give an offering rather than necessarily a definitive tithe. Regardless of how people understand the Lord’s Word regarding giving, it is undoubtedly clear we are to give. Period. End of conversation. But is it? No, it’s not! For isn’t the most important thing of all not the amount we give but the heart behind it? Does the Lord not tell us He desires we give CHEERFULLY? Does He not honor the widow with the tiny bit of money who gave essentially everything while the prideful Pharisees gave a tiny bit out of their wealth with uncharitable arrogant hearts? Is it possible what matters most of all is that we yield ourselves and our possessions utterly to the Lord and to His will and that we give however He desires whenever He desires wherever He desires to whomever He desires with hearts filled with love, humility, joy, and thanksgiving? And is it not possible that the idea of giving and generosity extends far beyond giving from our wallets, pocketbooks, and bank accounts? I believe so! And I believe we would all be wise to examine our hearts before the Lord to make sure we are giving of everything with which He blesses us exactly how He desires. Not to get anything in return. But to honor and obey and serve and glorify the Lord God almighty. AMEN!

PLEASE BE SURE TO click on READ MORE and SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, I’m back in the battle. Seriously in it. Spiritual battle, that is. The kind of battle with which I’m all too familiar. Christ followers can be sure spiritual warfare is part of our journey following the Lord Jesus Christ. And rest assured if you’re in full-time ministry, on the front lines so to speak, out on the streets, on the highways and byways, sold out to Jesus, living and breathing for Him, forsaking all for Christ, yes, the battles can be fiery and sometimes seemingly relentless. I’m blessed so very thankfully with an incredibly deep and intimate and ever-growing personal relationship with the Lord, I am continually seeking Him and hearing Him and humbling myself before Him and striving for a lifestyle of obedience to Him. When it comes to spiritual warfare, then, I am able to very clearly hear His wisdom and instructions in the midst of the battles as He brings me through them. That said, I am not on the battlefield alone! I have the Lord above all else, I believe I have His angels all around me, and I am so very thankful for those led to pray for me. Please pray, friends, please pray! As I press on in the Lord’s work. For the glory of Christ, AMEN! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, THE BIG RELINQUISHMENT. These words just came to me. Why? I have been spending a little morning time with Jesus. Precious time. Time with the Lord always is. The Lord once again has been reminding me that He bought me with the price of His shed blood on the cross. He redeemed me from the curse of death, hell, and the lake of fire we all are under as sinners against God. He died on the cross for me and was raised from the dead to be the atonement for my sins – and for the sins of all of us all around the world. He gave me the promise of everlasting life when I turned to Him as Lord. I am His. But do I think this way? Do I feel this way? Do I act this way? Do I live this way? Do I understand I belong to Jesus now? Forever? Do you? The Lord has been speaking to my heart about humbling myself before Him and submitting myself to Him – in all things. My wishes, wants, and ways need to be laid down at His feet. I need to relinquish all day by day to the Lord. I need to surrender all. Friend, I encourage you to consider this. Everlasting life with the Lord instead of death, hell, and the lake of fire is for those who turn from our sins, believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross and was raised from the dead, turning to the Lord and His ways. Receiving Jesus as LORD and as SAVIOR. Do we truly understand when we receive Jesus as Lord, our life becomes His? That He has bought us with the price of His blood shed on the cross for us? Do we live our lives accordingly? Humbling ourselves before Him as Lord and living according to His ways rather than the world’s? Have you surrendered all to Jesus? Is it time to do some relinquishing? Anything you are holding onto you need to yield to Jesus? Turn, turn, turn to the Lord! Yield everything to Jesus! Oh, how I encourage you to give all to the Lord! Give all to Jesus, AMEN! “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:20 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1 love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION THE BED BUGS STORY – AND MESSAGE! “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”” 2 Timothy 2:19 A friend of mine shared with me that bed bugs were found in the apartment above his in New York City. Yes, ugh. Big ugh. His response? He wanted to make absolutely certain the apartment management company sent an exterminator over IMMEDIATELY – the very same day! – to make absolutely certain his apartment was fine. If not, he wanted the apartment taken care of – yes, IMMEDIATELY. This was plain and clear in how he spoke to me. I can’t blame him of course, but there is a message in this for you and me, friend. Our hearts and lives should be pure and clean at all times for the Lord Jesus Christ. We’re imperfect humans, of course, so along the way the Spirit of God who lives inside His followers shows us when we have fallen into something dishonoring to the Lord. Sin, yes. Why does He do this? So we can sit and think about our wrongdoing for days, weeks, months, and years to come? Or not even think about it but simply continue in it? No! So we can IMMEDIATELY address the problem. So we can IMMEDIATELY get rid of whatever we have allowed into our hearts and lives that displeases the Lord. So we can PURIFY OURSELVES – NOW! So we can repent – THIS VERY MINUTE. So we can be clean and pleasing to the Lord, yes. My friend was adamant he didn’t even want the bedbugs from someone else’s apartment getting into his. He was so emphatic about not wanting bedbugs that he didn’t even want to wait until he had the problem. He wanted to prevent it! Friend, we should so love and honor the Lord Jesus Christ that we strive day by day to purify ourselves when we have fallen short and work hard to avoid falling in the first place. In the Lord’s strength, in His love, by His grace, in His mercy, for His glory, yes! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  BLESSING 156 “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.” 1 Chron. 1623 What an awesome, awesome blessing that the Lord is worthy of all our praise forever, and that He gives us opportunities day by day to love Him, worship Him, pray to Him, honor Him, glorify Him, and to tell the world about Him. What a privilege, honor, and blessing it is to declare the good news of Jesus who is forever Lord to a world in desperate need of Him! Oh, bless the Lord, friend, bless the Lord! Praising Him when on our own – and praising Him before others! Praise, praise, praise the Lord! How blessed we are to praise the Lord! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL WHAT CAN YOU GIVE? ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 “Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”” Mt. 6:38 “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:15 The Lord has been working on my heart in a certain matter. The matter of hurt. Yes, big, hard, hurt. The kind of hurt that causes the heart to want to run and run and run away somewhere safe and secure and protected from any more hurt. But what has the Lord spoken to my heart about this hurt? Specifically right now when it comes to one particular person and the way the person is hurting me? The Lord has made known to me He doesn’t want me to run from the person. He wants me to GIVE to the person! Can you imagine? To GIVE to the very person hurting me? Would the Lord really call us to do something like this? Always, always, always measure what you believe you hear from the Lord against the Bible. The Lord always and only speaks in line with it. Read the verses above. Read the Bible in its entirety. The Lord is so very clear when it comes to loving Him with all our hearts and loving others – even when they hurt us! Oh, yes, there are times the Lord calls us to walk away. To distance ourselves. To take a time of separation. To end a relationship. When it’s His will, that is what we must do. But even then, we are to love and to forgive. But what about when He calls us to stay in someone’s life and to love, to forgive, and to GIVE to the very person who is breaking our hearts? What must we do? LOVE AND OBEY THE LORD! So we must GIVE! But how? Isn’t this impossible? Doesn’t this hurt like crazy? Doesn’t our flesh feel like it’s dying when we have to humble ourselves and GIVE in such cases? Oh, yes, we may feel like our flesh is dying! And so it is! And we are very much so called by Jesus to DIE TO SELF and to LIVE FOR HIM. How can we do this? As Christ’s followers, we are filled with His Spirit. We can ask for a fresh filling of His Spirit. We can pray, pray, pray – for the other person and for ourselves that we might obey the Lord. And, in Christ’s strength, His love, mercy, compassion, caring, kindness, hope, joy, peace, and forgiveness, we can GIVE to the very person He calls us to give to. Oh, how my flesh wants to RUN, RUN, RUN. But I will stay. I will stay and LOVE and FORGIVE and GIVE to this person – and to any others the Lord desires – IN THE STRENGTH OF CHRIST FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST. Amen! Is this message for you, friend? TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE WHOSE MONEY IS IT? “And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”” Luke 21:1-4 I can’t explain it. I simply felt led on my birthday to tell thousands of people it was my birthday and that it would be a wonderful blessing to have new sponsors and donors for my ministry to help me fulfill my life’s calling for Christ. I wan’t surprised by what happened. Just sad – yet again. One person – yes, one – made a generous donation. This one person as far as I know is not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. She is a dog lover, and most assuredly her donation will be used for the care of my handicapped streets ministry doggies. So what happened to the Christians? You might be shocked by how few people in recent years have stepped forward to give to this ministry to help me do streets ministry around the country and write and publish Gospel tracts, devotionals, and books that go onto the streets, into prisons, homeless shelters, rescue missions, to street preachers, to ministries, to churches, to wherever and whomever the Lord desires. Not so I can have a big salary. I have none. But for the cause of Christ and helping people to find and forever follow Jesus rather than spend eternity in everlasting torment in hell and the lake of fire. Friend, I do not write this to plead with you to give to this ministry. If it is the Lord’s will, then glory be to the Lord. But I write this to remind us all that everything in our hearts and hands belongs to Jesus. And that we have a responsibility to help build and support the Kingdom of God. In our prayers, in our actions, and in our giving of our hearts, time, and yes, even in our finances. In my case, I have done something perhaps a bit off the beaten track. Since I travel from place to place and go to different churches and fellowships for periods of time as the Lord leads me to do there whatever He desires in the way of loving and sharing, and most importantly loving, worshiping, and serving, I decided some years ago to give the Lord 100% of the money He – yes, He – places in my hands. It is ALL His. My heart’s cry is to spend it however HE desires. If He wants to give me a little blessing, so be it. But I no longer am the materialist I once was. I no longer live my life chasing after earthly pleasures and treasures. My greatest pleasure and treasure is Jesus – and telling the world about Him! Let us each and every one of us spend the money with which He blesses us in a way that is honoring and pleasing and glorifying to the Lord God almighty whose Holy Spirit will lead us in how exactly He desires that it be spent including in love for and obedience and service to Him. Hallelujah!

PLEASE BE SURE TO SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE WHOLE ISSUE OF TODAY’S GOOD NEWS DAILY! LATEST UPDATE & PRAYER REQUEST Dear friend, Today is my birthday. I have no plans other than to go to Bible study this evening. Oh, how times have changed. Truth is I don’t have a social life by choice because I live and breathe to love and glorify the Lord and to tell the world about Him. My dreams have changed. My desires are different. My wants are not the same. My greatest desire this very day – my birthday – is to love the Lord with all my heart, to love others as myself, and to tell the world about Jesus in writing and out on the streets as the Lord leads me forth. My family is far away but near and dear in heart. I am not given the opportunity to spend my birthday with them this time around. Would I love to spend my birthday with a precious friend loving and worshiping and talking about Jesus together and telling the world about Him? Oh, sure, absolutely yes. But this is my highest desire for my birthday. To be wholly the Lord’s. To be pleasing in His sight. To make Him joyful, to bring Him pleasure, to make Him proud and to smile, to bring happiness to His heart, to glorify Him in all that I say, do, and think, and to repent when I fall short. Birthday presents? I have all that I need today. If anyone gave to me a gift, I wish it would be this. To become a sponsor of my ministry to help me tell the world about the Lord! This once utterly self-consumed woman is being transformed in the hands of the Lord. He is making me more and more into the woman He created me to be. HIS. Please would you pray for me, this ministry, my handicapped streets ministry doggies, and all those the Lord reaches through the ministry. Thank you! IF YOU NEED HELP BEGINNING OR PRESSING ON IN A FOREVER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT AT 843-338-2219 OR lara@GoodNews.love love & blessings, lara TODAY’S LITTLE LETTER FROM LARA Dear friend, “I’m going to pack it up and go somewhere warm,” I told the Lord. “If you do that, you will go against me. Is that what you want?” the Spirit of God spoke swiftly to my heart. Honestly? That’s exactly what my flesh wants. I’m so sensitive to cold that I can get goose bumps from head to toe at 72 degrees. I’ve fought for weeks to get the management of where I stay in New York City in my latest season of being on the road for Jesus full-time to fix the heat and turn it on. The temperature has dropped at night significantly, the apartment gets cold, I wake up cold, and I hate using my little portable heater because of the cost compared with the heat the landlord is supposed to provide for free. I’m an outdoors person and love streets ministry and taking long walks to spend time with the Lord and get exercise and fresh air. Is that what I want? To pack it up and run somewhere warm for winter? Flesh? YES! Truth? I love the Lord Jesus Christ more than anyone and anything and hunger and thirst to live and breathe to love and glorify Him. I put my trust in Him day by day and believe He will take care of me and my sweet streets ministry doggies so long as I’m in His will. If He wants to move me south for winter, He will. If He doesn’t, He will take care of me right where I am. Friend, following Jesus is about loving Jesus. About serving Him. About honoring Him. About praising Him. Worshiping Him. Trusting Him. Believing in Him. Obeying Him. Adoring Him. Magnifying Him. Telling the world about Him. And on and on. Most of all, LIVING FOR HIM! No matter what your flesh cries out to do, will you turn from your sins, believe in Christ as Lord who died on the cross to pay your sin penalty and was raised from the dead, truly devoting your heart and life to the Lord and His ways no matter the cost? Please live for the Lord! This very day, if you have not already, make the commitment! And follow through day in and day out with keeping it! Hallelujah, AMEN! “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15 love & blessings, lara TODAY’S DAILY INSPIRATION RISKING IT ALL FOR CHRIST “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23 The Lord has given me an assignment in life and ministry that I would have given just about anything to avoid. But He is Lord, He gave it to me, and I need in my love for Him to obey Him and press on. The assignment comes with great risk. Risk to my comfort, to my mind, to my peace, to my heart, to what is familiar and feels safe and secure. I am used to taking risks for the Lord Jesus Christ by now because I am learning to die to myself daily, to take up my cross daily, and to follow Jesus daily. No matter the cost. What does my flesh want to do? RUN and HIDE and NOT RETURN and GO SOMEWHERE EASY AND SAFE AND COMFORTABLE. But I don’t live by my flesh today. I live by the Spirit of God who lives inside His followers. And He who leads me gives the love, grace, strength, mercy, and absolutely everything I need to fulfill the will of the Lord. No matter the cost. No matter the risks. There is a reward in all of this, you know. When we die to self, we live for Christ. When we live for Christ, we grow in relationship with Him. We get to spend forever with Him. We receive the indescribably amazing reward of being His forevermore. Please don’t hold back taking risks for Jesus. Please give Him your all. Each and every day. For the glory of Christ, AMEN! TODAY’S 365 BLESSINGS 365 BLESSINGS is a devotional book I recently wrote that will soon be available in print by the grace of the Lord for the glory of the Lord!  Blessing #155 “So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer. Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.” 1 Chron. 14:16-17 What happened when David obeyed God? He and his people won the battle, their victory was known, and God made it so countless people feared them. David’s obedience led to all this, and the glory belonged to the Lord. We are so blessed the Lord not only calls us to obedience – but also that He rewards us for it in whatever way(s) He desires. And what a blessing it is when He uses us to bring glory to His holy most precious blessed everlasting glorious name – the name above every other name, oh yes! TODAY’S THE CROSS DEVOTIONAL WHEN THE TEARS FALL “Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah” Psalm 62:8 Sometimes tears fall down our cheeks. Sometimes they simply fall in our hearts. I have done my fair share of both. Crying in my heart. Crying down my face. Even on this very day, on my birthday in fact, I have a great sorrow in my heart. For several reasons in fact. But the reasons don’t matter. The message does. Whether the tears are falling down our faces or falling in our hearts, the very best thing we can do I have long since learned is to pour out our hearts before the Lord who has for us love that never fails (1 Cor. 13:8), mercy that goes on forever (Psalm 118:1), and comfort that surpasses any comfort we can possibly receive on this earth (2 Cor. 1:3-4). Oh, sure, it’s good to go to our loved ones, to our friends, etc. when the Lord leads us to do so to share with them our sorrows, but there is no greater shelter when the tears are falling, no greater refuge, no greater hiding place, than the one we find when we come running into the everlasting arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. The shelter of Christ! Need to come into His refuge? Into His shelter? Come to Christ, my friend, come before the Lord – tears and all. TODAY’S SERVING JESUS IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE WHEN LITTLE THINGS ARE BIG THINGS”For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-25 I have a sister in Christ whom I’ve only known a short while who is as I write getting on the New York City subway going totally out of her way with a huge bunch of devotionals I just wrote and published that she has folded to prepare them for distribution over the next few weeks for Halloween. In the grand scheme of things, what a little thing she’s doing, don’t you think? A few hours of folding. A not altogether too long commute on the subway. Not so big in the context of ministry work, is it? Or, is it? Only the Lord knows the degree to which she in her faithfulness is helping me. Only the Lord knows how exhausted I am. Only He knows how much I’ve been in need of help. And only He knows how the “little things” in ministry matter so exceedingly much because they are all part of the same whole of Christ’s Body of followers working together to love and serve Him forevermore. Please don’t underestimate what you may be called to do for Christ. And please don’t turn away from your opportunities. Please serve however He calls you to serve, with a humble heart, and be thankful He will both call and equip you to serve Him however He desires. AMEN!