Laurie Stroud

High School is challenging for most students. It is an environment where awkwardness and social anxiety loom, and temptation is found at every turn. I have experienced those same challenges, but thankfully I have a friend in Jesus Christ, and He helps me overcome these burdens. I have never been great at making friends. Growing …

Everything we know came to be by God. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by material worries, I think of dust, the physical origin of our universe. From dust God created his kingdom, and to it all things will return. What this does is put into perspective for me how insignificant everything on this Earth really is. …

The moment sears itself in my memory. I’ll never forget standing at the peak of Tooth of Time in New Mexico with my Boy Scout Troop. It was a cold, windy evening in July, but as I looked out over the breathtaking landscape – craggy cliffs, winding rivers, and the vast plains of the Midwest …

I was born in a tiny village outside of San Jose, Costa Rica. My mother was very poor and addicted to drugs. I never knew my father or eight of my siblings. My mother was unable to properly care for one of my younger brothers and me. At the age of five, my mother was …