Laura Loveberry

and illustrator. Honored as MRS. MICHIGAN AMERICA 2007, she still prides herself as a dumpster-diving diva and a colorful paint polkadotter of second-hand stuff. Laura is joyfully married to soul mate, Mark. Together they adopted inventive Markus and creative Madison, who are loved to the moon and back a kabillion times. As a Michigan public school art teacher, Laura gets a thrill inspiring little artists to create masterpieces.  As an avid Bible reader, Laura loves this verse found in Ephesians 2:10 of the NLT Bible, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”   Mrs. Loveberry’s alias, given to her by a precocious kindergarten artist, is the infamous “Miss Blueberry” who co-stars with Arty the Puppet in her newest book, SPLATTER PAINT HERO.  Arty the Puppet has kept Laura’s classes hysterically laughing and learning art for years, and your kids will love learning color theory while rhyming through this paint splattering adventure with a super hero ending, too.  

 

Speaking of adventure, Laura’s coming to know God in a real authentic way involves a misinterpretation, a missing peace, and not missing a buss.  You are invited to read Laura’s heartfelt story from her childhood perspective in this true-life story of faith titled, Masterpiece. This could be a life-changing read…

 

 

 

Masterpiece

As an elementary kid, I am mockingly told by neighborhood kids, “The Bible says the meek will inherit the kingdom of God. You’re NOT meek. You’re NOT going to heaven.”  Absolutely nobody who knows me thinks I am meek, so I mistakenly believe my “nowhere-even-close-to-meek” personality is banned from heaven.  This is the starting point for my over-the-top self to have an underlying secret fear of the death.

 

Now I love my electrifying daylight hours with my social whirl at school, sports, and super fun family and friends. But nightly, I fear death and long for a real relationship with God and mistakenly think I do not fit my wrong perception of the boring, meek Christian mold.

 

In high school, I join a Christian club to be around the football boys, free pizza, and fun games.  During these meetings, I hear, “God sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins, rose again so we can have heaven with God. Jesus is a cross bridge of forgiveness when we are separated from God.”  I hear the John 3:16  NIV  Bible verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  My heart pounds and my hands sweat as I hear these truths, but I bolt away believing the lie I just don’t fit this group. My personality is NOT meek, but I am somehow drawn to keep attending this Christian meetings.

 

I have a battle in my mind because I long to know God for real and put my faith in Jesus, yet I run from Him. Oh, I go to a church every Saturday and Sunday, but I don’t own a Bible, and did not hear the answers for my longing like these Christian leaders talk about at meetings.

 

My senior year, I am stoked to go to the Spring Break Florida trip with this Christian group. I sign up late, but the leaders do not want me to miss the buss, so they squeeze me in, and someone sits on a cooler in the back of the bus isle for the 24-hour trip. Leaders are praying this trip will be life changing for me. Later, we listen to a speaker share how he puts his faith in Jesus Christ and chooses to stop running from God. I totally relate to the sin of darting away from a decision for God. After the speaker shares, we are invited to stay and put faith in Jesus. I have the battle in my mind to wrongly scram from God again, when a girlfriend walks up to me unaware of my mind’s conflict. She hugs me and tells me Jesus loves me. These three words change my life.

 

Jesus loves me.

 

Whoa! It is not about fitting in. It is about Jesus loves ME as I am. I stop bolting away from God right then. I plop in a chair oblivious to all around me, cover my face with my hands, and talk to the God I was running from something like this:

“Dear God, I am soooo sorry I have been running from You. Please forgive me. I do believe You send Jesus to die on the cross for my sins.  I do believe You rose from the dead so I can have life in heaven with You and not be so afraid of dying. Right now, I put my faith in Jesus Christ. I ask Jesus to come into my heart and life. Thank you for accepting me and making me a Christian. Um, and God,… could You please NOT make me a Jesus Freak!   Amen.”

 

Whoosh! The Bible says all who call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. I am instantly saved from my fear of death. I have a spiritual peace wash over me. The next day, I end up sharing my journey to Jesus at the campfire and this leads to many decisions being made for Christ after I tell my story. On this trip, I realize I have become what I did not think my personality fit. I am a big bible carrying Jesus Freak…and I loving it!

 

Arriving back home, I have a new Bible of my own and learn to love reading God’s Word daily. A couple weeks later, after walking on the hood of his car and laughing at his lovely last name, I am blessed to meet my future Christian husband, Mark Loveberry. I grow spiritually being involved in his Bible-teaching home church, and relate to the pastor’s wife with a similar sparkle shine personality. Much later, I grasp an understanding of my misunderstanding, when I learn the Biblical definition of meek is “like a wild stallion trained by the master.”  Yes!  I, therefore, am biblically MEEK!  Oh, I may need a bridle sometimes, but I am like a wild stallion and God is my Master actually using my out-of-the-bit personality in a unique manner to share with others the life-changing power of Jesus Christ.   

 

God is continually growing me on my Christian journey. I have people look at my life from the outside and say they want my joyful uplifting life. Hey, I explain my life is a constant uphill expedition. As we hike through the barren land of infertility, we are finally blessed with two precious, long awaited adopted children. I have 12 birth moms change their minds in this heart wrenching process. Our nursery sits empty for years. I love God’s encouragement from the Bible as I face the challenges of being a barren women and then raising a special-needs child with my knight-in-shining-armor husband.  At times, I am so broken, yet my valley experiences and all the mountains I face, allow me to share the life-lifting power of Jesus and to relate to others as an inspirational speaker, author, magazine writer, illustrator, teacher, sign-language dramatist, lyrical songwriter, wife, and mom.  God gives me the ability to laugh, love, and live out-of-the-ordinary for our extraordinary God who does exceedingly more than we ask or imagine. God is the lifter of my life.  God is my strength to live with purpose, passion, and peace in the uphill climb. With Christ, we are overcomers! Surprising to me, God is actually using my out-of–the-box personality, the very thing I thought would not fit the Christian mold, to reach others for Jesus.

 

Do you long for a relationship to give you peace, purpose, and Godly passion?  Jesus loves you right where you are with whatever personality you have.  It does not matter what sins you have. It does not matter how long you have ran away from right. It only matters you put your faith in our ONE TRUE GOD through Jesus Christ.  Putting your faith in the God of the Bible does not promise you an easy life. My life actually got much harder, but God gives me the strength to carry upward through reading the Bible, talking to God (praying), and fellowshipping with Believers at Bible teaching churches.

 

Is your life missing God? You can not be fully you without Jesus. Christ completes you. If God is speaking to your heart, I encourage you to get real with God right now. The Bible says Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You can talk to God and put your faith in Jesus Christ today based on the John 3:16 verse I shared earlier.  The Bible, also, explains in Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV, we cannot earn our way to heaven by being good enough because faith is a free gift, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”  So, YOU can talk to God today, and put YOUR faith in Jesus. It does not matter if you are good enough or what sins you have committed. What matters is Jesus loves you enough to die to pay the cost of your forgiveness.

 

Jesus loves YOU.

 

Perhaps you will use this similar Bible-based prayer I prayed when I put my trust in Jesus Christ: “Dear God, Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for me, so I can be forgiven of my sins. Thank you for Jesus rising from the dead, so I can have eternal life and live forever in heaven with You. Right now I put my faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you for saving me and making me a Christian. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”

 

If you put your faith in Jesus today, welcome to the family of God. The God of the Bible is the One True Almighty God who can give your life purpose, passion, peace, and the power to overcome. For those who sincerely put faith in Jesus, you have God’s assurance from the Bible you are His child, loved, forgiven, and have the promise of life in heaven with God.  I encourage you to study your Bible daily, talk to God by praying every day, and find a Bible teaching church that fits you well. I encourage you to share your newfound faith and the life-changing power of Jesus Christ with everyone God leads you. You’re welcome to email me at loveberry@charter.net, and let me know you made a decision for Christ today.  I would love to give you words of encouragement. Reading the book of John in the Bible will help you understand and grow, too.

 

As you know, I was missing peace and God filled my ache and void. I did not think I fit the culture of Christians with my exuberant, energetic, and over-the-edge personality. As I was working on the Splatter Paint Hero book, I came across the Bible verse found in Ephesians 2:10 NLT, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”  I realize God designed and prepared our personality in advance to live out the God-driven calling in our lives. I now believe God had a plan I would be a bold personality, so I can be bold for Christ in ministry. Oh yea, I so need the bridle at times, but God is working on me. And He is working on YOU. God desires for you to realize the masterpiece YOU are when created anew by faith in Jesus, so you can do the God-things He planned in advance for you to do. God designed YOU as HIS creation.  YOU are a masterpiece.  Now go splatter paint your world in the bright vivid colors or the soft muted hues of God’s palette and share your newfound faith in the style God designed! You be you…God’s masterpiece!