By Leah Ryg | Contributor
Brazil, a distant place to Midwesterners is where Laura Edwards called home for more than 30 years of her life.
Assistant professor of psychology, Laura Edwards was born in Brazil and after finishing her schooling in the States, she returned to Brazil to be a missionary along with her husband and their 9-month-old daughter.
During her time in Brazil, Laura worked as a part-time counselor. Accompanying that role, she and her husband served as youth pastors and marriage and family pastors. They also spoke at marriage retreats. A key aspect of many of their messages was the subject of honor.
"Honoring is a non-negotiable virtue," Edwards said. "This applies to all areas of life, not just marriage."
Many factors played into Edwards finding her passion in psychology. One of them being her desire to help those who are struggling. As a child, she saw problems in her family and in her parents' relationship, so she wanted to seek out people with those same struggles and help them.
Edwards has overcome many difficult situations in her life, with the help of God.
"When my father left, it drew me toward God, when I lost three babies through miscarriages it put tension in that relationship," Edwards said.
She had to wrestle with the idea of God being both good and sovereign. These difficulties taught her that, as Christians, trusting God is important because we don't always get answers on this side of Heaven. Edwards knows that the difficulties she has experienced have shaped her understanding of God.
Throughout Edward's walk with Christ, she kept one verse at the center of her life. Micah 6:8 says, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
"If that's all we do, we are good," Edwards said.
Edwards had many mentors who poured into her life and she desires to be that in the lives of her students.
"Everybody needs at least one person who is just crazy about them, and let us be that for someone else," Edwards said. "We all struggle. We all are broken. We're all fixer-uppers. Let us extend grace to others, but also ourselves. Our stories are full of losses and gains, but it shapes how we see God and how we walk with Him. The way we take these losses and gains develop who we are and who we will become."
