aura Kramer knows she has a blessed life. She has a successful business, a loving husband and two healthy and beautiful children.

But the 36-year-old Rancho Cucamonga business owner hasn’t always recognized her blessings or God’s grace. She tells her story and inspires others to receive his grace through her Psalm 23 Jewelry line.

“It has been a platform for me to go and share my story,” Laura says. “There is hope in faith in God.”

Launched in 2000, she started Laura K Designs as a way to pass the time while recovering from surgery. She gave the handcrafted bracelets away as thank you gifts to friends for meals and other favors. But through word of mouth, other people started ordering the beaded bracelets and making special requests.

“I was very resistant to starting a business,” recalls Laura, who started making beaded jewelry unrelated to any Scriptural reference. “I was afraid of stepping outside of my box.”

Boxed in by past sins

Before Laura’s business could become really successful, she had to truly embrace God’s Word. She had accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior but was not convinced of his grace. She was still struggling with the pain and abandonment she experienced when her parents’ divorced when she was 14.

Laura and Gerhard Kramer and their children: Samuel, 5 and Elijah, 2..

“It shattered my world,” Laura says. “I felt I was not loved.”

This feeling of abandonment spiraled out of control and she became promiscuous. She turned to men to fill the emptiness she felt and then pleaded with God to protect her from disease and pregnancy.

“I would say ‘Oh, please, God don’t let me get pregnant,’” recalls Laura, who never did get pregnant although she was having unprotected sex. “I thought God answered that prayer by closing my womb.”

Eventually, at 20, Laura accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. But she still did not walk in his true spirit. She hid behind a façade of what she thought a “perfect” Christian was like. She pretended her years of pain and sexual exploits had not happened.

She met and married her husband Gerhard Kramer, who now works as the marketing director for her company; but even with his love and encouragement, she could not overcome the guilt that manifested itself in anxiety and depression.

“When I met Gerhard, all that guilt and shame began crowding my heart,” Laura says. “The depression and anxiety became more severe.”

A spiritual guide

Finally in 1999 while working as a church secretary, Laura met a minister who changed her life forever. He became her first guide through her walk through Psalm 23’s “Valley of the shadow of death.”

For the first time in her walk with God, Laura heard a Christian talk about being “sexually broken.”

“He stood before the congregation and openly talked about his struggles and pain,” says Laura. She learned that the Bible speaks of confessing your sins before one another so you can be healed. (James 5:16)

She became involved with the Desert Stream Ministries, a Missouri-based ministry for the relationally and sexually broken. She began to talk about her own sexual past and the guilt and shame she felt and that she worried that God had made her barren, unable to have children because of her past sins. Laura learned that she had always been blessed and covered by God’s grace. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

“To be able to soak in his grace brought me so much peace,” recalls Laura. “I learned I was complete in Christ.” (Colossians 2:10)

A walk through the valley

In 2003, Laura’s pastor challenged his congregation to meditate daily on Psalm 23 during a five-week sermon series. 

“I would sit down at the table and read Psalm 23 and meditate on it, but I could not memorize it,” Laura remembers. “I became convicted.” Laura says she decided to design a bracelet using a verse and a corresponding color to help with memorization.

Left to right: Samuel, Laura, and Elija Kramer.

She finally overcame her fear of “condemnation” for her past sins. God restored her soul and blessed her with her first pregnancy.

“I saw this as an opportunity to share my story and help someone else struggling with guilt and fear,” Laura said.

She launched her Psalm 23 jewelry line (www.psalm23jewelry.com) in 2003. She started out with just one piece of jewelry, the signature bracelets, selling them at street fairs. The beaded jewelry is crafted from sterling silver, Swarovski crystals or semi-precious natural stones. The line expanded to more than two dozen customized pieces including Psalm 23 rings, men’s jewelry, pendants, earrings and bangles, which are available in U.S. and overseas retail outlets.  Enclosed with each purchase is a CD of a message of hope of how the purchaser can become a “Valley Guide” and help someone else who might be hurting.

“We are not meant to do this alone,” says Laura in the recorded message. She encourages others to “take up the cross” and become a Valley Guide and help someone else who is hurting and broken to understand the love God has for him or her. She reminds listeners that healing is a process.

Although her business is successful, she remains obedient to God. The company donates a portion of its proceeds to ministries within Cucamonga Christian Fellowship to sponsor counseling. The business also partners with Diversified Industries, a division of OPARC, a non-profit organization with a mission to enable people with disabilities to achieve their full potential. Its staff assembles and packages the jewelry.

“This has blessed us in so many ways,” says Laura. She is also proud her company bucked the trend to outsource jobs overseas and instead kept jobs in her community.

Kramer family

In reflection, Laura notes that her life was always blessed. She just didn’t know it.

“I believe God pursues us even when we reject him,” says Laura, recalling how many times she rejected God. “I think God has dreams for everyone of us.

The mother of two says she is still exploring God’s mission for her through her many speaking engagements across the country. She says she has found a new “gift” in ministering to the “hurt and broken.”

“It’s all for God. It’s his dream in us that he wants to accomplish.”