Embracing faith and living your dream

One half of the Sydney Hope 103.2 breakfast radio duo, Laura Bennett says her faith continually inspires her creative endeavours.

Back in 2010, Laura Bennett was on the last leg of completing her media degree and had just won a competition to become a radio apprentice with Sydney’s Hope 103.2 community radio station.

Fast forward to today and Laura is the co-host of the Hope 103.2 breakfast show having graduated with her Masters, written her first book Live Your Dream: How to Cut the Crap and Prioritise Your Purpose and running a blog The Connect Press.

With these creative endeavours, staying inspired can be challenging, but for 20-something Laura her continual source of inspiration lies in her faith.

“The idea of creativity as a whole really is centred on and originates in God for me. He is the ultimate creator. Everything that creativity looks and feels likes is centred in Him,” says Laura.
Growing up in a Christian household Laura vividly remembers at seven years old watching communion being passed around in church and instantly being intrigued about what it was and what the meaning was behind it.

“I made my choice then to actually become a Christian and from then on I came to understand what it meant to live life with Jesus and what being a Christian looked like,” she says.

From there her spiritual journey has informed decisions in her life. Dabbling in the arts, Laura found Christian media and particularly radio as a space she could really contribute.

As for the source of her ideas and inspiration, Laura says it can come from asking God questions in those quiet moments.

“I am sitting in a place where I am asking God, ‘What do you see? What could I write about? What sort of things would really help people to live their dream?’

“Or, God what can we put in this show that’s going to connect people to you and really exemplify your desire and your love for them and your calling on their life?” says Laura.

As well as co-host of the popular morning breakfast show on Hope 103.2, The Connect Press is a blog Laura writes and uses as a way to express these ideas and faith in everyday life and culture –
from film reviews to opinion pieces.

While working full time at the radio station, in 2015 she completed a Masters degree in Future Journalism. As part of her course, she was able to complete and publish her first book – all in 12 weeks. This process produced a book that helped her and she hopes will help others who are at transition stages in life, to clear their headspace and follow their dreams.

“In the noise of it all and in everything that we do, how we actually pull back and really live our dream and focus on the thing that we know we are called to live for,” says Laura of the book’s concept.

Laura believes that, of course, you don’t have to be Christian to create something with immense value, this is because we are all created in the image of God. But as Laura explains, faith can really amplify that creativity to produce pieces with deeper meaning that are truly engaging.

“Because we have personal relationships with God, our creativity and the ideas that we express should be so far beyond what people expect or what people imagine because they are inspired by God,” says Laura.

Melissa Stewart

Laura’s top tips for young Christians

Be selective on social media. This may mean unchecking a friend request. It’s also knowing you don’t have to allow people to follow your accounts and you don’t have to follow everyone online.

Re-evaluate your face-to-face interactions. Ask yourself, “…do I feel edified, encouraged and inspired or am I being made to believe that I am less than? Or is there not some kind of affirmation of the values that I intrinsically have?” says Laura.

Make your own labels. “Know the labels that you make for yourself stick. If you don’t like the ones other people are making for you, make your own ones and even better, make ones that are inspired by scripture or linked to what God says about you in scripture”