Same but Different
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
If you’ve known me for any time at all, you know I have a real thing for butterflies. A lot of my text and Messenger signatures have butterflies in them, and my uncle once asked me why I added it.
Many years ago, I was a member of a group called Ala-Teen. It’s where I first encountered the 12 Steps. They are a path of realization and healing that can help anyone. I believe my time studying and applying the steps in my own life set me up with a better attitude for understanding deeper biblical principles when I began walking with The Lord. Though the 12 Steps I’ve linked to, are related to alcohol, they’ve been adjusted on several platforms to line up with healing goals. Like, “We admitted we were powerless over gambling,” or “drugs” instead of “alcohol.” They can be applied as needed because the principles work for all of us made in the image of Our Creator—that is; having a body, a soul, and a spirit.
There’s even a great set of 12 steps for Bible believers that say, “We admitted we were powerless over our sin—That our lives had become unmanageable.” That one, and the other 11, are in a book called A Hunger for Healing by J Keith Miller. It’s on Kindle (including Kindle Unlimited at the time of this writing), but I also recommend the workbook which is better in print format. (Used affiliate links for tracking purposes.) Step 1 in this book and study are based on Paul’s words in Romans 7:15-20…
Romans 7:15-20 WEBUS
[15] For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do.
[16] But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good.
[17] So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
[18] For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good.
[19] For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice.
[20] But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me.
https://bible.com/bible/206/rom.7.15-20.WEBUS
I separated the verses to make them easier to understand, but here I also want to share this in “The Message Bible” because it reads more like you would expect someone nowadays to speak to you.
Romans 7:14-20 MSG
[14-16] I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
[17-20] But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.
https://bible.com/bible/97/rom.7.14-20.MSG
Anyway, somewhere in all of my 12-step discoveries, I was introduced to the concept of metamorphosis as represented by the change a caterpillar makes when it turns into a butterfly. It is literally the same “bug” it was born as, but after the struggle and change, it’s a more beautiful version of that bug.
Knowing that all of us who have been created by God are essentially the same in our most basic ways, and knowing we are all (as King David points out) “born in sin and shaped in iniquity,” means a few things. It means we all need to go through a change (metamorphosis) to become our best; it means we are all able to change; and it means that God loves each of us enough to offer us His mercy and grace before the change along with the love and strength we need to become new rather than staying trapped in our old selves.
So my butterflies mean, change is possible! And for me, they mean change has happened in beautiful ways. The saying goes something like, “I know I’m not yet what I want to be, but I thank God I’m no longer what I used to be.” 🦋
And if you’re interested in an outline of all 12 steps as applied biblically and with a bit more detail, you can visit the Uncuffed Ministries site for what they call “The 12 Steps of Christian Discipleship.”
This next image should bring home what I’m saying. I used exactly the same prompts but a different filter. It’s the same, but yet it’s different. I don’t know how many different filters God used during creation, but I know that He is the common denominator. And HE (His Spirit) is also the filter by which we can change our entire lives into something better and more beautiful. He knows us as we are, He laid down His life for us while we were yet sinners, and He is ready to help us to experience the change that will allow us to rise up to walk in the newness of life.
Just for your information, here are the 12 Steps as applied to sin aka the 12 Steps for Overcomers…
1. **Step 1** – We admitted we were powerless over sin—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. **Step 2** – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. **Step 3** – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. **Step 4** – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. **Step 5** – Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. **Step 6** – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. **Step 7** – Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. **Step 8** – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. **Step 9** – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. **Step 10** – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. **Step 11** – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. **Step 12** – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
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🎵A Very Big Tree
I’m keeping this shorter tonight.
I was thinking about the conversation Eve had with the serpent in the garden. Here’s the beginning of it from Genesis 3:1:
Genesis 3:1 KJV
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
https://bible.com/bible/1/gen.3.1.KJV
Do you see the anxiety-inducing, manipulative question in that statement? “…Ye shall not eat of EVERY tree of the garden?” (My emphasis here.) In many translations, the word “every” is replaced by “any” which still shows the manipulation, but I think every reveals the hidden agenda a little better. Basically, the enemy made ONE tree bigger than ALL the trees of the garden. One tree that God forbade to protect their innocence became more desirable than who knows how many others with wonderful and sweet fruit available to them 24/7.
That manipulation still goes on today, and sometimes even using words from The Holy Bible. Someone will use the word “slave” as an excuse to avoid God and His words, even though far more of them are filled with mercy and grace. A Christian battling with performance or perfection issues will find a verse like “Be ye perfect” larger than “My grace is sufficient.”
So, I just want to remind you today that the garden was bigger than one tree. And God’s plans for salvation are bigger than any man-made set of do’s and don’ts that demand our adherence to earn God’s love. When you encounter anxiety from the written word, ask God to show you through His Holy Spirit how to understand it and correctly apply it to your own life. It will be His pleasure to let you know because it’s His desire for you to spend your eternity with Him.
2 Peter 3:9 BSB
[9] The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/2pe.3.9.BSB
And if you travel while on this Earth and if those travels take you out Arizona way like they did me in May of 2010, stop and see the World’s Largest Rose Tree and museum in Tombstone, Arizona. I wish my pictures were better at showing how magnificent it is, but the images and video on the website should.
And now, since we’re talking about roses, sing along with this beautiful bluegrass version of “Where the Roses Never Fade.”
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🎵 The Upside-down Mountain of Blessings; Part 3
The dark clouds roll in with a thunderous crackle, and a howling wind blows blinding sheets of rain against the neighborhood. A flash flood violently surges over the riverbanks, ripping up trees and slamming directly into two houses. From a distance, the two structures look identical. But as the mud rushes over the foundations, their differences become obvious. One house stands completely unmoved against the torrent, while the other one collapses into a catastrophic heap of crushed bricks and broken wood. This is the closing cinematic scene of YahShua’s famous sermon.
After dismantling four millennia of religious chaos and bringing the focus back to its original purpose—grace—He ends with a sharp warning about an unavoidable storm. He forces us to look past the outward appearance of our lives and look directly at what is underneath them. Without explicitly asking Himself, He poses the question: What is your foundation?
Matthew 7:24-27 BSB
[24] Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. [25] The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
[26] But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. [27] The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell— and great was its collapse!”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/mat.7.24-27.BSB
So I ask you, dear reader, what is your foundation? Are you trusting in The Lord and built on a rock-solid foundation that is backed up in Scripture? Have you tested the beliefs that frame your spiritual life against the words of The Carpenter?
And if you’ve ever wondered what a house (and rock) made of knitted yarn looks like, check out this cute image…
I loved working on this study with Gemini because it brought up some focal points I may have missed if I’d spent the hours required to search all the sources the AI has access to. One great point was this: The wise builder didn’t build a house to earn the rock; he built on the rock because he trusted its strength. At least it’s a great point to someone who has spent many days and hours trying to perform flawlessly enough to keep the Rock in my life rather than causing Him to give up on me.
I also liked the notes on comparing our walk with Christ to a phone that needs to be charged. A phone doesn’t earn its power by working, it sits passively on a charger to receive power. But it receives power *so that* it can go out and run its apps. Good behavior and holy living are not a currency we pay to get God to love us—they are the natural fruit of a life that has finally let God and His love be the source of power.
Stopping the Grace vs Works Pendulum
We don’t obey God to convince Him we are worthy of His love; we obey Him because we have finally allowed Him to fully love us. His way. Based on His worthiness—poured out in blood at Calvary. We obey because, like a glass submitting to a vessel that’s pouring water into it, we trust Him to fill us up. Good behavior and obedience, including letting God serve us in healings and other blessings, is the fruit of that trust.
The balance of both grace and good works—with grace setting us free from struggling for a paycheck attached to our workload—stops the pendulum. Once we’re free from being servants of sin, we become like children who want to please our holy Father because we love and trust Him. We’re no longer swinging from one extreme to the other trying to figure out which lessons to follow to become perfect or shunning works all together as if they are a type of bondage.
Now, we’re praising God from the top of the upside-down mountain of blessings, and from the valley below. We realize blessings are His gifts of love toward us rather than rewards for our perfection. He pours out gifts because He wants to. No more begging; just receiving, trusting, and loving in all kinds of weather.
As we wrap up this journey on the Upside-Down Mountain of Blessings, look at your own spiritual foundation today. Are you still trying to climb the old mountains of performance, or are you ready to build on the Rock of Christ’s finished work? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below: Which part of this upside-down message speaks most deeply to where you are at in your faith journey right now?
Read Part 1 at: https://crystal-writes.com/2026/06/07/upside-down1/
Read Part 2 at: https://crystal-writes.com/2026/06/08/upside-down2/
And now, enjoy an old childhood favorite about the wise man and the foolish man…
And I’ll finish this in style with the beautiful song “God on the Mountain” by Lynda Randle…
Note: Parts of this study (and a few of the words) were assisted by Google Gemini, alongside website studies at Bible Hub and Got Questions, but I’ve edited and personalized all of it before publishing.
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🎵Rejoice in This
It is The Lamb who will sit in the midst of the throne for eternity, and it is The Lamb who is worthy of all our praise (and pride) this month and always. His is the book, written in His own blood, that will determine the destination for each of us in eternity. We can have perfect works, but a prideful and haughty spirit to go with them can still bring destruction. So, after the disciples came back victorious in a battle with the enemy, they were instructed in the right attitude to keep them humble and blessed.
Luke 10:20 BSB
[20] Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/luk.10.20.BSB
Paul reminded the Philippians that he had places he could take pride and have confidence if he chose, but he reframed his own experience, power, and ability in comparison to Christ. That gave him all he needed to reject pride and stay humble.
Philippians 3:7-8a BSB
[7] But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. [8] More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/php.3.7-8.BSB
When he talked to the Romans, he reminded them that grace is the main reason to look at ourselves through God’s eyes of grace. That is enough to keep us on solid ground rather than being puffed up by pride.
Romans 12:3 BSB
[3] For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/rom.12.3.BSB
And the book of James echoes the idea that grace belongs to the humble.
James 4:6 BSB
[6] But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jas.4.6.BSB
Though many others are writing on the subject of pride this month, it still bears worth to remind ourselves what happens at the end of pride and haughtiness.
Proverbs 16:18 BSB
[18] Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/pro.16.18.BSB
Circling back to the first verse I shared, let me encourage you to recall where you were headed before the mercy and grace of The Lord made a better way for you. But for the grace of God, go I as well. We serve a God who pursues us even while we are sinners because it is His idea & desire to spend eternity with us. Even our own desires to serve Him were put in our hearts by Him, so He still gets all the praise. We are so not worthy of the wonderful love of YahShua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), and yet He has poured it out on us in abundance. Now THAT is a good reason to celebrate with pride humility!
And this seems like the perfect place to share a beautiful song recently shared with me by a beautiful friend and sister in The Lord. It’s called “The Author.”
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🎵 Prompt Response: Soul ATM
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
If you had an unlimited budget for 24 hours, what would you do?
Day One
When I first read this prompt, my mind immediately went to how many lasting things I could get if I had no limits. I thought of how I’d contact a banker and ask for help with investments that would keep the unlimited flow going long after the 24 hours. And then…
It occurred to me that an unlimited budget did not have to be about any kind of money or finance. What could be worth more than those things and give me unlimited prosperity for 24 hours? Souls! Having a flow of guaranteed souls dispensed to me like an ATM does money, and then being able to send those souls in a new direction—toward the cross of Christ—would be amazing.
I think my mind went there after hearing from a Facebook friend who I met on the site years ago but who has since blessed me greatly with her sincere love for The Lord. She told me about how she tries to use every opportunity God gives her to share her salvation testimony. She is driven to carry the Good News to as many souls as God allows to cross her path.
So, can you imagine having a day with an unlimited budget of souls being sent your way? They need The Lord you serve, the peace He provides, and the promise of eternity. You have the answers that will give them that hope and peace, and this unlimited budget means they are sent right to you and ready to listen.
Most of us will share our experiences and testimonies here and there as a door opens or an opportunity presents itself. A few, like my friend Miha, will create open doors and opportunities. And whether you were only given 2 talents or the whole 5, or even only 1 talent, the Lord wants to gain interest on the investment He made for your soul and paid with His very own blood. Anything that can make interest (usury) is certainly a valuable asset, and we really do have an unlimited budget of hungry and empty people who need God.
In The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) it begins like this…
Matthew 25:14-15 BSB
[14] For it is just like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted them with his possessions. [15] To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent — each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/mat.25.14-15.BSB
Each servant spends his investment differently with one of them not spending at all but burying his talent. There are many interpretations of what these talents are, including the possibility of those abilities within each of us that can be called talents, but the end result is always the same. We need to multiply what The Lord has entrusted us with that He will be able to profit on His return. He tells the person who hid his talent…
Matthew 25:27 BSB
[27] Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received it back with interest.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/mat.25.27.BSB
So whether it’s financial gain, or actual performance talent, when The Lord returns, we know He is returning for souls. That means interest on that would be more souls.
Over forty years ago, I sat on a church pew in Riverside, California, where I was visiting for a revival. They presented a video set to Steve Green’s classic song, “People Need the Lord.” But it wasn’t a generic Hollywood production. The church had taken photos of their own community—ordinary people on familiar street corners, living out their daily lives. I wept as I watched unfamiliar faces with the same needs as the familiar faces in my own daily life. I understood then that the mission field isn’t always across an ocean; it’s often right outside our own front doors. We are surrounded by a Soul ATM, a world of empty people rushing by with a need for mercy and grace and maybe not even knowing where to look. It just takes one person willing to step out of their own busyness, set up a chair, and offer the only Good News that can truly change their direction and fill them with the hope they need.
Here’s a beautiful rendition of that song…
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🎵 Not Comfortless
![A digital image of a parchment scroll nailed to wooden planks as created by Wombo Dream AI. On the scroll are the following Bible verses: John 14:16, 18, 23 BSB
[16] And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever —
[18] I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
[23] Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
With a link to the Bible website at... https://bible.com/bible/3034/jhn.14.16-23.BSB I have listed this image as Creative Commons Zero (CC0) so people can share it freely since the Bible version used is also public domain.](https://crystal-writes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image_editor_output_image-1423944457-177961460619373770593684482955.jpg?w=900)
Creation by Crystal A Murray (CC0 Use Freely)
Because we are in the midst of Shavuot (Pentecost following The Feast of Weeks), I wanted to unpack this major promise from YahShua about not leaving His disciples as comfortless orphans. When read all together, these 3 verses from John 14 say so much about who YahShua actually is, and how He revealed Himself to the disciples (and to us through the Word we have now).
I don’t know that I could ever give the amount and quality of information they have at the Hebrew for Christians website, so I’ll refer you to them for all the details on the Feast of Pentecost that happened 50 days after the Passover. I learned while studying for this that Shavuot in Judaism is kept to remember when Moses was given the Torah (Law) on Mt. Sinai. One site suggested the sound of rushing mighty wind in Acts 2:2 would’ve been like the roaring and thunder they heard on the mountain while Moses was up there, so those gathered in the upper room and Jerusalem that day may have understood the deeper meaning in it.
Acts 2:2 BSB
[2] Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/act.2.2.BSB
Whatever that sound meant to those gathered for the festival, we know what it meant to the 120 believers gathered in the Upper Room that day. It was the fulfillment of the John 14 promises, and it gave them the boldness they needed to proclaim the Gospel of Messiah YahShua from that point forward. Peter himself went from one who denied Christ in front of a few people to one who stood and boldly proclaimed His salvation to many thousands all at once. That’s what real comfort can do.
YahShua (Jesus) told the disciples that if two or three gathered in His name, He would be in the midst of them. Most of us who have followed Him for any amount of time can point to at least one instance where a gathering, small or large, included moments much like the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:32 where our hearts “burned within us” and we knew the Presence of The Lord was there. In those moments, we did not see a body with us, so that confirms the Spirit of Christ who said He would not leave us comfortless but that HE would come to us. The fullness of The Godhead dwelt in the human body of YahShua…
Colossians 2:9 BSB
[9] For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/col.2.9.BSB
… AND, the fullness of that One Spirit (from John 14:23) shows unity with The Holy Spirit even though YahShua said of Himself and The Father, “We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (Emphasis mine.)
Ephesians 4:4-6 BSB
[4] There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; [5] one Lord, one faith, one baptism; [6] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/eph.4.4-6.BSB
See, we do not have a God or High Priest that is “somewhere out there” and unable to be touched by our needs. We have a very real Savior who longs to be real to us and not just a mystery we cannot know, even though exactly how He does it may be a mystery like it says in 1 Timothy 3:16, which I really like from The Complete Jewish Bible…
1 Timothy (1 Ti) 3:16 CJB
[16] Great beyond all question is the formerly hidden truth underlying our faith: He was manifested physically and proved righteous spiritually, seen by angels and proclaimed among the nations, trusted throughout the world and raised up in glory to heaven.
https://bible.com/bible/1275/1ti.3.16.CJB
Hebrews 4:15 BSB
[15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/heb.4.15.BSB
But one day, when every knee bows and confesses that Jesus (YahShua) is Lord (Adonai is the actual word translated to Lord here), we will be able to say, “He did not leave us comfortless, but He kept His promises to come to us whenever we called on Him.”
Philippians (Php) 2:10-11 CJB
[10] that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow — in heaven, on earth and under the earth — [11] and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai — to the glory of God the Father.
https://bible.com/bible/1275/php.2.10-11.CJB
I’ll close with this very upbeat song from way back when I was learning to follow Him as a new believer…
And one more video of a song I’ve never heard before, but I really like it, and I like the images they used …
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🎵Rededicate 250 — Thoughts
I’m not one of those who follows every event dubbed as “Christian” or a follower of everyone who says they are Christian, but some moments are worth supporting in my own prayer life. I do not have to like or agree with every person invited to speak or pray at the May 17th event to be supportive of the goal for the event: Rededicate the United States of America back to the godly roots of prayer from our establishment.
You can do a search for “Rededicate 250” to learn more about it. The link I’ve provided is a Copilot search with a list of speakers and links to other info about the day. There’s a lot of stuff out there, and a lot of complaints about evangelicals getting involved in DC, but from the perspective of one who values my current freedom to worship God, I’m not interested in kowtowing to those who only serve themselves instead of The Lord. I am, however, interested in setting the right example to those unbelievers, so their complaints can only be with God and His Word and not how I represent Him or His Word.
So I had AI make an image of people praying at The White House to make sure there was no highlight on specific or favored individuals if I grabbed images from online. To truly rededicate ourselves means that our only source is Yahveh Almighty Himself, and our only purpose is being the most obedient to His Word and Spirit we can be no matter what anyone else is doing or saying. It’s not about our opinions or thoughts about God’s direction in our lives, but rather it’s about having a heart that says He is worthy of our total trust even when we may not understand.
The longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve experienced things I did not get the “whys” of, and things I couldn’t figure out how God took care of. They both taught me that God is totally sovereign and trustworthy, and He walks with us through those places where things aren’t going according to our perfect plans. But He walks there when He is invited. Sometimes, His overflowing mercy and grace puts Him places before being invited, but He still waits for that true desire of whosoever will to fully move in a life.
And that’s what rededication is really all about; making sure The Lord is invited into our country and our hearts to pour out His love in and on both. If you’ve never invited Him, please consider it. Even if you only want to test the waters, don’t test them by taking a 4-wheel-drive over smooth residential streets. Give Him your whole heart, mind, body, and soul. Trust Him with everything you’ve got. Act as if you plan to serve Him for eternity even if you are still wondering a little. When I got saved, I told Him I would try my best but couldn’t promise what I’d do if “church people” hurt me again. Fortunately, He moved in so fully that when I did encounter hurts, I didn’t reject Him for it anymore. It’s truly worth giving it all completely to His will and ways. And if you have tried serving Him but never did much beyond “the sinner’s prayer” or baptism, take these days with so much prayer in the air to totally surrender and rededicate yourself more completely than ever before. Invite Him today!
Isaiah 1:18 BSB
[18] “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/isa.1.18.BSB
James 4:7-8 BSB
[7] Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jas.4.7-8.BSB
Be washed in your heart and mind and then wash the outside in baptism to proclaim it.
And if you’ve been washed but feel like you need a new cleansing, this song about rededication is a perfect anthem.
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🎵CTRL+Z Super Power (Day One Prompt Response)
What super power do you wish you had and why?
I might like to be “The Great Undoer” in life. Imagine if you could go back to any decisions you’ve found out (presumably the hard way) were not good decisions. And then you call on The Great Undoer, who has access to super-powered CTRL + Z buttons to undo anything that might otherwise create a lifetime of regret. Those last harsh words you spoke that you wish you could take back? Just undo them. That phone call you didn’t make because you were busy and then found you’d never get the chance again? Rewind to that moment, click undo, and make that phone call. Yep, with The Great Undoer by your side, you can put the toothpaste back in the tube.
I guess this is the answer to the statement that “hindsight is 20/20.” How often do we wish we had known something, or acted on something, before it was too late to change things? And that’s when regret reared its ugly head and threatened to leave us feeling guilty forever. How nice it would have been to just go back in time and undo the moment like Bill Murray learned to do in the movie “Groundhog Day.”
But, truthfully, what I’m asking for here is a way to perfect life according to my own human idea of perfection. But it’s not truly perfect. No bad decisions means no hard lessons, and no hard lessons leads to not caring what we do because we can just “undo” it. (And my heart breaks at this thought because of all the babies lost to abortion since people so often believe the lie that it will undo pregnancy.)
Sadly, this is what so many have tried to do with the grace and mercy of The Lord. They are so sure that everything will be washed away at the touch of the CTRL+Z prayer, they stop thinking before they act, and they stop asking questions like, “What does the Word of God say about this?” In a non religious program, this issue was actually handled well by an episode of a show I think I saw once before I got saved. It was called “Tales from the Darkside” and the episode was called “It All Comes Out in the Wash.” I wrote about it when I was doing the year of Torah studies in a post called, “When it Won’t Come Out in the Wash.”
As I sit here tonight waiting for a phone call from an ICU 2000 miles away, I battle with that thought of, “Why didn’t I call last Sunday?” I planned on it, and I know that at 84 years old, my stepfather’s last breath is far closer than his first breath. But distractions showed up, and I didn’t make the call like I planned. And now, I don’t know if he’s coming back from this one. I do know we had a great conversation the last time we spoke, but it’s been over a month since then. So, if I had my undo button, maybe I would make sure I made that call on Sunday. Thankfully, he’s got a great friend and caregiver who not only let me know as soon as the ambulance left his house, but also called me from the hospital to let me speak to him in case he can hear even in a comatose state. But I know there are many who’ve missed final chances and never got even a small message to the person. I feel for them because this isn’t my first time of wishing I had that Super CTRL Z option.
I’d like to say I’ve learned perfectly from the moments I could not undo, and that I’ve never made the same mistakes twice after learning a thing the hard way, but alas, my humanness has won out more than I like to admit. But the blood of YahShua does wash and cleanse us from eternal guilt even when God lets us stew a bit here on Earth, so if you’ve never let Him put your regrets under the cleansing fountain, please do so soon. If you have questions about salvation, please leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to lead you toward your next steps.
Ephesians 1:7 BSB
[7] In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
https://bible.com/bible/3034/eph.1.7.BSB
Isaiah 1:18 BSB
[18] “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/isa.1.18.BSB
Romans 5:9 BSB
[9] Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!
https://bible.com/bible/3034/rom.5.9.BSB
1 John 1:7 BSB
[7] But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/1jn.1.7.BSB
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🎵 Holy, Pure, and Undefiled (Full Song)🎶
It’s done, and I’m excited to share it with my readers. This is the finished song with 3 verses added to the chorus I shared on the post April 18th. I’m not sure what was harder, writing the lyrics, getting a sound I like from Gemini (Lyria model), or getting this uploaded to YouTube so I could embed it here. Though difficult and time-consuming, I actually enjoyed the process, and now I’m excited to try a bunch more of my poetry set to music. What a fun way to write for the joy of The Lord, and then to make a joyful noise.
1 John 1:4 BSB
[4] We write these things so that our joy may be complete.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/1jn.1.4.BSB
Psalm 100:1-2 BSB
[1] A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. [2] Serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/psa.100.1-2.BSB
I won’t bore you with a ton of details, but there have been some great lessons learned. Part of the learning felt like being in the music studio redoing tracks until they didn’t have any more hiccups. I heard Elvis was famous for doing that hundreds of times. And Marty Robbins was able to go into the studio and sing a song to perfection at the first take. (I’m sure you know who Elvis was, but if you’re not familiar with Marty, look up his album called Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs for some you might find familiar like “El Paso” and “Cool Water.” Or you might remember him for “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation.”)
And that was a fun rabbit trail. Lol 🤣 Anyway, to get the recording with which I was finally happy, it took coming back after I ran out of credits, and it took using multiple AI models. The Pro model didn’t want to help once it saw religious lyrics (I’m sad for that part), but the fast model that helps with a lot of Bible queries from me said it’s just how it’s trained. So, I let the fast model create the prompt with all the right spaces and breaks and punctuation to tell the Lyria model how to sing my words. AI knows AI, so the understanding was finally there to get my song, complete with ending tags (though it could’ve done a little better on that part), and a big orchestra & choir sound. The more I’ve played it, the more I’ve liked it.
And the last piece to the puzzle was finding out that Adobe Express would listen to the video and create captions in time with the music. I had to change some font sizes and boldness within the parameters of not having Adobe premium, but I was able to get them done in a way that should help y’all sing along. So, here for its debut blog performance, please enjoy Holy, Pure, and Undefiled with Lyrics by me and all the rest by Gemini and Lyria…
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🎵I Am The Door
I will keep this short, but I’m so happy with this image of a gentle and caring shepherd keeping watch while the sheep rest. The idea of The Shepherd being the door of the sheepfold is in Scripture in John 10. For this, I want to share from the PEV (Plain English Version) because it’s written as a missionary tool, so it adds simple explanations.
John 10:7-11 PEV
[7] so he said, “I will tell you something else. Listen to this, it’s true. I am like a gate in a sheep yard. [8-11] You know, the gate is the way for the sheep to go into the yard. Well, I am the way for people to come to God. If anybody comes to me, they will come into God’s family, and he will save them. And you know that sheep have to use the gate to go out and get grass to eat. Well just like that, people have to come to me to get whatever they need to live for God. And remember the shepherd in that picture story. Well, I am like that good shepherd that looks after his sheep properly. Some other men came before me, and they reckoned they were like shepherds, but they were liars. They were bad men, and my people didn’t listen to them, just like sheep only listen to their shepherd. Those bad people only want to steal the sheep, and kill them, and finish them up. But I am not like that. I came here to give people real life, so they can live with God for ever. You know, a good shepherd looks after his sheep properly, even if he has to die for them. Well, I am like that, I am ready to die to save my people.
https://bible.com/bible/2530/jhn.10.7-11.PEV
Though PEV, along with other translations, uses the word gate, the HCSB and Young’s Literal use door. I’m sharing that because the idea for the picture actually came from a book I read a long time ago and want to read again called “Jesus in The Present Tense: The I AM Statements of Christ” by Warren W Wiersbe. In this book, the author puts it this way…
“The sheepfold was an enclosure surrounded by a wall of rocks that was too high for the sheep to jump over. The shepherds sometimes put thorny branches on the tops of the walls to deter thieves from trying to climb over. An opening in the wall allowed the sheep to enter and exit; and at night, the shepherd lay across that opening and became the door of the sheepfold. To get into the fold, the sheep had to pass over the shepherd’s body, and to get out of the fold, they had to do the same thing. If a predator or a thief tried to enter, he had to deal with the shepherd first.”
I love this! Both for the idea that an unbeliever must encounter the true Shepherd to truly enter the sheepfold, and also for the protection the sheep are given as they live in the sheepfold. Wiersbe states it in more detail, and it’s exceptionally powerful to listen to it in audio and imagine the quiet field of rest with a strong shepherd guarding the gateway. His Presence is the security, the guidance, and the love we need as we walk through the uncertainties of this life. And if we need a Gentle Shepherd’s lap to crawl up into, He’s there for that as well.
I highly recommend the book, including the audio if you get the electronic version. And I hope the image gives you a picture of yourself as a sheep with a protective and loving Shepherd, that strong tower where you can run and be safe. And since we’re talking about a Gentle Shepherd, I will share a song I sometimes hear from my husband’s playlist called “Tender Shepherd” by Sounds Like Reign.” Even if it’s written as a lullaby, we can all use that type of peace now and then.
Tender Shepherd by Sounds Like Reign (with lyrics)
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