God Never Fails
If God is Love, and Love NEVER fails, then God NEVER fails. In our human condition, we doubt and fear and wonder sometimes where God is and when we’re going to hear from Him or see Him act. But the first part of 1 Corinthians 13:8 reminds us….
[8] Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
https://bible.com/bible/206/1co.13.8.WEBUS
Just as I did yesterday with switching words in Genesis from God to Love, now I’m going to switch the famous verses known for defining what love should be from Love (Charity in KJV) to God. You see, God knows our form and would never ask us to do anything He would not do. So….
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a CSB
[4] God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, [5] is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. [6] God finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. [7] God bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [8] God neverendsfails.
https://bible.com/bible/1713/1co.13.4-8.CSB
Line by line, we can see God’s personality in these behaviors Paul encouraged the Corinthian believers to follow. From the garden until the end of time as we know it, and into eternity, God’s whole purpose is for us to walk with Him, side by side, obeying Him by imitating the behaviors He knows will bring blessings.
When we are patient (a fruit of The Spirit, so we get it directly from God), we bring peace to our lives and even our bodies. This message is to me as much as anyone because age seems to be making that harder for me. Maybe partly because of the many things there are to become impatient or irritable with these days (like AI customer service that won’t connect you to a living human). But I know I don’t like the way I feel when I get impatient, even if I have a good reason for it.
When we are kind, we can see God in our behaviors and note how it changes people. I try to make a habit of calling managers to compliment good service because I know they are overwhelmed with complaints. Years ago, I watched a manager lumber out to my vehicle at a Sonic when his employee sent him at our request. I could tell he was bracing for the worst. After sharing my gratefulness for the attentive and friendly server we had, it literally looked like he was a foot taller as he walked back to the restaurant standing up straight and smiling with confidence. The image is forever etched in my memory as an encouragement to bring that type of kindness whenever I can.
When we refuse to envy or be jealous or rude, we stop adding to the stress and chaos of a world with too many trying to survive without God and His attributes.
When we are careful not to be boastful or arrogant, we leave room for God to shine instead of us. We know that pride goes before destruction, and a stuck up (haughty) attitude before a fall, so we save ourselves from those disasters as well. Remember the letters in EGO can stand for “Edging God Out.”
On the “not self-seeking” line, I found a lot of different wording, including that love does not seek its own way. When I switched that one to God, I was like, “Wait a minute. God does seek His own way and His will because He sees the future and knows what’s right.” So, in His case, seeking His way is not a bad thing. But also, being self-seeking is more like ONLY thinking of yourself. We all know people who don’t seem able to see how their behaviors affect others but can always see how others affect them. Without natural empathy, those are the ones whose love (Godliness) is turning cold as a result of sin.
When King David thought about God’s choice to not hold his record of sins against him, he said that God had separated his (and our) sins as far as the East is separated from the West. Real love covers a multitude of sins. It may seem like a “get out of jail free” card, but it’s definitely not a “keep on doing what got you into bondage in the first place” license. Just like we want people to be grateful enough for our forgiveness to not harm us again, God wants us to be grateful enough to keep ourselves free from the sinful entanglements He broke away from us. And all this is because God finds no joy in unrighteousness but He does rejoice in truth because truth sets us free. Let’s make God smile today.
Finally, God bears, believes, hopes, and endures because He sees a future we cannot even imagine. His Word says it hasn’t even entered into our hearts what He has prepared, but it also says He has hidden eternity in our hearts. He promised Israel that He had plans for their hope and a future. Through the blood of YahShua, we have become Abraham’s seed and heir to those great and precious promises. God (Love) NEVER fails.
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Love Created the Heavens and….
1 John 4:16 WEBUS
[16] We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
https://bible.com/bible/206/1jn.4.16.WEBUS
For the month of February, I’m going to take a hint from Hallmark and do my own version of Love-uary with the focus on God’s love. To start it out right, I thought it would be interesting to see how some of the items in the first chapter of Genesis read when we substitute the word love wherever it normally has the word God. I think the message is deep and soul-stirring.
So here is Genesis 1:1-2, 4-5, 14-18, 27-28, 31 KJV with the replacements (no italics or full caps, just read it normally to catch the nuance):
[1] In the beginning Love created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Love moved upon the face of the waters.
[4] And Love saw the light, that it was good: and Love divided the light from the darkness. [5] And Love called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
[14] And Love said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: [15] and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. [16] And Love made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. [17] And Love set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, [18] and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and Love saw that it was good.
[27] So Love created man in his own image, in the image of Love created he him; male and female created he them. [28] And Love blessed them, and Love said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
[31] And Love saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
https://bible.com/bible/1/gen.1.1-31.KJV
So what do you think, readers? I really like the statements like “Love created man in His image” and “Love saw that it was good.”
Because God is Love, whenever we read anything about God, love is the descriptor even when we do not understand. And whenever we talk about love, it should be in ways that represent God fully and completely. All love is not love, as the commercial campaign once said. A mother’s love due a child is different than a friend’s love for a friend, and both are different than romantic love between a man and woman. Some forms of love are not love at all but merely mankind’s desire for how he thinks love should be defined, like a child who says a parent who won’t let them do whatever they want doesn’t love them. But true love can always be defined as God and, far more than a feeling, true love is powerful enough to design and create a universe and everything in it. Do you know LOVE?
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Happy Birthday, Grandma!
One of the blessings of being the first born is also getting to be the first grandchild. One of my favorite stories from childhood is when my mom, who was living in Ohio, called up my grandmother (her mother) to wish her a happy birthday. It was also the day of my birth, but Grandma did not know it yet, so Mom said, “Happy Birthday, Grandma!”
Of course, Grandma began her usual thanks for the wishes when the new term hit her. “Wait… Grandma?”
And thus began the plans to transport me back to Southern California and all the family members who had new titles like grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, etc. When life became more difficult not many years later, I believe the special position as the “first” everything, and all the spoiling that came with it in my formative years, gave me a balance that made the hard times easier to survive. And they made me a better big sister who could take control and take care as needed. Not perfect, mind you, as I was still a child, but I think I was a little more attentive to my baby sister.
I still have fond memories of shared birthday gatherings when there would be a cake with both names, or a big and little cake when we each got our own. I loved sharing my birthday with my grandmother, and it never felt the same after she left this world. But I will always have that sweet story of the phone call “reveal” to my newly ordained Grandma. 😁
Here’s one of those memories from a Polaroid I shared to my Flickr feed, though I’m sorry I cannot seem to control the sizes from Flickr pages to this blog…
Thank you for joining me on this trip down memory lane. And if you have a grandmother who needs a pretty card for her birthday, feel free to download and use the card above. You can add a name in multiple photo editing apps, but I recommend Photo Studio Pro the most.
And one last thing; I learned today that there is a scientific group doing studies on mother’s milk that shows how different needs of a baby create different chemical components within the milk. It’s a different composition for boys than girls, it changes for sick babies, and first-time mothers have more cortisol in their milk which causes first-born babies to be more alert, attentive, and anxious. It’s almost like some Intelligent Being designed things to work in certain ways that benefit the human race, huh? 🤩 Read a summary of more highlights from this amazing study by Katie Hinder, an evolutionary anthropologist, on X (you’ll need to log in) at https://x.com/i/status/2016990657450299837 and prepare to be amazed. (If you don’t have an X/Twitter account, maybe look up the scientist by name. It’s a lot of fascinating study.)
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I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy…
Do you remember the Sunday School song begun in the title? If so, and since it’s my birthday tomorrow, my wish is for you to sing this fun tune (from way back in 1926) with me:
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart;
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart to stay.
I've got the peace that passes understanding,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart;
I've got the peace that passes understanding,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart to stay.
I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart;
I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus,
Down in my heart, (where?)
Down in my heart to stay.
And I had to share this as part of my birthday celebration because with age, I need that joy in my heart more than ever. I’ve always been a joy seeker and have even been described as “bright and bubbly.” One person from across a congregation would watch for me to get into a conversation because she knew I would likely smile about something, and she said she loved my smile because I smiled with my whole being.
Truthfully, though, when you get older and you look in the mirror and see the weight and the tired eyes (I know, I need to take my own advice from a couple days ago to look beyond the mirror), it makes it easier to frown in frustration than smile with joy. But I must remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and joy (plus peace and love) are the fruit of His Spirit. They are part of His personality dwelling within me, so they remain the same no matter my external circumstances.
And here’s a video of a couple singing this with some pretty harmonies and even the added chorus that says, “And I’m so happy, so very happy, I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart; yes I’m so happy, so very happy, I’ve got the love of Jesus in my heart.”
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Good Morning, Lord! 🌞
While I struggle to be an earlybird kinda person, for some reason, I keep writing things with “good morning” in their titles. So, just because this begins with that, please enjoy it as a prayer to start your new day at whatever time your morning might be. I wrote it years ago, so it’s a good time to present it with a new, pretty background and frame. This is my real prayer to The Almighty Creator who loves me, my Abba Yahveh, and I hope it’s one my readers can pray to Him as well.
Here it is in plain text in case the image makes it difficult to read….
GOOD MORNING LORD!
HERE I AM.
I KNOW YOU HAVE PLANS…
FOR THIS DAY;
FOR ME;
FOR ME IN THIS DAY.
FOR MY LIFE,
FOR ME IN THIS LIFE.
YOU ARE MY CREATOR.
AND I AM YOUR CHILD.
I AM NOT JUST AN EXPERIMENT.
YOU MADE MANKIND
(AND ME)
IN YOUR IMAGE.
YOU HAVE PERFECT PLANS.
NOTHING SURPRISES YOU.
I TRUST YOU.
I RECEIVE YOUR WISDOM
ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU
HAVE CHOSEN TO SHARE WITH ME
IN THIS LIFE.
I RECEIVE HEALING
FROM YOUR HAND
AND THROUGH
YOUR HOLY AND PRECIOUS BLOOD THAT WILL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER!
MAY I LISTEN TO, AND HEAR,
YOUR VOICE.
MAY I SEE, AND KNOW,
YOUR WILL FOR ME.
MAY I FOLLOW, AND OBEY, YOU.
MAY I SHOW YOU MY LOVE
BY OFFERING YOU PRAISE,
FOR ALL THAT YOU ARE,
AND FOR ALL THAT YOU DO–
THIS DAY AND FOREVER!
IN YOUR HOLY, MEMORIAL NAME, YAHVEH, AND IN THE NAME AND BLOOD OF MY MESSIAH YAHSHUA,
AMEN AND HALLELUYAH!
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It is No Secret, or Is It?
When I was a little girl, my mom loved her music, and she had a lot of albums by Wayne Newton. One of my favorites was his gospel album with Church in the Wildwood, The Old Rugged Cross, and other traditional hymns. I sang with each of them, but mostly with the song, It is No Secret (What God Can Do). This video sounds exactly like what I remember:
As I got older, it began to feel like the things God could do were secrets, at least from me. I wondered where He was on the nights of drunkenness and violence that eventually resulted in social workers and foster homes for my sister and I. She ended up back at home, and I ended up living with my grandparents in another city. We both watched our mom ride a rollercoaster of efforts to get life right while everyone gave her different answers for how to do it.
One day, while writing in a poetry class in the group home I was in, I recall telling God in a poem how I just didn’t understand Him, or why things had to be the way they were. I concluded by writing that I wasn’t going to try anymore. It was partly giving up and partly pleading for understanding. Thankfully, God read it as a prayer that He eventually answered when I was ready.
Proverbs 25:2 says,
[2] It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
https://bible.com/bible/206/pro.25.2.WEBUS
And then we have the Psalm in the image above reminding us that God’s wisdom is hidden from those who do not fear (respect) Him.
So, really, the secret is not one that is withheld from anyone who truly seeks Him with all their heart and soul, but it is hidden from those who don’t think it’s worth enough to dig for. Like a vein of pure gold in a rock or stream, or a cache of diamonds in the depths of a mountain of coal, God’s wisdom is an extreme value waiting to be mined. I don’t desire gold or jewels enough to take the risks associated with mining, but I do value God’s pure and holy truths enough to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking (see Matthew 7:7) until I find answers. Will you go mining with me?
⛏️📖⛏️
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When You Pray
I got a text from a friend tonight. She told me that all over the country (USA), people were going to pray together. At 9 PM, I was to stop what I was doing and spend 1 minute praying for our country. I’m guessing the organizers told people in different time zones what time to pray, so we could all pray together.
Apparently, during World War II, Britain did the same thing and had great success. And it can never be a bad idea to bring any facet of life to The Creator of life and then trust The Master to work well with His creations. So, hubby and I joined hands and bowed our heads, and we prayed. We were in a restaurant, so you know that’s exactly when our server brought the first part of our meal. But she was respectful and waited. I pray it lifted up The Lord in her thoughts.
The day brought a lot of activity, and the night brought temperatures cut in half from the day, but all in all, it felt like a good day. I don’t want to bore folks with all my daily doings, so I looked in my photo history with my Amazon Photos and found this image from Jan 22 of 2024. It reminded me of the 9 PM prayer and thus became tonight’s blog image.
Now, I invite you readers to join believers all over who are taking that minute to lift up our land, our people, and our leadership to The Lord.
Most of us have no idea what our leadership faces from enemies, both foreign and domestic. We live our lives, go to our jobs, have meals with friends and family, and take care of business while remaining blissfully unaware of the threats our leaders must watch for and prepare defenses against. We form our opinions and make our judgments on the little we think we know from what gets shared over the airwaves. But Yahveh Almighty sees what we cannot. He knows the threats, the credible plans, and the steps needed to protect us. So, our leaders need us to pray. And our Creator wants us to pray and wants to listen. Let’s gratefully step up to just one minute each night to raise a collective voice of prayer and praise toward Heaven and know that God is listening. In YahShua’s name.
🙏✨🤲✨🛐✨🛐✨🤲✨🙏
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International Squirrel Appreciation Day
In honor of this special day about squirrels, I had to share a Flickr gallery I’ve curated from real photographs taken by super talented photographers. I hope the pictures make you smile and send you to those photographer’s pages on Flickr to see even more masterpieces. (NOTE: I’m sorry about the giant size of the gallery slideshow. I couldn’t get WP to accept the Flickr embed code, and I tried putting the width and height in various places in the code to make it smaller, but nothing worked. I’m adding this note in case one of my readers can provide a helpful answer on this issue.)
And, for a little bit of light-hearted news, I found this video of a hero “attack squirrel” that protected his owner’s home…
And, for a final laugh, here’s a collage of 4 images created by Wombo Dream (aka dream.ai) that I made back in 2023 when I was fairly new to the app. My prompts were inspired by pictures of red squirrels, like those above, and some cute red pandas I’d seen. I asked for images of red animals with saddles and with smaller ones riding on the backs of larger ones. These include 2 cute successes and 2 utter failures that truly make me laugh out loud. Here’s to finding joy in the messy mistakes.
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Look and See How Good it Can Be
When I worshipped in a Messianic congregation, one of my favorite songs to learn was called Hineh Ma Tov. It was built on words from this verse in Psalm 133:1.
Psalms 133:1 WEBUS
[1] See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity!
https://bible.com/bible/206/psa.133.1.WEBUS
So what happens when people do not live together in unity? My suggested emoji after that sentence was a sad, crying emoji like this 😭. But my last word was unity, and I didn’t say anything in the sentence that could lead my keyboard to think I was talking about something sad. Right? Or is even a keyboard smarter than many humans to know the end result of refusing to look for unity?
But I digress; I was only going to talk about the not-so-pleasant and not-so-wonderful effects of division. Chaos, anger, and jealousy, are just a few of the effects that go with not being on the same page. But THAT is really the problem. No ONE page that everyone can stand on together to allow the unity. Unity without a foundation is simply an illusion.
When the psalmist speaks in this chapter, the pleasant things he describes include the oil dripping from Aaron’s beard. That is pleasant to him because that oil is from a time of anointing to do priestly works for God Almighty. The priesthood was originally created and ordained by Yahveh as part of His mercy and grace to cover the sins of mankind. And if the priest was being ordained, it meant the law was being followed.
Law is a blessing! Think of this: When you’re in a hurry to get somewhere, and you have a green light, the law that makes cross traffic stop and let you through will benefit you more than chaos at the intersection. But all it takes is one person who spurns the law and wants to do things their own way to mess up everyone’s day.
God put law in our hearts, and all it took was one evil tempter challenging God’s way of doing things to create chaos for every human for the rest of time. At least until time stops counting because we move into eternity. So what would happen if all of mankind decided to look and see how good it would be to follow God’s way? We would be in unity, and behold how wonderful and pleasant it would be.
And here’s a video and lyrics with Paul Wilbur singing Hineh Ma Tov…
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Strong Enough to Grieve
Temporary! That word carries both comfort and terror. Knowing that suffering will come to an end is comforting. Knowing the pain of loss when the end comes is terrifying.
Today marks 11 years since I said goodbye to my mom for the last time. It was bittersweet because of the healing that took place between us in her final days and hours. I wanted to let her go because I didn’t want her to suffer, but I didn’t want to let her go because I finally felt like I had a mom. Both the healing and the loss changed my life in more ways than I can count.
Anyone who was reading my blog knows that I pretty much stopped writing regularly after her passing. And then more losses and pain followed in the years after that made it hard to come back. But now that I’m here, and on this death anniversary, I want to focus on the good that God provides to comfort us in a life we have little control over. One bit of comfort is in that unseen eternity that carries more hope than anything in this world could ever provide. It’s a hope that my mom is there, in the Presence of our Creator and Lord, and enjoying every pain-free moment with Him. It’s a hope that I will see her again one day. And, it’s a hope that my own eternity will be filled with all the Love and Light that is God Almighty Himself. Those unseen hopes can carry a person through many troubles in this temporary life.
So, as I’ve been waxing poetic lately, I think it’s finally time to share the poem I feel God gave me shortly after my mom’s passing. I had been saving it to submit to a publisher, but maybe someone will stop by here who really needs to read it. Many have been brought to tears by the words in these verses, and I pray it blesses at least one someone out there.
STRONG ENOUGH TO GRIEVE
By Crystal A Murray (C) 2015 All Rights Reserved
No, you weren't the kind of mom that...
Fixed my lunches,
Made my bed,
Came to school functions,
Helped me study,
Or pushed me to graduate.
You didn't help me to...
Get ready for a prom,
Plan a perfect wedding,
Or prepare for a family.
See, we didn't have a storybook life.
Not even a sitcom, really.
Alcohol and mental illness,
Along with some bad "dads" in our home,
They stole hours and days.
They stole my childhood.
And yet, I loved you.
We finally became friends.
There were still many battles,
But I was old enough to stand.
And then we both got stronger.
The love of God changed our hearts.
And His grace changed our lives.
Old things went away... mostly.
But some damage was done.
Some scars would stay,
And even hurt at times.
You were better, but not always.
I was stronger yet often weak.
Oh, but I still loved you.
When the cancer came,
I was ready to fight in prayer,
But you said you were ready to go.
And so, I came to your side.
And that's when I learned...
You were still tormented.
You battled something oppressive that neither of us could see.
Much of what I took personally and hurt from
Wasn't about me.
But I had never known that.
It was all personal to me.
My hurts were so deep,
Healing seemed impossible,
And all my memories felt painful.
But then, a new friend prayed.
God sent her to both of us.
I had been strong enough...
To do what you needed,
To prepare for your death,
And to take care of business;
But I had not been strong enough to grieve.
After our friend prayed,
she taught us how to pray.
She showed us God's words that promised victory.
And then the peace came in.
You were delivered from your torment.
And I was set free to grieve.
I found memories of good times.
I sang you heaven songs--
Many I recalled from childhood.
And you rested.
I held your hand and felt new love for you;
Love not restricted and bound...
By years of pain,
By bad memories,
Or by guilt for my imperfections as a daughter.
Real, heartfelt love.
So, finally...
I grieved freely.
As your breath slowed,
As comfort took over pain,
And as God let me get some sleep, too.
You slipped away.
And I cried.
Now I remember the good.
And though it brings me sadness,
It also sets me free
because now...
I am strong enough to grieve.
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