More Precious Than Gold

April 29, 2025 Gracie

Faith More Precious Than Gold

Quite a long time ago (it’s getting longer and longer as I grow older!), my mom and dad gave me a beautiful gold ring for one of my birthdays.

This cherished piece of jewelry holds a special place in my heart, and I think of them whenever I wear it.

The unique design resembles a flower, featuring a small pearl surrounded by tiny sapphires.

Cherished ring

You can’t put a price on a memory like this.

To borrow an expression, for me this ring is “worth more than gold.”

Gold is a precious metal with too many uses to even count.

From shining gold jewelry creations to a valuable alloy used for fillings at your local dentist, gold has great value for many reasons.

Check out this striking “replica” of a gold nugget on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, MA. (The original was eventually melted down.)

Large gold nugget on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History

The “Welcome Nugget” – a replica¹

I don’t know if you can read the sign, but the original gold nugget weighed 152 pounds and was later sold for $21,000.

That just gives you an idea of the value.

Do you know what is even more valuable than gold?

The Bible tells us.

The following passage from 1 Peter 1:6-9 describes the importance of having unwavering faith during our trials.

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, ⁷so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ⁸and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁸obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. – 1 Peter 1:6-9, (NASB).²

More Precious Than Gold: The Purpose of Suffering

The melting point of gold is well over 1900 degrees Fahrenheit.³

Remarkably, fire doesn’t destroy the gold during the refining process, in fact, it makes it even more pure and valuable.

Have you heard of the refiners fire?

Just as with purifying gold, our steadfast faith – when tested by “fiery” trials – refines and purifies us.

We can rejoice, not because of the suffering we go through, but because our future is secure through Jesus.

Gold does not fear the fire, and neither should we.

# # #

¹Source Credit, [2023] Courtesy of Anatoli Lvov, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. “The Welcome Nugget. ” Web. Accessed 18 April, 2025.

³ Source Credit, Article by Dr. Andrew A. Snelling (PhD, Geology, Research Director at Answers in Genesis – USA). “Gold – A Little Bit Of Heaven On Earth.” Courtesy of Answersingenesis.org. para.29. Web. Accessed 20th, April, 2025. Retrieved from: Melting Point of Gold

Our Exceptional God

Celebrating Christ’s Victory

April 19, 2025 Gracie

Happy Resurrection Sunday: Celebrating Christ’s Victory

From our home to yours, we wish you a Happy Resurrection Sunday!

He is risen.

He is risen indeed!

Christians from around the world are celebrating Christ’s victory over the cross.

His resurrection is the most important event in the history of Christianity.

Through Jesus Christ, we can rest in God’s promise of eternal life for all believers.

He is the good news of the Gospel.

It is through Jesus Christ alone, that we can be reconciled to the Father and live forever in His holy presence. – John 14:6, (NASB).¹

Until that glorious day when we step into our eternity with Him, we can rejoice that God always keeps His promises.

Living in this world can be challenging sometimes, but we can hold onto our faith knowing that all of this present uncertainty is only temporary.

A brighter day is on the horizon!

Trust, persevere, and pray.

Remember, God sent us His Son.

There is no greater expression of love than this.

We never have seen, nor heard, nor imagined
The wonderful future the Lord has prepared
For those who will love and trust and receive Him –
This glorious truth He has plainly declared. – Hess, Precept Austin commentary.²

Celebrating Christ's victory

# # #

² Quotation is from Francis L. Hess from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Devotionals, [2022] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Web. Accessed 10 April, 2025.

Our Exceptional God

Divine Design

April 8, 2025 Gracie

Uniquely Made: God’s Divine Design

When a magnificent sunrise greets you in the morning . . .

God's signature on creation

or later, when you look at the stars shimmering in the night sky

God's Divine Design

. . . you are witnessing God’s hand on creation.

Don’t miss it!

God created everything, including the mesmerizing beauty of sunrises and sunsets.

He also created you.

Dear Saved One – you are a part of His Divine Design.

The world wants to tell you that you have no worth . . in essence, you’re just a clump of cells – easily discarded if need be.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” – Genesis 1:26, (NASB).¹

We are made in God’s image.

Have you ever stopped to think how extraordinary that is?

When you look at intricate paintings in a museum, you can easily marvel at the creative techniques used in these masterpieces.

Consider this . . .

Two famous artists in the 1800s, namely Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, developed the artistic “Pointillism” technique.

These amazing artists and several others used thousands of painted and colored dots (or cubes) to form colorful images in their paintings.

Camille Pissarro painting, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. ²

Creative, yes.

Amazing, yes.

But, but how much more so the Master Plan – that is, the divine design from the Creator of Heaven and earth?

Did you know that a healthy adult human body contains 37 trillion cells?

Trillions!

That’s a huge, almost incomprehensible number, that has 12 zeros after it!

In God’s divine design, all of those cells and so many other parts to the human body come together to create you.

Why did God create us?

He didn’t have to, and He didn’t need to.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:4-9, (NASB).³

We are to be like mirrors – reflecting His glory to a lost world that desperately needs our Savior.

Even though we are unworthy of this great love, through Jesus, God’s love and grace are extended to us.

Now that’s worth celebrating.

# # #

²“GELÉE BLANCHE, JEUNE PAYSANNE FAISANT DU FEU” by Camille Pissarro, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 6 January, 2021. Accessed and retrieved April 5, 2025.

Our Exceptional God

Oldest Man in the Bible

March 25, 2025 Gracie

The Oldest Man in the Bible – Get Ready for a Shock!

Did you know that the oldest person in the Bible was a man named Methuselah?

How old you might ask?

You may want to sit down.

Methuselah was 969 years old – making him the oldest man in the Bible.

969!

Right there in Genesis 5:27 . . .

So all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. – Genesis 5:27, (NASB).¹

How could he be that old?

I think of all the anti-aging creams I have bought in the past. 🙂

Even if they did actually work, there’s no way I would ever want to live to be 969 years old!

He was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Adam and the grandfather of Noah. He was likely a godly man to have been blessed by God with such a long lifespan. – gotquestions.org.²

These very long and mysterious lifespans seems to defy explanation.

However, the following consideration (there are quite a few) makes a lot of sense to me.

Over time, as a result of sin, the human genetic code became increasingly corrupted, and human beings became more and more susceptible to death and disease (emphasis mine). This would also have resulted in drastically reduced lifespans. – gotquestions.org.³

the timeless truths of the Bible

The Oldest Man in the Bible – Trust God’s Word

The unimaginable power and divine nature of God will accomplish His plan for humanity no matter how inexplicable it seems to us.

This side of heaven we don’t completely understand the long lifespans of some of the patriarchs in the Bible.

Even so, we can have complete confidence in the timeless truths in God’s Word because the Bible is God-breathed.

I’m sure the debates about this and other divine mysteries will continue.

Sadly, they’re often fueled, not by curiosity seekers, but ultimately by an Adversary who wants to disprove the Bible by any means necessary.

Whether sin corrupted the long lifespans of the past, or perhaps another interpretation, the bottom line is that God is sovereign and we can trust Him.

He remains the Final Authority and His Word is infallible.

⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9, (NASB).⁴

# # #

²Quotation from gotquestions.org from “Why did the people in Genesis live such long lives”? n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed March 20, 2025. Retrieved from oldest man in the Bible.

³Quotation from gotquestions.org from “Why did the people in Genesis live such long lives”? n.d., para. 4. Web. Accessed March 20, 2025. Retrieved from long lives in the Bible.

Our Exceptional God

Unending Praise

March 11, 2025 Gracie

The Lord Deserves Our Unending Praise

Can you name the fastest animal on earth?

Personally, I would have guessed a Cheetah, but that would have been wrong. 🙂

The fastest animal on earth is the Peregrine Falcon.

The Amazing Peregrine Falcon

How fast?

Their high diving maneuvers have been clocked at up to 200 mph.¹

Now that is fast.

Amazingly, the Peregrine Falcon is just one part of God’s intricate tapestry called “Creation.”

Evidence of His divine design is everywhere.

Imagine the care and incredible artistry God uses when He brings to life a remarkable bird of prey like the Peregrine Falcon.

I delight in our God along with you.

Our amazement over these God-created wonders isn’t the end of it.

We are blessed to be the “stewards” of His creation – appointed by God Himself.

He alone is worthy of our unending praise.

I am reminded of a passage in Revelation 4.

We can echo the elders’ praise by saying these beloved words from Scripture either out loud or in our hearts.

“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” – Revelation 4:11, (NASB).²

Someday in the future, all of us will honor His glory, together, as a multitude of voices.

In the meantime, I hope you can notice the countless blessings that surround us.

Every day is an opportunity to thank Him.

Unending praise

Unending Praise – Is He Worthy?

There are a few Christian songs that I like to turn up the volume for on my speakers.

This is one of them.

As I sing along loudly, I sometimes wonder if the neighbors can hear me.

If they do, well, the more the merrier!

# # #

¹Source Credit, [2023] Courtesy of sciencedigest.org by Patsy Todd, from “The World’s Fastest Animal: The Peregrine Falcon’s Dive. ” Web. Accessed 13 October, 2023.

Our Exceptional God

1 2 3 … 101 »