It’s Important That You Know This

May 13, 2025 Gracie

Your Faith – It’s Important That You Know This

It's important that you know this

It’s important that you know this – God loves you, and He always will.

Even when your life is difficult at times, You are not truly alone.

God isn’t going anywhere.

Who is man to deserve such a loving Heavenly Father?

It’s hard to even imagine the depths of God’s love.

Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross we are redeemed from the eternal punishment that we rightly deserve.

This beautiful quote from Joni Eareckson Tada is filled with encouragement . . .

There is a word that marks the love of Christ, and that is excessive. His love for you overflows all reason, all expectations, all your hopes and dreams. For Christ to lay down his life for you tells you that his covenant is no schoolboy pledge or head-of-state agreement or legal contract. Christ’s love is riddled with powerful emotion. For him to die for you is for him to be delighted in you.
Let Christ’s passion for you stir the depths of your yearnings for him. Let yourself be drawn to him today, not only because of his sacrifice for your sin but because of his desire for your soul. – Joni Eareckson Tada, Christian author and CEO of Joni and Friends¹

We are His children, and even though we often fail Him, He offers us forgiveness. There is no love more pure or greater than His.

Recently, I came across a poem that captures the unwavering nature of God’s love for us. With a huge thank you to Deborah Ann Belka, I’m happy to share it here.

No Other One

I know no other Savior,
no other who would forgive
nor collect in His bottle
the tears I have to give.

I know no other Shepherd,
no other to show the way
nor when I am in the valley
listen to what I have to say.

I know no other Lamb,
no other who peace brings
nor one who can lead me
to those life giving springs.

I know no other Light,
no other shines so clear
nor one when I am afraid
can take away my fear.

I know no other Creator,
no other with the skill
nor one who loves me
like I know He always will.

I know no other God,
no other one has come before
nor one who’ll come after . . .
for my God is forever more!

1 Kings 8:60

“That all the people of the earth
may know that the Lord is God,
and that there is none else.” – King James Version, Public Domain

He knows us inside and out, the good and the bad, and yet, offers us infinite grace and compassion.

Thank You, Heavenly Father

for who You are, and that You so deeply care for us

May our lives be a shining reflection

of Your goodness and mercy

to those around us.

¹Quotation is from Joni Eareckson Tada, 1 John 4:19 Commentary, [2024] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Web. Accessed 19 April, 2025.

²Poetry courtesy of Deborah Ann Belka, “No Other One.” [online post], June 13, 2023, Web. Accessed April 20, 2025. Retrieved from https://poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com/

One Day Closer

October 24, 2023 Gracie

We Are One Day Closer

Israel-Hamas War

No doubt, you’ve seen the awful headlines, but does the Israel-Hamas war signal that our generation is living in the End Times?

The disturbing images and reports on the news are horrific, including the mass murder of women, children, and the elderly.

We are witnessing blatant evil and depravity.

Reading the words of our Savior, we learn that Jesus taught His disciples about birth pains and the end times events to come.

It’s hard to miss the fact that countries are lining up against Israel, as prophesied.

But, there’s a big problem when people engage in date-setting and, in some cases, write books about specific dates.

Jesus said to His followers in Mark 13:

³²But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³³“Watch out, stay alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is. – Mark 13:32-33, (NASB).¹

“No one knows” means exactly that – “no one knows!”

No book author, Christian preacher, false teacher, or church knows exactly when the glorious return of Jesus Christ (His Second Coming) will happen.

If God wanted us as His creation to know, He would have told us.

The Rapture hasn’t even happened yet.

The Church is still here.

Here’s what we do know for sure about God’s timing . . . we are 100% guaranteed, no question, absolutely sure that we are one day closer.

That’s it.

We are one day closer, and Jesus’ return is near – er.

Until His return, the horrific events we are witnessing in the headlines (and more to come) are the result of living in a fallen world.

The world needs Jesus!

Photo by Elianna Gill on Unsplash

One Day Closer, But Why Don’t We Know the Date?

Why didn’t God tell us the date?

God is sovereign.

Only He knows the big picture of events – the beginning and the end.

Since we don’t know the time or date, we should always be ready.

The verse quoted above from Mark 13 is clear – in essence, “stay alert.”

On the one hand, it serves as a vivid reminder that the things of this world are temporary (cf. 2 Peter 3:11–13; 1 John 2:15–17; 3:2–3), and that the redeemed are citizens of an eternal kingdom that is yet to be revealed on earth when the Lord comes in glory (Phil. 3:20–21; Heb. 11:16). On the other hand, it provides a compelling motivation for believers to proclaim the glorious gospel of Christ to those who are perishing, so that they might be saved from the impending judgment of God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20–21; 2 Peter 3:14–15). – as quoted in preceptaustin.org.²

In the meantime, please pray for the release of the hostages in this brutal war.

We should also continue to pray for God’s will to be done, and that what we’re seeing on the world stage will bring the unsaved around the world to Christ.

It’s only through Jesus Christ, as His Elect, we will have eternal security and safety.

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or trouble, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶Just as it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:35-39, (NASB).³

Come, Lord Jesus.

# # #

²Precept Austin quotation is from the Mark 13 Commentary, [2023] Courtesy of Precept Austin, Subheading, “Watch For Him” Web. Accessed 21 October, 2023.

Our Exceptional God