Carol’s Blog – Carol Purves

To the End

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 15, 2026May 8, 2026He will hold me fast

‘He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.‘ Phil 1:6

In a period of my usual worrying about everything, God directed me to this verse. Paul was writing to the believers at Philippi. Maybe they too had been worrying about petty unnecessary matters. Sadly, we all seem to be plagued by worry from the beginning of time until now.

As we read through the Bible there are so many times we come across the words ‘Do not worry,’ ‘Do not fear.’ I ask myself a few questions, ‘

Do I believe God has begun a good work in me?’

‘Do I believe He is able to keep me to the end?’

‘Do I want to be held by God all the days of my life?’

The answer to every question is a resounding ‘Yes.’

In spite of my ‘yeses’ I still try to take matters into my own hands and struggle on my own. I need to keep my eyes on Jesus, it is He who holds me, not just me trying to hang on to Him. His grip is steadfast and sure. He will not let me go. My fingers are only weak. He will keep me to the end, not just till near the end. Let us relax in His love and care.

26th

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 14, 2026May 14, 2026

Practice

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 14, 2026May 7, 2026God will know

‘He is like one who comes to Me and hears my words and puts them into practice.’ Luke 6:47

A famous pianist was giving an interview after one of his concerts. The interviewer gave him much praise and then said, ‘You are such a great pianist now that I expect you don’t have to practice much.’ With a wry smile the pianist replied, ‘If I don’t practice for one day I know, if I don’t practice for two days my wife knows and if I don’t practice for three days, the world knows.’

How like the Christian life. If we don’t pray and study the Bible for one day God knows, if we don’t speak to God and read His word for two days, we know and our closeness to Him is lessened. If we don’t study the Bible and pray to God for three days our lives will reflect this and our witness for Him will be less effective.

The word ‘perseverance’ is much used in the Bible with good reason. God knows how easily we can be drawn away from Him. The world is close, pressing in it’s demands. Good daily habits are necessary to keep this world at bay.

No Laughing Matter

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 12, 2026May 7, 2026God can do even this

The wait for Sarah, the wife of Abraham, to get pregnant was long and stressful. Abraham had received various promises from God that he would have a son and that he would be the head of many nations, but Sarah knew ‘she was old and well advanced in years and past the age of child-bearing.‘ Genesis 18:11. So when she heard the visitors announce ‘about this time next year your wife Sarah will have a son,‘ Genesis18:10, she laughed quietly to herself. Nothing was going to happen. But God had heard the silent laugh and said to Abraham ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’ verse 13. This knowledge of God made her afraid and then she lied to make matters worse. ‘I did not laugh,’ verse 15.

There is a question we can ask ourselves. Do we believe there is a limit to God’s power. that there are some things He cannot do? When we think of someone we know, do we think it is impossible that they could ever make a confession of faith? Such thinking will restrict our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person. We ask, why spend our prayers and petitions on behalf of this person, who is too stubborn to yield to God? We must not restrict God’s powers and abilities. In Jeremiah 32:27 we hear God ask, ‘Is anything too hard foi me?’

The Difference of the Cross

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 11, 2026May 6, 2026the most important cross

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

We are again in the season of our national elections and are bombarded with literature urging us to vote in a particular way. Every party makes promises which, should they be elected, they would find difficult to keep. Each candidates wants us to put a cross against their name.

It can be confusing especially when we feel our cross will make little difference. Thousands of people will be voting and their cross can cancel out ours. Surely we can feel that our cross is insignificant.

But a cross which is not insignificant is the cross of Jesus Christ which brings salvation and newness of life. It is unique and momentous, bringing life where there was only death. Every soul since the time of Christ’s death has been affected by that one single cross.

So as we place our election cross, we hope to improve the lot of fellow mankind, all the while remembering the most important cross of all, the cross which saves our souls and has the power to save the whole world.

Watering the Soul

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 8, 2026May 3, 2026refreshi8ng

‘He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields it’s fruit in season. And whose leaf does not wither.’ Psalm 1:3

In England we don’t really know what true drought is like but sometimes we do long for more rain. I’ve just ordered another water butt for my garden. Even in April my existing one does not seem enough as it is becoming empty so early in the year. What a gift from God rain is! As dry days follow rainless ones, God’s plants become stressed and slowly die.

When the rain does come, plants slowly revive as they drink in the life-giving moisture, flowers lift up their heads, bushes look heathier and all nature seems to sparkle. Birds join in the joy as they sing their hearts out. We need the rain to survive.

Our souls can become spiritually dry without attention. Slowly things can start to fall apart in our lives. We lose direction and make the wrong choices which leads further down dangerous routes. Then by God’s grace, times of refreshing come. We are able to drink deeper. Our lives get back on track as we learn more of God’s will for us. Like the plants we can shine for Him. We need to be more like the person who said he never prayed for more than fifteen minutes but he never went for more than fifteen minutes without praying. What a high standard!

Doubt

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 5, 2026April 27, 2026God is the one true God

‘Are You the one who is coming or do we look for another. Matthew 11:3

John the Baptist had baptised Jesus, seen the dove and heard the words of the angel. After this baptism John had stepped out of the limelight. Jesus was now centre-stage. Now that John is in prison, he is fearing rightly for his life. Largely forgotten by the world, John was beginning to have his doubts.

‘Are you the one who is to coming,’ he asks, ‘or do we look for another. ‘ Matthew 11:3. No wonder he was now beginning to doubt.

And there are times when we too doubt. Maybe we have lost our job and finances are difficult, our friends are dying and our own lives are in danger through persecution. The worry and doubt floods our minds. Our hearts cry out, Is it true, does God care for us? When we doubt we can turn to the psalms, David often cried out to God. He suffered more than we, but by putting has trust in God he was able to say ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.’ Psalm 23:1. In fact he left a whole host of psalms to give us comfort.

Do You Hear Me?

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 4, 2026April 26, 2026do we have a listening ear?

Peter and the other disciples were so intent on claiming that they would never fall away that they didn’t really listen to what Jesus was saying. They were busy justifying themselves. Even if others disowned Him, they never would. Furthermore there were arguments as to who was the most important disciple!

These denials and self-centered attitudes occupied all their thoughts. If only they had really listened, they could have saved themselves so much heartache. They would not have been so grief-stricken when He was crucified. But they just were not listening. No-one questioned or registered when He said ‘After I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Jerusalem.’.

Peter would later remember Jesus’ words where He had predicted that he would deny Him three times. The realisation after he had done so, brought anguish to his heart, But he hadn’t really listened to Jesus but no-one picked up the words

How often are we like that? Jesus speaks to as, or we read it in the Bible, or we hear the words in a sermon. Then we don’t really listen or we forget. We could save ourselves so much pain and sorrow. The Bible tells us many times ‘Do not be afraid.’ Yet we still fear. Jesus says ‘Follow me’ and then we go our own way. Listen to Him, He has the words of wisdom and comfort.

Wiped Clean

Carol Purves Carol's Blog May 1, 2026April 26, 2026restored

The white board on my study wall was full of out of date messages. With my finger I started to remove the unwanted information. As I swiped my finger along the surface before long every message was gone; I had a completely clean white board again.

As I woke up this morning I thought about the day ahead. In my mind it was completely unblemished, but I knew that soon I would be making mistakes, saying unkind things or being completely selfish. My unblemished day would become mucky and spoilt. I would litter the day with mistakes, omissions and forgetfulness. The prospect of a perfect day would be scarred by my worthlessness.

Then I imagined the finger of God. It was obliterating all my dirty smudges. The whole white board of my life would soon be clean, back to it’s pristine whiteness. Back to the condition he wanted it to be.

‘What shall wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus.’ by Robert Lowry

Every day God gives us all a clean slate and we then mess up and spoil it, but by the death of Jesus, we will become ‘white as snow again.’ This is what God wants for us.

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