Love: Unfailing

Well, good morning partner. Howdy there?

At 45 degrees the next morning, the snow was all gone. No trace.

         The snow fell to the Earth quite heavily the other day and after running into CC, we concluded that this was perfect weather for sledding. We borrowed some food trays from our favorite cafeteria on the North Side and hurriedly made our way to the slopes. We fell, tumbled, face planted, rolled and got back up many times that evening. And on our way out, a young woman, fully covered with appropriate snow gear, walks by and says "Howdy?" At least that's what I thought she said. In all actuality, she was inquiring of our experience: "How was it?" Though my response was "Hi!", it made sense to me when two of my friends respond with a "It was great!". I caught the mistake later.


             It seems that there are many times in our lives that we  hear the wrong things and this in turn affects our actions and what we do/say. After reading Psalm 13:1-6, I realized I haven't been fully comprehending what God wants from me. He says "Love me." I love and love and love until I pass out and can't get out of bed for the morning church service. The feelings of guilt start to pile up even further as I spend less and less time with Him in regular devotion in the morning. I shake my head and let it hang in embarrassment at my lack of dedication.

           Although God deeply desires that I love Him with ALL that I have, He knows that there is no way that I'll ever love Him fully and perfectly. "But I trust in your unfailing love..." That word 'unfailing' can only be applied to Him.

He says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matt 22:37) I heard "If you can't love me perfectly, you are a failure."

        But what He's really say is "There is no on righteous, not even one" (Romans 3:10) but "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9) In my imperfect ways, God is perfect.

In my unfaithful ways, God is faithful. He never fails. 

        So, the more I listen to God, the more I realize, sometimes I just miss what He's saying and that makes all the difference. Now, I don't have to beat myself up when I don't do things perfectly, but simply trust in Him to get me to where He wants be to be and know that He's still working on me and will continue to until the end of time. That is my forever (unfailing) Love. <--A great song!

Until next time with much love, peace and unfailing grease,


Ife 'Quipayan' S.

What's your nature?

Bonjour friends and fans!

This morning's devotion comes from Galatians 5:16-26. It's been a long while since I've sit to write a devotions blog during the week. I've really gone to the other end of the spectrum in terms of where I was with my morning routine. I barely wake up early enough to get myself together and get to class. Pretty problematic, but this week is the week things change, in Jesus' name. I claim it.

The scripture outlines what it means to "live in the Spirit". It's not fully clear to me, but what I can say it that there are always two forces in us: the Spirit and our human nature. Human nature is the part of us that usually leads us to doing bad unhealthy things. In my case it is: staying up watching Youtube videos, eating 2 pints of ice cream, putting sleep over time with my Creator, dressing in ways to get attention from people, the list goes on. The Bible gives its own list: "sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft;  hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies and the like." Extensive enough?

The Bible refers to this nature as the sinful nature meaning that as humans we are innately sinful. That's just the way we are, but that isn't where the story ends.

If we choose to accept that there is a part of us that never seems to get things right, then how in the world do we do right things? There's another part to us that desires to do good--for some people they've chosen to live this life style specifically by living according to the Spirit. What a vague term! Living according to the Spirit means that the things we do are not done because we need to fulfill the law and get approval from anyone, but instead it is the freedom to express love without fear and to restore the areas of our world that have been broken. That's what the Spirit has started meaning to me.

So what that leaves us with is two choices: Spirit vs. human. We always have these two choices, whether we recognize it or not. There are times when one is clearer than the other and there are times when both seem legit, but at the end of the day, we always have to choose which we will live by. Every action we take comes down to these two natures. What nature do you choose? One will lead to life and joy, the other will lead to death and failure.

I have to start deeply evaluating my actions and realize that to live according to the Spirit is so much better for me. I can't make these really important choices on my own at times, so I'm accepting the help that God gives at no cost.

Until later,

Ife 'Quipayan' S.

P.S. It's almost the one month mark of school this final semester and Valentine's day is on Tuesday. What are you doing?!

Intimacy with the Almighty-A Journey

Ahlan ya al-naas.

I hope you're enjoying this fabulous Sunday afternoon! As much as I would love to sit and chat with you all about what's been going down in my life, I want to take this time to lay out what I'm about this semester: An adventure. I stayed home from church today because I really wanted God to talk to me this morning about certain things and didn't want any kind of distraction. Granted, I ended up looking at my bank statement, updating Twitter and selling books on Amazon..fail...I need discipline.

Which brings me to my next point and the reason for this slight change in the direction for my blog. I started reading this book entitled: Intimacy with the Almighty a year ago, but have finally decided to take it seriously and take my relationship with God more seriously. I'd like to use this space to process thoughts after reading this book every other day. There are 4 basic chapters and reflection questions after them. I won't answer ALL the questions here, but it'll be nice to update the blog every now and then.

The book encourages intimacy and a closer relationship with our Heavenly Father as something to strive for and something that'll take discipline and changes in our lives.

For me that will be the biggest obstacle. I love DOING things. I always want to be involved and have very little discipline. As soon as I read the first few pages I knew that I had to step down from the next show I am supposed to do. I am the biggest fan of shows and productions, but I can't handle anything else in my life at the expense of relating with God and others. This will also help in discipline because it's something that I have work at, not just something that'll happen between meetings, class and hw.

Finally, the verse that got me to commit is this from Revelations 2:

"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp stands, says this: 'I know your deeds and your toils and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary, But I have this against you, that you have left your first love."

vs. 1-4

I know how amazing God's love is, but there are times when I realize that I'm running around without Him, trying to make it on my own. That's whack and I want this to change because life is so much more complete with Him in it. That I know for sure. 

Next entry is the first chapter of this book by Charles R. Swindoll. Let the journey begin!

The Climb-by Miley Cyrus for some inspirational stuff. 

Until later,

            Ife "Quipayan" S. 

Thank you!

Hello friends, family and world-wide readers!

I can't thank you enough for taking time to read my blog. These past 4 years of my college experience have left lots to think about and even more to write about.

I hope it's been great for you as it has been for me because you are all special people that I truly care about so I try to put my best foot forward, as shabby as that may be: I'm a work in progress. :)

Again, lots of thanks and a wonderful rest of the week. Till next time,


Ife 'Quipayan' S.