Clinging to Truth

There is a saying in Proverbs that you have all heard : It says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). I love this verse so much that I once set it to music so I can sing it. I’m not a composer and I’m not a singer. You’ll never hear this music but I sing it to myself often to encourage and uplift myself.

But there are two verses before these verses that are just as uplifting that you probably haven’t heard that give the above verses even more meaning. Those verses read, “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man” (Prov. 3:3-4).

When we live in truth—when we bind it about our necks and write it on our hearts—life changes. We find favor in the sight of God and we gain understanding. It is impossible to live in truth and not receive insight, promptings from God, and increased knowledge. Living in truth takes concerted effort, but the rewards of making the effort are out of this world. They are worth it!

When It Snows . . .

We are working at warp speed here in Utah. Saturday was a beautiful spring day and Sunday it was winter. We received four inches of snow! I wonder what season it will be tomorrow!

It made me think of one of my favorite verses of scripture. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” This verse helps me realize that God is in charge. Nothing happens by coincidence or especially by accident. Therefore when it snows on our lives, instead of being upset, we can know that it is the season for snow. We can step back and say, “There is a purpose for this snow in my life right now. What am I supposed to be learning?” Instead of thinking, this isn’t supposed to be happening right now. We can think, if God sent snow right now. It is supposed to be. There is a reason.

Once we accept truth, we are then in a frame of mind to be tutored and taught by the Spirit. But more than that, we are in the right frame of mind to be guided and directed. Instead of burying our heads under the electric blanket and crying about the snow, we can build a snowman, or an igloo, or some muscle shoveling it off the driveway. There can be great joy in snow. You just need to choose it.

Blessed By The Now

For as long as I can remember I’ve gotten my best ideas or solutions to problems while in the shower. I never realized until recently why that happened, but after learning to Anchor myself in the present moment I realized that when I am in the shower I am always anchored.

I love water. I love to swim. I love to feel warm water running over my hands from the faucet. I love walking in the rain. I love standing in the shower and feeling the water hit my back. I love the sound of it hitting the tile and shower door. I love putting my face in the stream of water and feeling the warmth. In short, what I realized is that I love the shower so much that while I am in there I am always in the present—feeling, hearing, tasting, smelling, and watching it all happen. Without realizing what I was doing, I was very much Anchored every time I entered the shower and in that state I was receptive to promptings, guidance, and insights that are always available in the present.

Besides that, there is always joy and happiness in the present moment. All we need to do is Anchor ourselves and let it seep in.

Illusion

My head is always full of questions. They tumble around like acrobats in a circus. Luckily every once in awhile one gets answered and leaves the arena or it would be so crowded in there I’d have to leave. Awhile back the question was, “What is the opposite of living in truth?” That question didn’t jump around long like some of my questions do. As I began to search for an answer, I realized that if we are not living in truth, we are living in illusion.

Scene change: forget about acrobats and now imagine the circus magician. I loved magic shows as a child. It was so amazing to watch impossible things happen right before my very eyes. Women who had been cut in half would suddenly jump out of a closet—perfectly whole! People floated in air. Handkerchiefs changed into birds and flew away. But it was all illusion.

Illusion lasts only for that moment. It is a trick. It isn’t what it seems to be. It is deception, and if you base your opinions of life on illusion you are basing life on a foundation with no footings—the proverbial house upon the sand.

Understanding this has made me all the more weary of “should be” and “shouldn’t be” thinking. Whenever I hear myself thinking, “He shouldn’t have. . .” or “They should have. . .” I see the magician in his black cloak hiding the truth and waving his wand to direct me to the deception of the illusion. It helps me drop the illusion and stay in the realm of truth—what is and what was. Back in the realm of truth, I am able to hear the spirit direct me as to how to deal with the verities of life. It may not be as flamboyant or exciting, but there is great peace in the realm of truth.

Happy Me!

I’m going to stray from scripture study helps and strategies for living in truth for a moment. You see, 42 years ago today my husband asked me to marry him. 42 years!! Wow! Who could have guessed how many wonderful and horrid things would happen in 42 years? But, together, we’ve made it though—so far.

We’ve lost one child. We’ve sweated through sleepless nights waiting for the other nine children to outgrow the teen years. We’ve argued our way into the wee hours of the night and the next day realized how stupid we were. We’ve worked together until not just our muscles but our bones ached. We’ve nursed each other through trauma, sickness, and disappointment. And we’ve grumbled and murmured about each other’s faults.

But we’ve healed in each other’s tears. We’ve taught each other things no one else could teach us. We’ve prayed together until our hearts seemed one. We’ve laughed together until our sides hurt. We’ve adopted likes and dislikes from each other—and learned that it doesn’t matter if some of those likes and dislikes are never adopted. We’ve learned patience from each other’s failing. We’ve grown to know what the other is thinking before he or she says it. We’ve rejoiced and delighted in the same children and grandchildren. And despite the fact that we are two very different personalities, we’ve managed to love each other through it all.

More Scripture Study Help

Besides the wonderful web site I told you about last entry, there are a couple more things I’ve learned about scripture study that have helped me a great deal. The first is to read with a question in mind or something you want to learn. For example: read to know (1) how to have faith; or (2) what Jesus’ personality is like; or (3) what sanctification is; or (4) how to fully repent; or (5) what faith is; or (6) how the Spirit works in people’s lives.

This list could go on forever, but you get the idea. To just sit down and say, “O.K. now I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do and read” doesn’t gain you much except peace and calm. But when you read like a detective, looking for clues and messages about one specific topic, things begin to jump out at you—things you never would have noticed otherwise. Then as you keep notes and put those things together, you find they build on each other and fit together like a puzzle until you realize you have gained a whole new perspective on the topic.

But the best part is instead of just gaining peace and calm, you gain knowledge and wisdom and a great enthusiasm for study. You can’t wait for the next day’s study because you know you are going to find more “clues” that are going to add to your knowledge. You find that the difficult thing is not making yourself study, but stopping when it is time.

After awhile, you don’t find any more clues and so you change the question and begin again and the same excitement comes into your study. After going through many questions, you may even decide to go back to one you’ve already done and the miracle is that you learn even more. In this way, “line upon line” you grow and it isn’t a chore, or a burden, or at all boring. Instead it is absolutely exciting.

Scripture Study Helps

Daily scripture study changed my life. I grew up in a family that talked a lot about the scriptures and watched my father study scripture every free moment he had. I loved the scriptures and knew them pretty well, but when I was 28 years old I decided I wanted more and began setting aside daily scripture study time.

When I had young children, it was difficult but so worth it. I've studied at different times over the years--early before the kids got up; in the afternoon while they napped; at night before I went to bed; or fitting it in where ever I could. Each time had its positive and negative aspects, but each fueled me with encouragement, strength to carry on, patience, and hope. I consider the day I started my daily scripture reading to be my new birth. It was the best decision I ever made.

One thing I have enjoyed the last few years is an online program called Read the Scriptures. If you go to this link, you can sign up to read any book of scripture. You can choose to have one chapter a day sent to you via email or you can tell them you want to read the New Testament (or any other book) by a certain day and they will divide the pages up and send you the exact amount you need to read each day to reach your goal. Then each morning when you wake up your daily scripture reading is waiting for you in your email. You can read it on-line or push the audio button and have it read to you.

One fun thing you can also do is form a team. Each member of the team signs up for the same thing and there is a discussion board where each person can leave comments or questions so that you can study together.

Reading scriptures daily is empowering. It brings light into dark days and shines even more illumination into sunny days. I can't even begin to tell you how it changes life! I just hope you can feel my enthusiasm through this Internet connection and that it encourages you to study more!