Thoughts on Truth (Part 1 of I don't know how many...)

For the past two weeks, my mind has been pretty much engulfed in thoughts about TRUTH. I would go so far as to say that my mind has been STRICKEN by this. Stricken in a GOOD way! It's like I got hit in the head with a truth brick! In the past 2 weeks, I feel like I have gained a heightened understanding and a deeper appreciation of TRUTH and how important it is in our lives! I really wanted to share it on this blog, which coincidentally I NAMED for truth. Truth is huge to me, but look out--it just got MORE huge. In writing about truth, it is my hope that someone reading will be uplifted and will seek truth, FIND truth, and CLING to truth.

Two weeks ago, I was sitting in a church service when this all began. I was listening to sweet words of TRUTH coming from the Holy Scriptures, and I was overwhelmed. I felt SO PRIVILEGED to be hearing truth, KNOWING in the depths of my heart that it IS true. And I was thrilled that my children also were hearing the same truths. "I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth." (III John 1:4). I felt my heart swelling up with joy after "basking" in the glory of God's PERFECT WORD, the light piercing the darkness, the light which guides, the VERY SOURCE of TRUTH.

You know how comforting it is to KNOW that you're being told the truth? To know that you're NOT being lied to? What a great thing it is when you know WITHOUT A DOUBT that someone is being completely honest with you. Quite unlike those times when you're just not so sure. It's an uneasy, uncomfortable, itchy sort of feeling, WONDERING if someone's really being truthful with you. What's even worse is when you believe someone IS being truthful with you, only to later discover that you were deceived. With God, that will NEVER happen. He CANNOT LIE. (Titus 1:2)

I got to thinking about all of that, even there in the service that evening. I realized that all of those times in church when I feel good about a message, or when I am so uplifted, practically floating out the door of the church---it's because I just got a BIG dose of the most pure truth of all, the Word of the Lord. THE LORD NEVER HAS LIED AND NEVER WILL LIE TO US. It goes against His very nature. There is no part of His Word that is intended to deceive us. His Word opens our eyes to the truths of eternity--truths of His Kingdom. The more we can hear and read the Word, the more truth we receive. The more FILLED UP WITH TRUTH we become. And the truth really does set us free. John 8:32--"And ye will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." It's not a maybe. It WILL MAKE YOU FREE! FREE from despair and confusion and doubt and fear! FREE from shame and guilt and feelings of inadequacy, rejection, missing the mark. FREE from sin that destroys. FREE from the shackles and torments of hell.

I don't want this blog to be too long--alas, I feel a sermonette coming on. :) So I am going to just write about one thing at a time...I'll make this a multi-part blog entry. I just have too many thoughts for one entry. I'll just write as I can.

For tonight, I will just make this a challenge of sorts--to myself and to my family and my friends who read this and who may be needing a good dose of truth, but you didn't know that's what you needed. We all need MORE TRUTH every day. We'll never reach our truth "quota" because there isn't one. We can never have too much truth. We must FEED on truth spiritually, eat and drink it as sustenance to our malnourished sinful souls. And the only way we can do that is to be in the Word. Not hearing only-but doing. Not reading and listening only, but LIVING. The truth of God will be real in our lives and it will be evident to others as we show signs of it. As it flows from our mouths. As it permeates our thoughts and spoken words. Truth in, truth out. Lord, help us seize your truth. Help us to walk in it.

Matthew's Lego Movie

Matthew has been a LEGO fan for a long time. And just recently, he started taking interest in the Lego Star Wars. Not so much Star Wars- mostly just the LEGOs. He has been collecting Lego Star Wars minifigures and ships and things. He got a few for his birthday and Christmas...enough to make him really proud of his collection.

He badly wanted to make a movie starring some of his Lego Star Wars guys. And so Mark, being the patient and loving father that he is, spent a good part of yesterday afternoon helping Matthew with this. It turned out so cute! Here's the final product:

My Oven Hates Me (and the feeling's mutual!)

Most of you already know that I enjoy cooking, but most of all I enjoy BAKING. I've always taken pride in my homemade breads and cookies and cakes--and I've always enjoyed making them. UNTIL NOW!

You've heard of ROAD RAGE--is there such a thing as STOVE rage? Because I think I experienced that tonight! I think for the first time in my life, I wanted to hurt my oven. I wished I had a wrecking ball to swing at it. Repeatedly. While laughing like a mad woman and yelling, "Take THAT!!" really loudly.

The oven I'm currently using is very old. I'm not sure how old exactly, but I may start referring to it as Methusaleh. We have lived in our apartment for 5 months now, and I'm still figuring this oven out. And just when I think I've done that, it dumbfounds me. For example, I thought I had figured out that the oven would behave normally IF I set it 25 degrees lower and arrange the racks a certain way--AND use foil to cover the "hot spots". But tonight I did all those things--AND I turned the cookie sheet 180 degrees like I know I must in order to heat the back the same as the front. And my Russian teacakes still BURNED on the bottom!! And for extra fun, the smoke alarm went off and I had to open the front door for a few minutes. At that point I thought I saw the oven stick its tongue out at me.

It's a love/hate kind of thing. This morning I baked a quiche and it turned out perfect. Last night I baked a pie that came out just a little underdone in the middle (had to cook it for longer than I should have), but other than that, came out pretty good. I also baked cookies last night, and 1/2 of them burned on the sides. It's like tempermental! And it's making ME tempermental! Or just mental.

There is no point to this blogpost, other than to "vent" (no pun intended). And in typing this all out tonight, I now know what I must do. I shall request a new oven from the apartment management. The worst that can happen is they say, "NO". In which case I'll have to bake them a banana bread that's mushy in the middle- or perhaps a coffee cake that's hard as rock on the top.