Truth is Simple

Everyday, someone, somewhere is discovering some new theology, idea or 'truth'. The majority of these philosophies can be easily recognized and discarded by their complicated, mind-bending explanations. Some seem simple at first, but the more you learn about them, the more complicated they become. One thing I've learned so far is that the closer you get to the truth, the simpler and clearer it becomes.

Not everything confusing is false. I'm just saying, don't reroute your entire life because you found a new 'truth' that you think is really cool, but doesn't make a lot of sense. If you can't explain it to a friend, you don't understand it. If you don't understand it, don't buy it--yet.

Sometimes, it's better to let a new idea or belief sit on the shelf for awhile--not that you forget about it, but rather watch it. Observe how those who hold to it end up. Follow the reasoning to the end. Think on it awhile. Test it. If this is true, how does that affect other beliefs that you hold? What will believing it require of you?

This questioning is vital. But, it is only valuable if we question long and hard enough to find answers. To continue questioning, discover a wealth of information, and continue questioning, never making a decision as to what to believe is foolish. Unfortunately, many people don't want to make the effort to educate themselves on anything more than the newest Hollywood hottie or the evening news. It's too much work for them. They realize that decisions and persuasions require action. Action equals actually getting involved. Getting involved means getting off the sofa. It's sad really, because a person who is convinced of something and knows what they believe is incredibly confident and powerful.

Someone once told me, and it bears repeating, "Once you've searched out the facts and the evidence clearly shows you what is true, make up your mind. Settle it on that issue. Case-CLOSED."

I am unashamedly close-minded on issues, beliefs, and ideas I've researched. Sure, there will always be those areas where I've not studied enough to make a final decision, but I intend to continue learning and studying as long as I live. Hopefully, at the end of my life, I'll be absolutely sure on the things that are important and I'll be able to explain and illustrate everything I believe because I understand it.

Mice in the House

Have you ever been intensely frustrated about a behavior that you just can't seem to stop doing? If you're like me, you have plenty of good intentions in your heart of hearts that never make it to reality. You want to do what is right, but have no energy to accomplish it. You hate feeling guilty for wasting your time and energy on worthless activities, but when you try to change, nothing does. A dear Friend of mine recently showed me something that helped me tremendously.

The Bible says that a person's physical body is like a tent to the person's spirit. The spirit is the real being, and the physical body is just what the being lives in. (2 Corinthians 5:1). In Bible times, it was common for people to live in tents. Today, in the USA, I would say 'house' would be a better comparison. Don't let that spiritual-physical stuff weird you out. Just keep reading.

For now, let's think of your actual house. Say you decide to do some spring cleaning. There has been a musty stink coming from your closet for some time, but you just haven't had the energy to figure out what it is. You're finally cleaning out the closet when you find a pile of clothes far in the back corner: the source of the smell. Dirty, old laundry. So, gingerly, you reach out and with your finger and thumb, you pinch the pile, grabbing as much as you can, but touching as little of it as possible. As you lift up the pile, you find an even bigger mess underneath. A mouse has built itself a cozy little nest in your forgotten laundry and has shredded some of it. There is mousy pee and poopy everywhere and now it REALLY stinks.

Your first reaction would probably be immediate anger. Stupid mouse! Uhrgg! What a mess! You see a small hole in the baseboard where the mouse apparently entered. Nuh-uh! Not in my house! You think to yourself. Mice are not allowed! This mouse MUST GO! So, you clean up the mess. Then what? Since you saw where the mice were getting in, you would plug up the hole! Next, set a couple traps, and thirdly, you'd probably put out poison--if you hate mice as much as I do.

Now, for all of you out there who think mice are cute and should be allowed to live in peace in your home...I hope you don't get Hantavirus. Mice are dirty, destructive and definitely not welcome in my house.

So, what does a mousy mess have to do with destructive behaviors you can't seem to stop?

Well, here's the deal. IF you have repented from your sins (which means you have apologized to God and turned away from sin, trying to not do it anymore) and put you faith in Jesus Christ, making Him the Boss of your life, then I have good news for you. Your spirit is saved. The real you that lives in your physical body is saved. (If you are not sure about being saved, you might not be. The Bible says that God's spirit will witness inside your heart that you are saved, which means, if you're saved, God will make sure you know it.)

Sin is worthless activity, destructive behavior, anything that violates God's Law. In Romans 7, Paul states: (verse 15) For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. (17) But now, it is no longer I who do it, by sin that dwells in me.
What? What did he just say? Paul, one of the writers of the Bible struggled with doing the right thing? And what did he realize?

Paul realized that because he was saved, his spirit was made alive to God and therefore couldn't sin anymore. But, there was still a struggle inside of him and sometimes, he still ended up doing what was wrong! He discovered that even though he (the real Paul) wanted to do what was right, there was something inside of him that didn't want to do right.

You and I have the same struggle everyday of our lives. We know what is right, but just can't do it. We want to do right, but end up not doing it. We try not to do wrong, but find ourselves giving in to temptation. Evil is right there with us.

Sin in your life is like a dirty mouse living in your house. When you discover these areas of sin...look at them just like you would if you found a mouse nest in your closet: get mad! Not at yourself, though! I think that is one of the dumbest things we do as humans. When we mess up, we tend to get mad at ourselves and 'beat ourselves up'. Wouldn't that be ridiculous to get mad at yourself and literally beat yourself up when you find a mice nest in your closet? Uh, yah. Crazy. You didn't shred your clothes and put the mouse poopy and peepee all over! The mouse did! Get mad at SIN!! God HATES sin and so should we.

Next, plug up the holes! If you are tempted to do a certain thing that is wrong, try to find out where the 'holes' are. For example, if you are tempted to look at porn online or spend hours wasting time watching movies and reruns online, GET A FILTER! We use the filter by Bsafe Online, which I highly recommend! This filter not only is great at blocking junk, it also has an option where you can have a weekly internet usage report sent to any email address you provide. And that brings me to 'setting traps'.

Accountability is a good trap for sin. Find someone you trust, and ask them to ask you the hard questions--regularly, daily. For the internet example, have the internet report sent to someone who will check it and call you on it. Install the filter and let someone else control the password and settings.

Here's why I put out poison for mice: no matter how much you try, you'll probably never block every single hole the mice can get in through, and even the best traps don't catch every mouse. We'll never be able to plug up every crevice that sin uses to sneak into our lives. Even with an extensive array of traps, some mice will inevitably escape. Though you may find several people to help keep you accountable, knowing that you'll have to fess up doesn't guarantee that you'll never mess up again. So, if you really want to rid your house of mice and your life of sin, use poison.

Now, the question is: What is poison to sin? What is it that kills sin in our lives?

THE WORD OF GOD: The Bible.

Obviously, unless you open the box of poison and set it out where the mice get in, it isn't going to do you any good at all. Ironically, the same is true of God's Word. If you want to rid your life of sin, open your Bible. Find some verses that specifically address the area you are struggling with.

For instance, I tend to be pretty lazy sometimes. As a wife, homemaker and mother of two, there is a list a mile long of things that need to be done. Frankly, most days, I just don't feel like doing much. I'd rather--or I should say--the sin in me, would rather sit in front of the computer and watch movies online, spend hours at a time on Facebook, or 'research' every little thing I'm curious about. In a one week time period a couple weeks ago, I estimated that I watched over 15 hours of movies online. Seriously, that is really sad.

At least I realized I needed help and sought it out. Getting back to the Bible, I found a verse in Proverbs 31 that describes a good woman. Verse 27: She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. I found another verse in Philippians 1:6. It says, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Now, I'm going to give you the advice I got that helped me overcome the bad habit of wasting too much time online at the expense of my family. (BTW, I do realize this post is getting long, but the time spent on this is hardly wasted! Besides, I spaced the writing of this out over several days. If it helps anyone out there, it is completely worth it. And I know if you take this advice to heart and do this, it will help! )

Here's what to do:

1) Pick ONE (1) area in your life that needs improvement. Maybe you need more patience, or wisdom, or restraint (i.e., self-control) in some area. Write it down.

2)Find TWO (2) verses in the Bible that address the area you need help in. If you need help finding verses, post a comment or send me an email and I will help you find some. Write your verses down on the same paper you wrote your area of improvement down on.

3)Take 10 minutes everyday for one week. Break it down into the first 5 minutes and last 5 minutes. For five minutes, read the verses out loud, silently, under your breath, or however you feel comfortable reading them. Read them again and again, stopping after the 5 minutes is up. Now, pray for the last 5 minutes, asking God to help you do better in this area. You can be honest with God. Maybe, you don't feel like praying. Tell God what you're feeling, but also ask Him to help you in your focus area. Thank Him for helping you.

I know it could be tempting to pick several areas that need help and go 'all out' on this. DON'T! Just keep it simple. There are 52 weeks in a year. If you take one area per week and focus on just ONE, over the course of a year you could focus on 52 different areas of your life! So, keep it simple!!! Your life didn't get to where you're at today in one week and it's not going to be entirely fixed in one week. But, this is a start! Change takes time.

To be honest, when I first heard about this, I really wasn't that excited about it. I did it, but I didn't feel like doing it right away. I picked the area to focus on and found the verses, and since that took time, I prayed really quick and counted that for the first day.

On day two, I decided to log something about what I was experiencing each day. My area of focus was on time management. I wanted God to give me the power and desire to manage my time well.

Day two, I wrote: Feel no different. Extremely tired. Looking at dishes and wishing they were done, same with laundry. So tired. But, I'm going to keep doing this. Exercising godliness.

Day three, I still didn't 'feel' it. I did it grudgingly. I muttered the verses under my breath and prayed and sighed for 5 minutes. I wrote: Well, I did watch several hours of TV/movies on the internet, but, I got a lot done, too. Dishes, trash taken out, errands run, house looks picked up, took to my son to the doctor. Tomorrow I should do better.

Day four: Rested a LOT today, but actually got the kitchen all cleaned up, even after cutting and drying fresh chives and making a BIG supper. Pleased to see the kitchen clean. I even cleaned the grime and gunk off the stove knobs. Thank you, Lord, for helping me do better.

Day five: Made home made pasta to go with left over alfraedo sauce. Still need help with housework, but got some stuff done.

Day six: Highly productive day!!! Cleaned kitchen, did laundry, filled flower pots, weeded flower beds (partially), planted 2 dozen raspberry shoots. Plus, made late supper for Brandon and his friend who was visiting. Actually got kids to bed at a decent hour. But, I did get side tracked by internet news sites and didn't get to bed till after midnight.

Day seven: Break through!! God gave me revelation knowledge on how to beat sin. It came alive in a new way, illustrated by mice in a house. "It's not I that do it, but sin living in me." You didn't make the mouse nest and leave mouse dumps. Sin living in you like mice in your house did. And now, how to get rid of mice/sin... Thank you, God! Praise Jesus!

It wasn't until days six and seven that I really felt changed. I can say that since then, I have seen a night and day difference in how much time I've wasted online. Not to imply that I've been perfect--in the last two weeks, I've maybe watched a total of a couple hours of movies online. I asked my husband to help keep me accountable and set up some new parameters on the filter.

I also taped two 3 x 5 note cards next to both of our computers with my verses on them. When I get online, I read the verses. Every time I sit down to use the computer, they are right in front of me. The Word of God is life to me and poison to sin. It will do the same for you.

I want to point out that this 'formula' for beating sin will NOT work if you are not a child of God. Meaning, if you still plan on running your own life, doing things your way, and ignoring God's Word and His way of doing things, don't think that by just reading the verses and saying a prayer that you will somehow find the strength within yourself, all by yourself to overcome sin in your life. Success through this method only comes with surrender to God's will, God's Word, God's Way.

If you are serious about change, if you're frustrated by your lack of willpower to change yourself, and if you are willing to let God run your life, He is ready, able, and overjoyed to. Invite Him in.

Now, go get your Bible and get started!

How Was Your Week?

After the rest of the week, I really don't remember anything about Monday.
Tuesday afternoon, I discovered my oldest child was hot with fever. I'm not one to worry too much about illness. Everything I've read about fevers says that if there are not any other symptoms, and the fever is not too high, just keep an eye on 'em and try to control the fever with tepid baths, and medicine. So, that's what I did. Of course, we also asked the Great Physician for Elijah's healing. Fever didn't go away. Wednesday, he was still hot. Thursday, he stopped wanting to eat anything. So, I made sure he had lots of liquids. Friday, more of the same. He, for the most part, was his normal two year old self--playing, laughing, being a bit ornery, but still hot to the touch and not interested in food. Then the fever spiked to 104.1*F.
I called an aunt who is a Physician's Assistant and asked some questions. She recommended taking him to the doctor, but by then, it was Friday night. I called my husband and he agreed with my aunt saying he'd feel better if I took Elijah to the doctor since he had been three full days with a fever.
On a Friday night, 'to the doctor' means to the ER. So, feeling a little foolish, I bundled him and my 9 month old up and headed to town. At least I didn't have to wait several hours just to have a fever checked out. I thanked God for small town hospitals. There was no one else in the emergency room. It was a weird thing to walk into the hospital with a normal acting 2yr old--supposedly ill, but who didn't look sick at all. When the nurse checked his temp it was 99.2*F. Good!--Well, it was a lot better than 104.1. Why did I even come? I thought. The prayers and medicine are apparently working and I feel foolish for this unnecessary hospital visit.
Elijah suddenly started saying he wanted 'num-nums' (our kid-talk for food). Then, my 9 month old, hungry to nurse, started making a fuss. I was trying to hold him as he squirmed and bucked and hollered. Elijah joined the din and started climbing on me. Daniel grabbed Elijah's sippy cup and started sucking on it. The doctor asked, "Do they share a cup?" I answered, "Well, I guess they do now," as I took the cup away from Daniel. "Now he's going to get sick," she stated quite certainly, eyeing Daniel. I could just hear her thoughts: Gee, don't you know that germs spread?! And I was thinking, I've got two crying kids in my lap and I'm barely hanging on...a little help, please!?
Then she asks if Elijah is up-to-date on his shots. Ohhh, big can of worms there! My husband and I had been leery about immunizing, but had decided to go ahead and have our firstborn immunized. Then we discovered that one of the shots he had been given as a routine vaccination, was recalled a few months later and was no longer being administered because too many children had adverse reactions to it. My son is not our government's guinea pig! Have you even researched what they preserve the vaccines in? Mercury...fermaldahyde... uh, yeah! Let's take a vulnerable infant and put a bunch of known poisons into him!? I don't think so. Not in my kid, they won't. But, I only tell the doc that he hasn't had any immunizations since his 12 month shots and we don't immunize anymore. Now, I'm really on her black list.
Anyway, we made it out of the ER pretty quickly. The doctor instructed me to keep doing what I had been doing. He just had a virus.
Saturday, he was still feverish.
Today is Sunday and the fever is finally going away. He still had a slight fever this evening, but at least it is no where near as high as it was. I'm really looking forward to getting some sleep sometime soon. Waking up at night with a sick child is not fun, but it's part of being a mom (or a dad--thanks Honey).
At least I didn't get puked on this week. A lady I know of is celebrating her first Mother's Day today. Her son puked on her four times before it was even time for church this morning. She commented dryly, "Yay. Happy Mother's Day to me." When her brother learned of her bummer morning, he said, "Sis, he was just giving you all he had to give!"
One thing is certain: I'm glad it is Sunday, the start of a new week. Another chance to do better, have more fun, keep calm, be a good mom...I'm praying for nice weather, lots of energy, healthy children, and to always be able to see the funny side of everthing.