Whispers of Truth

Almost five years ago I wrote a post titled “ What My Facebook Posts Won’t Tell You .” As a rather new FB user at the time, I was rather disconcerted at the extremes I found there—consummate happiness or maximum dissatisfaction as well as people’s willingness to either pretend (by only posting happy moments) or rant publicly (posting moments I didn’t feel appropriate for public dissection). It was and still is rather off-putting—both extremes--and when I do put "pretty" pictures on FB, I don't want it to be for praise as that is rather disconcerting as well. Just enjoy the pictures. :) All that to say that below you will find my four-and-one-half-year update on life inspired by a day that did not go as I had planned.  ————————————————————————————————————————— As I write this, the acrid stench of spilled-over and burned-on hot pepper jelly overwhelms my kitchen. The smoke, however, is now gone (because I had to take my smoke detector off the wall and put it on the ...

The importance of being changed from the inside out by God is supreme. If man could have changed himself or been regulated by external law, Jesus would not have needed to leave heaven and come to earth to walk among us, die, and be raised to glory by God; no offering would’ve been necessary. But it is necessary for God to work in a man or woman’s heart before change can occur.  I thought of the idea of being changed from the inside out this week as I have been working on piecing a huge quilt, my first such undertaking. I mentioned to my mother Her response: “That’s right! There’s a lesson in there!” Having tried other methods, I have to say it is working much better . . .  the only flaw is that I as a creator am imperfect. My God, however, is not! My reading made me think of this again today. Reading Exodus makes it clear that a removal from Egypt (the external) wasn’t enough to change the heart of a people far from God (in location and in their inner beings). God’s first ...

From the standpoint of anyone watching, it had all the markers of a tragedy in the making . Lest she be forced to put the beautiful baby to death, the young Hebrew mother tenderly placed her infant son in the small ark in the water, from which he was soon drawn by servants of the Egyptian princess as his own sister watched. Tragedy averted , and Moses, although he was raised by the Egyptians, spent his formative years in his own mother’s care. Imagine the prayers whispered over this beloved son by a now-hopeful mother who had seen the hand of God deliver her young son from certain death. Adopted by a powerful family, educated in the ways of the world in which he matured, the now-grown Moses saw the burdens of his native people and felt compassion for them. He drew near to them and tried in his own power to deliver, but it only made things worse. Then he ran in justified fear , which probably seemed another tragedy in the making to those watching from Egypt. But God had other plans f...