To Love the Truth Day 27: Adoration

The very first book I read in 2015 set a great tone for my year, as I learn to love the Truth.  Every Bitter Thing is Sweet by Sara Hagerty is beautiful and challenging -- she speaks of Truth in the midst of hardship -- tasting the goodness of God in all things.  I highly recommend the book, but it's not what I want to share today.

On Sara's blog and Instagram pages she shares what she calls "Adorations" every day.  These adorations are a result of years of her daily Bible study method.  Simply put, she reads the Truth and then translates it back to praise.  She describes it as "inhaling His word and exhaling praise."  She publishes these meditations a month in advance.

I've started practicing these adorations in my own Bible reading.  This year I'm trying to read the whole Bible in a year, and I find that some books are harder to connect with than others (minor prophets, I'm looking at you).  Now I try to find a characteristic of God within the passage and praise Him for who He is.  Reasons to adore Him are everywhere.

Take today's reading for example.  I read Jeremiah 31 and found four adorations that I recorded in my journal.

God is my Husband.
God is my father.
God is my Shepherd.
God is my Comforter.

Four Truths that are worthy of praise.

To Love the Truth Day 26: Walking in Truth

Day 26 of 31 and I'm still going strong! I really can't believe it.

For the last week of this series I want to start looking at practical ways of walking in Truth.  How do we fill our lives with Truth? How do we learn to love it? How do we keep Truth at the forefront of our minds?

Here's one that I've found recently for those of you on Instagram.  It's an account called 100 Days with Jesus - each day she shares a Name or attribute of Jesus with a short devotional about what the name or the attribute means.  The words come in alphabetical order and we are counting down to Christmas day.

While this doesn't replace my daily Bible reading, it is a nice way to have a reminder of Truth right there on my Instagram feed in the midst of browsing.  The posts give me pause to reflect on who He is for a while.

Here are a few that have spoken to me recently:
Guardian of My Soul
Healer
Hope of Glory
Intercessor

The more I surround myself with Truth, the more the opportunity I have see, hear, and live it.

To Love the Truth Day 25: Sunday Song

Dennis Jernigan may not be a familiar name to most, but he was the most-played artist in my house growing up.  He is arguably one of the greatest Truthtellers I've found, and his songs of ministry do just that: he sings the Truth over us.

This song is my all-time favorite.  Hear the words of the Father today.

To Love the Truth Day 24: I Belong

Today I'm sharing some truth that I struggle to believe.  I accept that it is true, but often feel like it's not proving true for me.  And I often wonder how different my life would be if I fully embraced this truth and walked in it daily.  That's the goal...to love the truth....to be found walking in the truth.

I'm turning 30 in a matter of months. My mom had four kids by the time she was 30, and while I never had a specific goal of matching her on that front, I always expected that I would be married with children by now.  The reality is that I don't even have any friendships with single men right now.  I am quite lonely and while I do not mourn my singleness, I do want to be a wife and mother more than anything and I worry that it's never going to happen.

The hardest part of all this is that during the week I'm not bothered.  I may be single but it makes no difference at work. I am a leader in my workplace.  I am successful and respected.  I am on my way to being a school principal.

But then we get to Sunday and suddenly there's no hiding. I'm alone. I'm a single woman in the church....and so there must be something wrong with me.  Suddenly I feel like I'm no longer a legitimate adult....that I'm demoted to the bench or the JV squad....that's there's nothing that I can help with.

The lies come hard and fast on Sundays.  They say I'm a second-class citizen.  They tell me I still need to sit at the kids' table.  They tell me I have no place in the body...that I will never belong until I have a husband and family.

Why do I feel this way in the one place I should never question my worth?

And so on Sundays I have to tell myself the truth: I am a daughter of the King. I am loved. I am his workmanship -- his masterpiece -- his handiwork -- created to do good works that God prepared and dreamed up before I was born.  Not only do I have a place and a seat at this table, I have a purpose.  There is a role for me that no one else can fill.  Maybe I haven't discovered it yet but that doens't mean that it doesn't exist.

I belong.  I belong to Him.  I am a treasured part of this family.  And one day I will believe and live it.

To Love the Truth Day 23: Psalm 103

Today I just want to share a psalm that brings me to tears whenever I read it.  This truth is so beautiful I don't even need to comment.  Truth speaks for itself today.

Psalm 103

Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits --

who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness 

and justice for the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, 

nor will he harbor his anger forever;

he does not treat us as our sins deserve

or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

for he knows how we are formed, 

he remembers that we are dust.

The life of mortals is like grass,

they flourish like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting

the Lord's love is with those who fear him,

and his righteousness with their children's children --

with those who keep his covenant 

and remembers to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,

and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his bidding, 

who obey his word.

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,

you his servants who do his will.

Praise the Lord, all his works

everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.