Tag: confusion

Searching for truth?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Inspire, spirituality


Are you searching for truth? What is truth? Is truth relative, changing depending on the situation and circumstances? Truth is defined as: “that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality; a fact or belief that is accepted as true.” So how do we find what is true? How do we learn or choose what to believe? How do we define reality with so many different perspectives and viewpoints? 

As a child, I was threatened if I thought outside the box of ‘truth’ I was given by those around me. Some threats came from my family members, all seemingly bigger and stronger than me. Often threats came with bodily harm and abuse. Some threats came from teachers with shame and punishments. Other threats came from my church with eternal damnation. I learned what I believed to be truth by fear. 

As I got older I still tended not to think for myself. I learned to gather a consensus from people I hung around or respected, especially those who had the most confidence in themselves, seemingly successful or who considered themselves infallible and experts in everything. I felt safer connecting and agreeing with these kind of people because I had learned through childhood messages to believe I could never be right or find the truth myself. I lost the capacity of discernment for myself. These messages were repeatedly confirmed into early adulthood by the type of people towards whom I tended to gravitate: people who considered themselves experts in everything, did not like anyone who disagreed with them, and were certain to speak their mind about everything and everybody. I felt the safest with people who firmly believed their own truth no matter what anyone else said. 

As my life fell apart I kept searching for more and more experts. I built a huge library of books and collected almost 20 medical specialists. Today there are a multitude of experts given the internet, cable TV channels, millions of websites, books, blogs, free PDF’s, videos, e-books and social media networks. I gathered these information sources like a squirrel gathering nuts. Often the pieces of truth disagreed which only caused confusion. Some advice worked and others made things worse. I got lost in a web of information I could not wade through. Ultimately my life got much worse than I imagined it could. For most of my life I traveled through a long dark tunnel from a very dark childhood with only glimpses of light along the way. Some of those glimpses of false lights turned into trains coming fast towards me for destruction. 

Then I found the truth of Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Holy Spirit. For the first time I was finding the truth and light for my path, healing for my heart, mind and body, and wisdom for decisions that daily amaze me. As I studied the bible with the help of the Holy Spirit given me through a relationship with Jesus Christ, I found I was learning the truth but not just for head knowledge. It started changing my life and changing me. I invite you on a journey to discover what this might mean for you and your life. I will be sharing my experiences here to help you on your way, including some resources explaining methods and simple practices that can help you become your own discerner of truth that might be offered by the multiple sources that come your way.

Pilate asked Jesus: ‘what is the truth?” when Jesus said he came to testify to the truth (John 18:37-38). Jesus had said that God’s Word is truth (John 17:17), that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:3) and that he is the truth (John 14:6). In that same bible book, John said that truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). He wrote his book so that people would come to know and believe in Jesus and find a better life. The gospel of John is a wonderful book of the bible. It is written not only as a historical record but with spiritual interpretation. You can join a study of John’s gospel starting this week with Bible Study Fellowship, an international organization offering bible study groups around the world. Their link is

    https://www.bsfinternational.org/locate-a-class1  

Thank you for liking, any comments and for following my blog. If you follow, you will get emails whenever I post. If you have any subjects or questions you would like me to consider in my blog, or, suggestions for resources I will be developing, add a comment for others to like, or send your comments through my contact page with more explanation. You can also request prayers on my contact page. I keep all email correspondence confidential.

How do you choose?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Guidance, spirituality, Uncategorized

How do you make choices? Do you do a lot of research, consult experts, Google or ask your friends? I mentioned this in my last post on finding truth. Discernment is the ability to judge well about something: truth, choices, solutions, direction. To judge is to form an opinion or conclusion about (something). In a courtroom evidence and opinions are presented from which a judge or jury are to decide what is truth that can be relied on without a reasonable doubt. When there is conflicting testimony it makes it almost impossible to decide. It certainly causes confusion. Confusion is a lack of understanding, uncertainty; the state of being bewildered or unclear in one’s mind about something. Having too much information leads to much confusion.

Con-Fusion. Fusion is the process or result of joining two or more things together to form a single entity. Con is an instance of deception. Deception is an act of making someone believe something that is not true : the act of deceiving someone. When information does not come together to form an answer, they cause a deception of what is truth, even if not intended. Therefore, in evaluating all the many sources of information we have we are likely to be a victim of a ‘con’. 


How do you make decisions with so much information, often conflicting and leading to differing choices? I used to find it very hard to make decisions or I would just plow ahead (Just Do It) without any research following something or somebody who made a recommendation. Sometimes it was a feeling or just the desire to avoid the consequences of waiting, or to avoid the confusion or conflict erupting from finding more information to wade through. These rapid choices without any reflection most often led to mistakes, some with heavy costs.

We have to make everyday choices in context. Context include the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed. I propose that any choice we face has a context including much we can never establish or discern, data outside the realm of our human minds or even the most sophisticated computer. Every moment new pieces of information and events occur. As we move forward that is multiplied beyond comprehension. But I believe there is someone who has the ability and has all information about everything and everyone, past, present and future. That someone is God. 

As I learn to trust God, who promises wisdom and direction, as evidenced through a multitude of witnesses of His actions and words throughout History, I find I am directed along the right path. I often do not see it as I am moving along, but usually I can look back and see the places where I followed and it took me directly to the right choices. The more I trust, the faster I experience the direction. But it is not an easy task for most of us who want to be self motivated and self directed to our self determined destinations. 

Those witnesses of God’s actions and words are found most cohesive for many throughout centuries in the Bible. Taken as a whole, the testimonies are not conflicting in their conclusions and in evidencing the ‘TRUTH”. And there is the direction of a teacher, the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus Christ to lead us in learning and remembering these truths as we need them. This is increasingly my experience as I faithfully study the Bible under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. 

The Bible contains text. You can take the text and use it to support many things as many different teachers do. But as I heard Creflo Dollar say yesterday, “If you take the text out of context, all that is left is a ‘con’ (a deception)”. Don’t be the victim of a con. Do your own bible study under the right teacher, the Holy Spirit, through a close relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Listening to good teachers is helpful but the Holy Spirit will confirm the truth that you hear from the best teachers for your life, your current circumstances and your everyday life choices. I find good teachers will encourage you to do your own individual study and not just listen to them. As you follow the Holy Spirit, you will find over time that more things than you would wish for or imagine can be yours every day!

Thank you for liking, any comments and for following my blog. If you follow, you will get emails whenever I post. If you have any subjects or questions you would like me to consider in my blog, or, suggestions for resources I will be developing, add a comment for others to like, or send your comments through my contact page with more explanation. You can also request prayers on my contact page. I keep all email correspondence confidential.    

Which Way Are You Going?

by Souls Full Filled, posted in Faith, Guidance, Inspire, spirituality, Uncategorized


Are you headed in the right direction? How do you know? Especially when faced with obstacles, choices, difficult circumstances and situations, how do you navigate through your life to find the best path? In my life I have had incredible difficulties and challenges seemingly insurmountable or even survivable. You can read my bio on the about page to find a summary. Given my childhood, I learned to survive by being alert, aware, analytical and resourceful, among other less healthy patterns. Around age 5 a near death experience caused me to believe in God who became a constant companion, with no other person in my life I could trust not to hurt me. 

As my difficult circumstances continued into adolescence, I lost that trust and faith. I decided to seek wisdom from the world and whoever I found willing to give advice. We can always find lots of people to give us advice and a lot of it is good. But how do we judge for ourselves which advice is good for us at any particular moment in any particular situation? Do we search for good reviews? Have those reviews always turned out to be best for us? Each of us has an individual unique path with lots of turns that cannot be fathomed by any amount of analysis, especially given the amount of opposing and confusing information now available. There is not enough time to research and decide. But I used to try. Looking back, some turned out good, but many turned out worse for me, or at least wasted time and money until the next solution came along. I spent years and all my money searching and trying anything that seemed ‘helpful’ or had a good recommendation. Ultimately given serious health issues without any available solutions, I turned back to God for help, following various spiritual practices and eventually teaching them to others. I gained some temporary peace but no permanent solutions, and when things worsened the peace disappeared. 

One day a friend gave me a tape of a lecture on a bible passage, Proverbs 3:5-6 (shown below). I listened and my heart lit up. It talked about letting go of our self reliance and analysis and trusting God to lead us and make our path straight, removing obstacles. That started my journey into the bible, a book I owned but never opened or was taught to use through 12 years of Christian school. The next few years were like doors and windows being opened in my mind and eventually in my heart, as I gained wisdom and experienced solutions and direction for impossible and challenging circumstances in ways I could not explain except to credit God. I realized through experience that only God has all the information needed to direct our choices and lead us on a path that connects us with the resources we need along the way. Only God knows everything about us and our past, every possible aspect of our circumstances, the results of every possible choice we could make, and information about the entire world over all moments of time. 

The experiences became more dramatic, undeniable, and, in some cases, miraculous, the more I learned to trust and follow God, as the bible verse says. My life became a journey of experiencing God’s best direction and results for my life’s choices, healing of my body, recovery from financial loss, the permanent transformation of my mind and personality and the deepening of my relationship with God in Christ, all with the help of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus for those very purposes. Perhaps this verse will speak to you. 

Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart. And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth, removing obstacles that block your way. ”


Thank you for liking and following my blog. If you have any subjects or questions you would like me to consider in my blog, add a comment for others to like or send them through my contact page with more explanation. I keep all email correspondence confidential.