Devotions from Judy’s heart
Yesterday I did a deep cleaning and stripped our bed down to the bed frame and dusted and washed everything. Maybe you couldn’t tell that the carpet was dusty underneath the bed but it feels good to have everything clean again. Don’t you wish things would stay clean once and for all?! In a short time more cleaning will be required! Our lives are like that as the Lord dusts us off and we feel free and cleansed deep down with more room for His Spirit. But it isn’t long at all before we are asking Him to forgive us and to make us clean again, and it becomes a constant practice. When we let things go they seem to pile up and we feel the affects. David prayed after his sin with Bathsheba in Ps. 51 “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me , and I will be whiter than snow.” Even as our bedroom now is sparkling clean, He desires to cleanse us and give us a pure heart. Why not throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that easily entangles? ( Heb. 12:10)
Month: January 2013 (Page 3 of 4)
Devotions from Judy’s heart on 1000 things
A thankful heart is an open heart that is able to receive.
In Ps. 43:5 it says, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.” As we remember His blessings to us and ponder His goodness, we are going to become more grateful people, overflowing with joy. For Christmas I received the book, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and she has found joy as she slows down and wakes up to the gifts in her life. Just like her, we can find joy in the small and insignificant which will help us to be more aware of all the many ways He loves us . She accepted a dare to write down a thousand things she loves, a thousand blessings. I think all of us would be changed by writing such a list as we would see what is right before us as gifts of His love to us. I rather think our moments would become grace filled, holy ,and amazing!
Kenny Luck, who is head of Every Man Ministries, wrote an interesting blog entitled, “Eating Men Alive: Powerful Men, Common Fears.” He makes reference to the recent “fall from grace” of both Tiger Woods and Gen. David Petraeus. Wood and Petraeus in the words of Luck, “were two of the most revered and respected apex predators in the masculine pecking order. Both breathed the rare air of cult status in the most coveted zones of male glory: battle and sport….Their falls from grace were painful sucker punches to their admirers.” I value the question that Luck asks us to consider, “Why don’t we stop shaking our heads at men and start exploring the powerful dynamics in these stories that are common to all men? Why not talk about the very real psychological, moral and spiritual dynamics at the root of these lapses versus just ‘tabloiding” the symptoms.” In other words, men need to pay attention to the life of the soul.
Men says Luck are “like icebergs – you only see the tip.” Luck observes that “below the waterlines of their visible and public personas, the invisible and personal fears that, somehow, they were ‘losing themselves’ started to envelop both men….these outwardly confident and secure men become inwardly insecure and unsure of themselves.” In hindsight Woods said, “I felt like my life was a commercial.” Sources close to Petraeus noticed an “identity malaise” which was a result of the transition from the battle field to the halls of Washington.
We can learn from the stories of these two men, by listening more closely to our own story. When we get into “unfamiliar emotional territory” due to difficult circumstances and strained relationships, we too can be vulnerable to, “rogue emotions for men that frighten even the strongest and most disciplined in our ranks.” We will all face storms in our lives that we are unexpected, causing us to have insecurity and fear within. When those inner storms occur it will be vital to be honest about what is going within our souls. Listen carefully to what Luck asks us to consider. “Carefully built public images surrounding us create a high wall that private problems cannot scale. This public-private split does not accommodate the admission of weakness…In this prison of man’s own making secrets must be kept and private relief sought.”
Men it vitally important that we are honest with our fears, when we are in troubled waters. We all have a “homemade self” that hides behind the walls of fear and insecurity. This is a prison in which men try to hide their secrets, while searching for some kind of inner relief, by presenting a public face that seems to have things under control. We can become like a pressure cooker, in which the pressure to keep up the our public persona becomes too much work. We do all we can to keep to lid on, while hiding our fears and insecurities. The more our inner turmoil is in conflict with our outer reality, the greater chance that some of the steam built up within will let out. It is when we do some things that out of character, as it relates to our carefully crafted outer person. Men make decisions and react to others in unhealthy ways.
It should be a practice for every man to know when the pressure is building up in his inner pressure cooker. Inner stress, a lack of peace and fear are good enough indicators to indicate something is not right within. We need to be honest about our condition. Above all it is important be in a group or at least have a close, caring friend to hear you tell your story of fear and insecurity. We all need a “safe place” to tell our story. This begins with humbling ourselves before God and others. “Humble yourself, therefore, under God’s might hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:6-7) We need to remember the teaching of AA – there is no real help until we can come to the place where we admit that our lives are “unmanageable.” Men, I cannot stress too strongly, the importance of being with other trusted men, so that you can let off some of the pressure built up within your soul due to your fear and insecurity.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Yesterday Al and I helped clean out and begin the renovation of our new church site. It is an older building and a wall had to be knocked down, carpet discarded, nails taken out of the lumber etc. It is a mess and really doesn’t look like much yet but there is a blueprint taped on the wall of the desired result. In so many ways we are like that mess, and it’s hard to imagine what we will be like some day . But the Lord is able to see what we are becoming… As it says in I John 3, “We are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” Yes, we are already His children but one day we will be like Him in eternity, without any weaknesses and imperfections but like our Father. In the meantime, let us ask the Lord for eyes to see others as He sees them, and eyes to visualize ourselves as He sees us!! Perhaps it will radically change how we live today!!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
One of my New Year’s goals is to savor the moment and not rush through my day. As Ann Voskamp said “They say time is money, but that’s not true. Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time. ” Hurry leaves us feeling empty, and so often we find ourselves rushing to get more, when we need to slow down and enjoy what is. We need to take time to live with soul and body and God all in sync. We have enough time in a day to get done what the Lord has for us. And I suspect we have enough time to go out into the night air and look at the stars and give praise to our Creator. Let us give our full attention to what He has for us each day and not feel pressed to rush to do more! As Ann says, “God gives us time but do we have time for Him?”
May we just live our one life well!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
There is a need in all of our lives to be quiet and still so we can hear His voice. As I read today from Ps. 37 ” Be sill before Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Hush and wait! Even when we are talking with others, we need to be listening to what He is saying to our hearts. Al is just back from St. Scholastica where the directees have spent a weekend in silence. But Al listened to each of them in his group for 1 1/2 hours to help them discern God’s voice in their lives. As they were open to the Spirit, it was a holy time. I think the most important thing we can do for another person, is to listen to them and help them to discern what God is saying. It’s not important what we think, but it is vital what the Spirit is saying and we need to be quiet to listen. One word given when empowered by the Spirit is worth more than an abundance of our own words. As Sarah Young said, “Be a channel of My Love, Joy, and Peace by listening to Me as you listen to others.”
Devotions from Judy’s heart
As you may know I play Scrabble with several friends on line and sometimes the computer is very frustrating. I will go to the Scrabble screen and a little circle goes round and round but it won’t click into the scrabble board so I can play. I thought of how we often press the button that says we will follow the Lord where He leads and then when it comes to something He asks of us that we don’t like, we won’t click in and do it. We go round and round but refuse what He is directing us to do. We can’t click in to the next thing the Lord has for us that way and we miss out on wonderful opportunities. His ways are not always our ways but let us give up our self-willed ways that our hearts will be set free.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
On New Year’s eve, Al and I had a nice hot sauna and sat outside on
the porch with steam pouring from us. We were getting rid of the
impurities of our bodies, and as we washed off, we felt all fresh
and clean. How is it that like our spiritual lives? We get so
muddied up in the world and even in our thought lives, and need
constant cleansing from things hidden deep within. The Pharisees
only wanted to clean the outside of the cup but Jesus said to
them,”Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish,
and then the outside will be clean.” ( Matt. 23:26) Are we willing
to be cleansed deep on the inside and deal with those hidden
things? If we are willing to expose ourselves to the “heat” we will
get cleansed and feel new and refreshed, just like coming from the
sauna!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
It says in Ecc. 4 that two are better than one for “If one falls down, his friend can help him up.” When I got my new Windows 8 computer it was very different from my old one and Al came to my rescue several times when I got stuck. Now he purchased his new computer and he is in need of help. Isn’t that the way of life, we help others but they in turn help us in other areas? Right now we are encouraging one another to persist as we’d love to go back to our old computers since we were so comfortable with them. My computer crashed and I can’t go back to my old one, but it is tempting to use Al’s old one as it is familiar, the same as my old one. But we need to forge ahead and enter into the new. Have you noticed how we can go along quite comfortably and then the Lord has us take a big turn and we have to hang on and trust? But we have comforting words in Jer. 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.” Let us lean into the Lord, especially when we can’t see where He is taking us.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
On Sunday our pastor asked the question that I have been thinking of ever since: What are you after? As we go into a New Year, what are we after? The apostle Paul was after spreading the gospel so the fact that he was in prison only gave him more opportunities to spread the news. Every 2 hours they changed guards, so he had a new one chained to him and could share the gospel. His joy was full because of what he was after. If he was after comfort and ease, he would not have had joy. When we go after pleasure and riches and that is not happening, we may get depressed too. If we are missing out on joy maybe we are going after the wrong things. When our desire is to draw closer to Him and to share Him with others, then we can rejoice even in our trials for it is accomplishing that. In Habakkuk 3, he writes that though his crops and herds fail, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” I have an idea that his joy is not found in material things. Let us go after that which will last for all eternity.
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