Month: November 2023 (Page 3 of 3)

Dear Ones,
Happy Weekend to you! The house is full of aroma as I am making cookies and pumpkin pancakes and bacon. Al gets to sample everything soon.  I want to get some writing done and later we need to go to Costco.
Devotions from Judy’s heart

   But how about us? Do we ignore all the signs and warnings the Lord is giving us. Our minds can be swirling with what we think are more important things than what He is saying. But one day we may go around a corner and realize we should have paid attention. When we might go on a trip and there are blizzard warnings, we need to heed the warning and take precautions and have emergency items and warm clothes along. It is too late when the storm hits, and we are unprepared. But we need to listen and agree with the signs given us. Just like Kris’s daughter needed to slow down, we also need to do that and take time to be with the Lord and listen to Him as He speaks. That is not wasting time but helps us focus on what is truly important. I am speaking to myself here as it too often happens that I spend time for my private devotions each morning and then write one for you to read, and then go quickly off to a class or get busy in the kitchen. All of a sudden, I realize I didn’t take time to just be silent and listen. I want to do better and that it would be my priority to listen with a quiet heart. Like Jesus said in Luke 11:28 (Message), “Even more blessed are those who hear God’s Word and guard it with their lives!”  Other translations say, we are blessed if we hear the Word and do it. We need to listen so we can obey and do whatever it is the Lord is speaking to us.

  We don’t always know when or how the Lord will answer our prayers, but we do know that He hears, and we can tell Him all that is on our hearts. Then we wait for His answer as He sees the end from the beginning and knows what is best. There are times we may feel he is deaf as the enemy tells us He must not have heard, but that is not so.  We have so many scriptures that prove otherwise. John says in John 5:14, “And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness which we have in Him: (we are sure) that if we ask anything (make any request), according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to us and hears us.”  Some things we know are His will as they are backed up by scripture but often when we pray, we are not sure…so we pray “Thy will be done!” There are also times when our faith may wane, and it is helpful to pray with others as the power seems to be multiplied. I am sometimes surprised at the answers as they aren’t necessarily anything like I had imagined in my mind or even how I specifically asked. But there is freedom in praying and leaving it with the Lord for however He sees and answers according to His perfect will.  

  This has caused a mental-health crisis, especially for college students and there is a 50% increase since 2013 of those who have mental-health problems. But instead of attacking the problem and strengthening the students to deal with problems, the administration shuts down any anything they think is offensive and cave in to the narcissistic demands of students What do we do?

I am busy cleaning the apartment and doing food prep.

  Recently I got an e-mail from Cup of Cold Water Ministries, which we are familiar with as one of our elders in a previous church went out under them as a missionary to Bolivia. This e-mail was from David Hiller, who had also been a missionary in Caranavi, Bolivia, for over 30 years. He writes the struggle they have been going through as it is a time of drought and they have had a lack of adequate water. At most they had access to water for 2 hours a day but some days none. They were getting desperate, and this is what he writes:

  “This morning, we have great news from Caranavi! “Yesterday the mayor summoned the Caranavi area Pastors to his office to ask what could be done spiritually to alleviate the dire situation of drought and uncontrolled forest fires in Caranavi. We read from II Chron. 7:13-14 what God told Solomon when God ‘closes the sky and it doesn’t rain.’ We said to the mayor, ‘We need to humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways. We should hold nightly meetings of prayer and public crying out to God, and end a day of prayer and fasting.’

  Yesterday morning, the mayor emitted a decree, canceling in-person classes and all outdoor activity, due to heavy smoke in the air. The only public activity allowed was the public outcry to God in the main square. Last night was the first night of public prayer and crying out to God in the public square.” 

  Then there were pictures of a couple pastors on their knees praying and the mayor and 2 city councilmen standing behind them, as well as, pictures of a great number of people praying in the plaza etc.

  And then comes the good news. At 5 a.m.the very next morning, the rains came, just as they had prayed. There was no rain in the forecast, but God answered their prayers, and you can imagine the celebrating. What a faith builder and we can ask ourselves how desperate we are when situations arise, to call off all other activities and simply pray and seek the Lord.

  Isn’t that what we should do to handle all of our fears and anxieties? We don’t need to hesitate to tell God exactly what concerns us…how we see the situation without denying our feelings but rather asking Him to listen and to help. As we wait and listen and hope in Him, we can watch for what He will do instead of trying to figure it all out; The Psalmist says we are to be like watchmen that wait for the morning. Those on the wall just waited and watched and knew that morning would come eventually but at times must have seemed like a long wait. Our grandson works security at the Viking Practice Facility and has to be alert to what is going on around him during his shift. I’m sure at times the hours seem long but he has to be alert and watchful.