August 22, 2023

Dear Ones,

Hope you have a hope filled day. Early this morning Al and I both have our routine eye appointments. Later Ann is coming, and we may do some shopping together as she is needing new glasses. I also have birthday Kohl bucks to spend! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Hopefully we all want to not just settle but to go on to grow and be more transformed into the likeness of Christ. It is easier to profess those words when things are going well, but what about when we are in pain or going through difficult situations? Many times, God uses suffering to shape us and it becomes the soil of our growth, but it may not be the way we would choose. We ar not to respond by giving up but rather by accepting and letting Him change us. As we let go and let Him have His way, we will have a deeper sense of His presence and love.

  With Pain, comes a message from the Lord which is specific for us. He might be saying, I love you just the way you are and even though you can’t do much right now, you are still valuable. Or maybe our pain is saying that we need perseverance; or are there some things that need to change in order to regain health and to put our body into balance. We need to listen to what our body is telling us and be willing to do the changing.

   Gem and Alan Fadling, share in the book, What Does Your Soul Love”, of how suffering and transformation are connected. They use the example of James when he tells a church who is going through great hardship to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2-3) He goes on to say that these trying times can help us mature and make us complete. They tend to show us what we really believe about God. If you are like me, we first want to do all we can to alleviate our pain and numb our suffering rather than asking God what He is trying to show us in it. Right now, I am struggling with hearing as I have profound hearing loss in one ear and the other has serious loss as well. I am doing what I can to find out why, but I also need to ask the Lord for perseverance and to know what He is trying to produce in me through this. For all of us, whatever we are going through, we know the Lord is with us and we are not alone and “all shall be well.” Let us be open to the new ways the Lord teaches us in all of our sufferings.

   Challenge for today: Allow your pain and suffering to help you gain wisdom and be transformed into His likeness.