Dear Ones,
Hope your day is filled with His peace. We woke today to no internet, along with all the other CTC customers. so I did some baking. and later we are invited to friends.We just got back on and I found out my cousin Susie is now with the Lord. She passed from this life surrounded by her children, and  heard her sister’s voices and her mother’s voices by phone.  Her battle is over and she is in her heavenly home. Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for her family.  She will be greatly missed.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Life can be messy! There are times we may have all questioned where God is in the midst of heavy trials we are going through. We may be crushed with pain, feel broken, or we worried about loved ones going through hard times. Why are these bad things happening we may ask? But in the midst of our questions, it is a time to cling to His promises, trust Him, and to seek the big picture, remembering that the Lord is right in our midst. David said in Psalm 34:15,17-18 (The Message), “God keeps an eye on His friends, His ears pick up every moan and groan…Is anyone crying for help? God is listening, ready to rescue you. If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, He’ll help you catch your breath.” 
Jane Marczewski went through so many hard times and yet said, “I am so much more than the bad things that happen to me.” You may know her as Nightbirde who sang, “It’s Okay” on America’s Got Talent. She appeared on the show in June and even Simon Cowell, hit the Golden Buzzer and had tears in his eyes when she sang. It was after singing her song that she shared how her cancer had come back again and was now in her liver, spine and lungs. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was only 26 and two years later was told tumors were in her lungs, lymph nodes, liver ribs and spine and had 6 months to live. She went to CA for treatment and 4 months later had a clean bill of health. Her husband left her during this time and she acknowledges that her life story would look different if she would have written the script. Hope isn’t a very natural response for all she had gone through, but she knows her life is in God’s hands and communicates hope to all of us. She said she wanted to be the bird that sings in anticipation for the good things that she trusts are coming. Her stage name comes from a reoccurring dream she had for several nights of a bird singing in the darkness. Then in the middle of the night, she woke to actually hearing birds singing outside her window as if it were morning. She said she wants to be like the bird that sings in the middle of the darkness, even when there are no signs that it will end.
We have much to learn from Nightbirde to remember, that whatever we are going through presently, It’s Okay. We have hope and joy even if God doesn’t take away our own pain and darkness, he adds light and is very near. God meets us wherever we are at, and will give us a song to sing in the night.
Challenge for today: In those dark times, draw close to the Lord and ask Him for a song to sing.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy