Dear Ones,
Hope you are enjoying the day. This morning I made porkchops smothered in apples, Starch free cookies. went to Aldi’s and also downstairs for donuts. Kurt and Brenda also stopped by on their way to the cabin. This afternoon we have Bible Study here and Al also went to one at church this morning. Life is not boring! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Life should be simple, right? But sometimes it is anything but simple. We have an overabundance of stuff that clutters our minds, so many engagements we don’t have time for, and many distractions that keep the Lord on the periphery of our life rather than the center. Jesus referred to this problem when He said to His disciples in Matt 16:24-26, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever will save his life will lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.” We have to watch out for the self-life that wants to possess, profit and gain and in the end lose everything. But when we give up everything for Jesus’ sake, we don’t suffer loss but find abundant life.
Maybe we need to evaluate our lives to discover what our attachments are, those things that hold us back from the Lord. It could be people in our lives, or possessions we have (or want to have); anything we prize more than the Lord is an idle or attachment.  I was reading from A.W. Tozer who wrote Pursuit of God, and he used the example of Abraham who waited so long for a son. How easy it could have been for him to make Isaac an idle by putting him before the Lord. But he was tested by God when asked to sacrifice his son, and he obediently took the steps of even binding his son to an altar for a sacrifice. Then the Lord stopped him and told him not to do his son harm, for he knew now that he feared God above all, since he had not withheld his son. Abraham had surrendered all and he possessed nothing but had everything.
Maybe we have so much that it detracts us from our life with the Lord. Could it be that God wants us to live more simply? Do we spend too much time and resources on things that will pass away? A good place to start might simply be getting rid of our excess and things that keep us from what God wants to do through our lives.  What might be our prized possession? Let us give all that we are and have to the Lord and let Him do with us what He desires.
Challenge for today: Ask for grace to surrender anything in your life that keeps you from living simply for Him.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy