Dear Ones,
Hope you had a great weekend! I enjoyed the Christmas luncheon at Sherwood Forest on Saturday with over 20 gals from church. This morning i made a double batch of G.F choc peppermint cookies and went to my exercise class. We have more parties this week coming up! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How bright does our light shine for the Lord? Do we seek to know God and use the spiritual gifts that He has given us? I read today that as Christians we are like billboards that God uses to tell the world about Him. So, we may wonder how our billboard would read!
Would those around us notice we look past ourselves and seek to serve others? It isn’t all about us! We want to give back out of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. Since we all have been given spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8), are we using them to extend His kingdom? Our gifts are given not to make us feel important or a matter of pride but to minister to others and share God’s love.
The world may tell us we are what we do, or we are what we have, or we are what people say about us, but that is not true. Rather than our position or self-importance, it is the Lord who gives our life meaning and reveals who we truly are. And then out of hearts that know we are loved, we can share Him with others around us.
I was reading Bill and Kristi Gaultiere’s book, Journey of the Soul, and they write how the measure of our life is love. We don’t have to feel we can’t serve the Lord because of our own guilt and shame for we have been forgiven. They give an example from Brennan Manning who tells the story of a prosecutor who presented all of his sins that he had committed and those sins of omission. It went on for hours and he felt worse and worse, like he was hit by a landslide. But a group of angels appeared to conduct his defense and all they could say was, “But he loved.” They chanted over and over again, “But he loved. But he loved. But he loved.” This continued until dawn and the angels won and he felt safe.
We are not perfect and even though we sin every day, let us rejoice that God forgives us and desires to use us to share His love with others.
Challenge for today: Share His love in some small way with someone else today!
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy
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