Dear Ones,
Hope you are having a good day and keeping warm. I  got blueberry muffins made for the men’s group tomorrow and went to Exercise class this morning. We hope to get a walk in and go to Bible Study tonight. In between we are getting ready for our Christmas gathering and I am making a sweet potato dish now. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
This morning I went downstairs at 6:20 am to our entryway, intending to wait for a friend who said she was coming with a gift for me on her way to work at the hospital. She is a chaplain and God uses her to touch so many people’s lives, including mine. I love when we bump into her on the Paul Bunyan trail and we have church right there as we share the Lord together. At Christmas she gives me lovely gifts for writing devotions for her ministry, but it her presence that is really the gift to me. Her boldness, kindness and compassion, and love for God speak volumes to me.  And today, I must have just missed her but her beautiful gifts were left behind.
Just before she came, I read from an old tattered devotional book of Billy Graham, and he wrote about how God gave a Person as a gift to each of us, and of course that is the Person of Jesus. We don’t always think of a person as a gift but Jesus is the ultimate gift of all times. Graham shared a verse from Romans 8:32, “He that spared not his only Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not…freely give us all things?” God gave His very best to us in His Son and he loved us so much He gave His life for us; nothing can compare with that! If we receive the gift of Himself in faith, He changes our life forever; we will never be the same!
 The Lord also gives us those special relationships with others who know Him and they are far more valued than any physical gifts. These friends are the ones who pray for us, who stand with us, and who encourage us as we share the Lord together.
Maybe our circumstances seem less than ideal during this time of Covid, but when we have the Lord, we have the Gift of all gifts. Graham shares the story of a little 6- year-old boy who answered a knock at the door one day. It was his daddy that had just returned from Southeast Asia. He didn’t ask his daddy what he brought him, but he simply threw his arms around his daddy and said, “Oh Daddy, this is the best Christmas present ever!”
There is not greater gift than Jesus and He is the one who loves us unconditionally and gives us hope, and He is coming again soon!
Challenge for today: Take time to appreciate the most wondrous Gift and give Him thanks.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy