February 2, 2022

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a great day and keeping warm. I made Chocolate Peanutty Bars, studied, and went to my exercise class this morning. We have crafts today and Bible study tonight.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Often in scripture we are told to love others and walk in the way of love. We can’t do that in our own strength but we need God’s love to flow through us to others, especially prickly ones, that we find hard to love. We have to first experience God’s love in the depths of our being, in order to have love flow out of us.

Today I read from Ephesians 3:17 (Amplified), “May Christ through your faith (actually) dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in our hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love.” What spoke to me was the importance that God’s love be the ground into which we sink our roots into and then to let it expand in our hearts.

Sometime ago I had a neglected ivy plant that looked dry and sickly and nearly dead when we came home from a trip. I almost threw it out, but I decided to put it in a new container that was a bit larger, with rich soil, water it and wait to see what would happen. I rested it on my tea cart by the window that let in the sunshine and it wasn’t long before it perked up and was thriving. In fact, it grew so quickly I soon had to trim it as it was branching out all over. I even saved some slips for our daughter to have her own ivy plant.

Perhaps there are times we are spiritually neglectful and not taking time to nourish our souls. We begin to have doubts and wonder if the Lord really loves us. We want to be like a well-watered plant or like the firm foundation of a house that Paul describes, but our faith wavers and we feel dry. We need the Holy Spirit to strengthen us in our faith!  At such times it is good to get back into the Word, to find fellowship, to pray, to worship and to and spend time with the Lord. Sometimes we need a little “fertilizer” too and when added it will help promote growth.