Dear Ones,
Hope you had a great weekend and time to relax. It is starting to snow and we hope it won’t snow too much as we are going to a funeral this morning in     for our friend who just lived down the hall from us. We will all miss him and we are comforted that he is now with the Lord. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   There are some hard things we go through in our lives and later remark, “ It was worth it all!” Such is our lives as followers of Jesus, that no matter what we go through in this life, it won’t begin to compare to what awaits us in heaven some day.
  One of our friends here at Northern Lakes is now with the Lord and we will celebrate his life today. I wrote of Dan’s witness for the Lord some time ago as he was such an example to us of perseverance and someone who never gave up. He was 91 years old and usually was the first one to Bible Study each week and rarely missed. I went to bed last night thinking of his witness to us all and woke with an old familiar song that many of you know. “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus! Life’s trials will seem so small when we see Christ. One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase. So, bravely run the race till we see Christ.”
  Perhaps we can all identify with the  second verse when things seem stormy, “At times the sky seems dark, with not a ray of light; We’re tossed and driven on, no human help in sight. But there is One in heaven, who knows our deepest care. Let Jesus solve your problems, just go to Him in prayer.”
   There isn’t any burden that is too small or too great that we can’t hand over to the Lord. He gives us the invitation in Matt. 11:28-30(God’s Word), “Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke over your shoulders, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble. Then you will find rest for yourselves because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The Lord promises to shoulder our burdens with us and lighten our load until one day we will lay all our burdens down as our lives are over. We will know that it was all worth it for we will spend eternity together with Him in heaven. What a glorious time awaits!
Challenge for today: Give all your cares to the Lord and experience His rest as you wait for that day.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy