Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! Colder temperatures but not any more snow yet.Emoji  Today I am cleaning and baking bread and just made a veggie stir-fry. Tomorrow Ann and Leif are coming and we will celebrate Ann’s birthday early.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
I am a homebody and even though I love to take vacations and trips to see our kids and grandkids, I am always glad to get home again. Home feels comfortable and is familiar and peaceful. I noticed the contrast as I am reading from the book of Jeremiah and he is writing to God’s people who have been uprooted and exiled to Babylonia which was 700 miles away, across a desert. No hope of returning soon and Jeremiah prophesied that they would be there for 70 years before God brought them back home again. They had to leave all that was dear to them, and live among strange people with different customs, in a hot climate, with everything unfamiliar. They did not want to be there and some of the prophets gave them false hope that they would return soon so they didn’t give attention to working the land etc. but complained of their plight. But Jeremiah sent a message to the people there and told them to make themselves at home, have families, plant gardens and enter their new life instead of complaining.

As I was reading, I thought of the correlation with us when we are uprooted with job changes, life circumstances, health problems and everything is changed overnight. We can spend lots of energy complaining or we can accept what is, and grow and spiritually prosper as we learn from it. Feeling sorry for ourselves will not change the situation, and if we are always looking back on what was and is familiar, we will miss the present blessings God is sending our way. We must focus on the Lord and where He has us right now, and do our best in the circumstances we are in. The Lord is always with us, and He will help us adapt to what is in the present. When we accept the new place He has for us, our energy will be put into our present work and we will grow in new ways.

Change shakes us out of our comfort zones and helps us be totally dependent on the Lord and we can leave the excess baggage behind to be more focused on Him. Let us not complain when we feel like we are in exile but get busy planting seeds that will grow beautiful fruit in our lives and in others.

Challenge for today: When change comes unannounced into your life, welcome what God will do in your new situation and draw close to Him.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy