Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day of joy! I have a 7:30 appointment at the dentist and that is not my favorite way to start my day but gladly it is just a cleaning. Later I have Women’s Bible Study and maybe a trip to Aldi’s.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Today’s devotional will be more personal from my own life as lately I have been praying to go deeper and to be more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. When I meet regularly with a friend for sharing and prayer, we have a question that we ponder and write about before our next time together. We take turns deciding on the question and this time it is: “When and how did you know God as Abba Father and you are His beloved child?” This question helped me reflect back on my Chrisitan walk and those times I had a strong sense of my Heavenly Father loving me unconditionally and had overflowing joy; but also, those times when I felt at a distance.

  Maybe it is a question you would also like to answer  but be prepared for how the Spirit may open up things from deep places within. That’s what happened to me and as I walked with Al, I shared with him that God had showed me that there was a blockage to experiencing the Father’s love on a continual basis. Yes, there were times in the past I had experiences of knowing I was Abba Father’s beloved child and had times I felt His love poured out of me even to a stranger, and I knew it was Him, not me. But the Lord opened my eyes recently to help me see how many times that love was blocked by being over-responsible, even as a little girl.   Therefore, I felt like if I failed in something I was responsible for, I didn’t feel worthy of His love. But the Lord one day, just healed me and I knew when it happened as it was a most wonderful freeing feeling. Later I shared with Al, who is my spiritual director, and we spent some time reviewing what had happened in my past and praying. Sometimes we don’t even know or understand the blockages we have towards the Lord, but if we ask Him, He will show us and take us deeper.

 The Lord is so merciful and forgives us of things in our past as we acknowledge and repent, and brings healing. Even though I am in the 4th quarter of life, there will always be things that need to be delt with and given over for Him to heal. We can pray as Jeremiah did in Jer. 17:14, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you ae my praise.”
  Challenge for today: Give the Holy Spirit free reign in your life and respond to His promptings.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy