Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! It was -13 this morning and hope it warms up!  I made egg dishes this morning and fried a pan full of sunfish as it was a gift from one of our friends here! What a treat! EmojiWe are going to get the birthday cake from Costco this morning and we are preparing for a big Birthday party this afternoon since 14 of the residents here have January birthdays. We even have crowns for the oldest ones.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Sometimes we may think we deserve better, but do we? What if God gave us what we really deserved? I recently read of an officer that stopped a mom because she didn’t have her daughter in a booster seat. She deserved a ticket as she broke the law but instead the policeman brought her to the store and bought a booster seat for the little girl with his own money. The mom was forever grateful as she couldn’t afford to buy one and she did not have to pay the penalty that she deserved.
This is just a small incidence but what do we deserve? We break God’s rules every day in many ways, whether they be in our silent critical judgments of another, or something very overt. Lest we think that we don’t sin big, let us ask ourselves how we would like our sins to be put on a screen some Sunday morning at church! We all deserve punishment because we fall short but God stepped in and provided a way of escape. But it means we have to give up our rationalizations and excuses and to admit our guilt and ask for His mercy and grace. Do we deserve it? No!
The Psalmist says in Psalm 130:2-4 (God’s Word), “O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy. O Lord, who would be able to stand if you kept a record of sins? But with you there is forgiveness so that you can be feared.” He goes on to say that with the Lord there is hope and mercy.
I marvel at how the Lord not only forgives us from anything we do if we but ask, but that He also forgets and doesn’t hold it against us the rest of our lives. It should prompt us to extend that forgiveness to others and not continually bring up something they did. It is no longer remembered or if it does come to mind, we can simply thank the Lord that is buried in the dept of the sea.
Let us live freely in His grace with gratitude and offer that same gift to others around us.
Challenge for today: Spend some time just thanking the Lord that all your sins that are forgiven and forgotten in the sea of forgetfulness.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy