Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! Do keep warm! My phone says it is -18 and so glad we don’t have to go out today. I’m sure we will be walking in the underground later! I just finished  cleaning the apartment and made porkchops smoothered in apple slices. When it’s cold out I love to bake too. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  We were never meant to run our own lives but to lean on the Lord and let Him direct us. I read today from Jeremiah 10:23-24 (Message) “I know, God, that mere mortals can’t run their own lives. That men and women don’t have what it takes to take charge of life, So correct us God, as you see best.” I’m sure if it were up to us, we would take the most comfortable and easy way in life but we would miss God’s best.
   When we think of the children of Israel escaping from Egypt for the Promise land, God’s route for them was much longer than they would have chosen; but God had purpose in the more difficult way. They had a slave mentality and when they saw the enemy coming after them they might have gone back to Egypt. Also, the way through the wilderness that God took them on, was preparation for the battles that they would have to face when they reached the Promise Land. But the hard way taught them to depend on the Lord, knowing they could not go in their own strength. God wanted to let them know that He was with them on this long journey, so He gave them a pillar of cloud by day to lead them and a pillar of fire at night to give them light. When they looked up, it must have soothed their fears to know they were not in this on their own.
    God gives us assurance that He is with as for He gave us His word and the Holy Spirit. It may seem like He is taking us through the wilderness, the longest and most difficult way also; but we can rest assured that He has things to teach us through it all. I know I thought it took God so long to move us when we were in a difficult circumstance, and I would have preferred moving on much sooner. But yes, God taught us things we may not have learned otherwise and we also found that He is enough. No matter how tough the terrain is, He will guide us through as we depend on Him. 
   Challenge for today: Ask God for a teachable spirit when going through hard times.