July 25, 2023

Dear Ones,

Hope your day is full of joy and kindness. It appears it’s going to be another very warm day, so we may walk early. I am going to Aldi’s and doing lots of food prep.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

As the days are getting darker in our culture, the light of Christ seems to shine brighter in His followers who have made love for Him and others their aim. We have only to watch the news to see how rampant evil is and then contrast that with those who put others before self and overflow with kindness and love.               

   Here where we live at Northern living there is good evidence of kindness and caring for others. Just recently one of the gals had a stroke and others were alerted; two friends stayed with her and one was on the phone with the ER, another watched for the ambulance, and one was at the hospital almost to midnight with her; even when she was recovering, one of the friends stayed the night to be sure she was okay. All acts of kindness. If someone here at our apartment needs to get to an appointment, there may be offers for a ride, or food brought to someone who is sick etc. Of course, for all of us whereever we live, there are so many needs around us every day if our hearts are open to share God’s love in a variety of ways.                     

We who have received so much from the Lord are told to “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph. 4:32. That can cover a lot of circumstances and extend to not only friends but strangers and even enemies; maybe especially enemies. When we reach out to those who have done us harm and show them kindness, it can begin a process to bring peace and unity.                   

 Of course, we don’t meet every need around us, or we would be quickly worn out and our own families would suffer too. But we need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to respond when He directs us to meet a need. When that happens there can be deep down joy in our obedience even if the person doesn’t seem grateful for our help. It’s nice to get fulfilment from helping others but it is most important to draw our strength from the Lord and to spend time with Him. He is our ultimate fulfilment and let us spend time with Him and get refueled for whatever He has for us next.